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Parents/Carers

80.75% of students say their parents help
them to make key careers decisions

This section of Saltash Community School’s website is aimed at helping parents and carers source information to help support young people in their future decisions. Below you will find three helpful sections; information about education options, types of jobs and local opportunities.

Education Options

There are a variety of educational routes available to students when they leave Saltash Community School. Click each link below to find out more:

SEND Support and Providers

Types of Jobs

Students who have a vision of where they want to be in the future may find it easier to plan their next steps more easily. To help students and parents to get an idea of what types of jobs are out there we would suggest looking at a number of these websites:

Local opportunities

With developments in technology there are now numerous jobs that did not exist 15 years ago. It is important to keep up to date with what is happening locally, nationally and internationally.

In regards to local opportunities, Cornwall and Isle of Scilly are leading the way in a number of exciting developments with a range of sectors including space, geothermal engineering, mining and IT. Click the link below for more information:

What is a career and labour market information?

Careers Hub Parent/Carers Guide

Wondering about your child’s best next step? Not quite sure how to support them?

Check out the following parents and carers’ guide to careers decisions in secondary education

Careers hub parent/carer guide

Next Steps South West (NSSW)

Careers and HE resources for: Yrs 9-13: Options, career mapping, introduction to HE and more
https://nextstepssw.ac.uk/resources-for-students/

10 Ways to Achieve Careers Education at Home – Click the link for lots of helpful tips and ideas to explore careers education with your child.

Useful Careers Resources

Cornwall Opportunities - the new digital one-stop shop for jobs, apprenticeships, courses, careers inspiration and information in Cornwall & Isles of Scilly.

National Careers Service – a comprehensive careers website with job profiles, outlining: the skills required, main tasks, pay levels and career prospects for hundreds of different jobs. In addition, valuable guidance on the different stages involved in getting a job.

Career Pilot – lots of useful information to help young people make careers related decisions at 14, 16 and 18

Icould – helpful videos about a wide range of job roles.

UCAS – a very helpful website for students thinking of applying to higher education. Also contains valuable information on different options, including apprenticeships

UNIFROG – Students can easily find and apply for every course and apprenticeship in the UK – everything from university courses, to School Leaver Programmes, to Massive Open Online Courses. The platform is intuitive, and makes sure that both students and teachers always know their next steps.

‘The Parent Perspective’ Podcast - hosted by Amazing Apprenticeships, is an exciting podcast series for parents and carers, helping them to support their children with careers advice and guidance. 

Together with Not Going to Uni, Amazing Apprenticeships want to make sure that they are supporting parents to feel informed and confident in providing careers support and guidance to their child, so that they ultimately make the best decisions for them.

Through the podcast Rachel Burden and guests offer a fun and informative space for listeners to:

  • Explore which careers are available today
  • Showcase the experiences of interesting and diverse role models
  • Provide real-time insights into how the world of work is changing

Each episode Rachel speaks to a diverse mix of parents, bringing their burning questions to expert speakers from the careers world. Together they uncover practical solutions and informative answers, to help you and your child make informed decisions on those all important next steps.

CAREERMAP

Careermap is an online career resource that provides live post-16 opportunities, such as apprenticeship vacancies, college courses, university and graduate options. We also offer career advice and guidance so young people can make well-informed decisions to enhance their futures! Check out 1000’s of live opportunities here.

Click the link to view the Careermag magazine: https://careermap.co.uk/careermag/

 

CEIAG Education at Home

The Careers education and guidance programme in Years 7 – 13 makes a significant contribution to preparing our students for the opportunities and experiences of life.  As adults, our students will need to be able to adapt to changing employment patterns so that they are able to operate in a climate of competition and be willing to develop new knowledge, transferable skills and competences throughout their working lives.  They will need to be flexible self-starters, with a range of skills, willing and able to participate in a world in which they find themselves ‘in’ and ‘out’ of work.  An environment of continuing education and re-training is likely to be the norm and the notion of a ‘lifelong’ career will be more and more diminished. The CEIAG programme enables our students to develop the skills, knowledge & attitudes to make effective choices specifically related to their decision-making and career planning and includes:

  • raising self-awareness;
  • raising aspirations & achievement;
  • challenging stereotypes;
  • promoting equality of opportunity;
  • developing research skills;
  • understanding options;
  • Making effective decisions & managing their transitions as learners & workers.

We are very proud that we meet the majority of the Gatsby Benchmarks and continue to strive to ensure that our Careers education enables and empowers students, staff and parents/carers to maximise the potential of our students.

The CEIAG programme will also:

  • enable students to understand the meaning & value of work to individuals, the community, the UK and the world as a whole;
  • make clear that there are types of work other than paid employment which are intrinsically valuable;
  • identify a range of experiences which may include employment, self-employment, volunteering, work in the home & work in the community;
  • Involve working with a range of partners from the community including, CSW, local colleges, training providers and employers.

Delivery

Careers in Year 7-11 is delivered via PD lessons which are fortnightly in Years 7,8 & 10, and weekly in Years 9 and 11. Careers related topics in each year group include:

  • Year 7: Introduction to Careers, Me and My Future and Love My Job
  • Year 8: The Real Game
  • Year 9: Options
  • Year 10: Work Experience
  • Year 11: Post-16 Options & Careers Portfolio

Careers in the Sixth Form is delivered via dedicated Careers lessons which are weekly for the second two terms of Year 12 and the first term of Year 13. This programme is underpinned by a number of visiting speakers to the fortnightly General Studies sessions. Topics covered include

  • Year 12 Spring Term: Overview of options; Careers Research Skills; Work Experience Application; Careers one-to-one interviews
  • Year 12 Summer Term: Registering for UCAS; Personal Statements; Work Experience Preparation and Review
  • Year 13 Autumn Term: Action Planning; Applications; Interview Skills

Outcomes

By the end of the following key stages, all students will:

Key Stage 3
  • Have a greater awareness of themselves (their qualities, abilities, weaknesses & limitations).
  • Know how & where to access careers information & guidance. Have used career pilot and Kudos.
  • Be aware of the implications of KS4 choices.
  • Be able to explain & understand the links between school & the world of work.
  • Come into contact with different employers.
Key Stage 4
  • Have chosen an appropriate education or training pathway by researching the necessary information, advice & guidance.
  • Have participated in a week of work experience.
  • Have an increased awareness of post-16 (and post-18) options & pathways, including Apprenticeships & higher education.
  • Have a portfolio of career-related documents including a CV, a Personal Statement and a Statement of Key Skills.
  • Had the opportunity to meet people from different employment sectors.
Key Stage 5
  • Have an increased awareness of post- post-18, and where applicable post-HE, options & pathways, including HE, Apprenticeships, Employment, Armed Forces, College and Gap Years.
  • Have built their CV and Personal Statement through study, volunteering, work experience, part-time work etc.
  • Have chosen and successfully applied for an appropriate pathway by researching the necessary information, advice & guidance.
  • Have participated in a further week of work experience.

Assessment

There is at least one assessed task in the CEIAG programme for each of years 7-12, for example:

Year 7 A personal timeline and research into My Dream Job.
Year 8 Personal writing, ‘A Day In My Life’, as part of The Real Game.
Year 9 Personal or group research task relating to KS4 choices.
Year 10 Work Experience Portfolio, including the student logbook.
Year 11 Career Portfolio, including a Personal Statement & CV.
Year 12 Pre Careers one-to-one research task and personal statements.

Monitoring includes: learning walks and lesson observations, analysis of annual destinations information, CSW surveys, internal student surveys & questionnaires, work sampling of Year 10 & 11 work, in particular, (Work Experience & Career Portfolios), contact with parents and student surveys..

Teaching & Learning

A variety of teaching & learning styles will be employed.  There are opportunities for individual research, group activities, discussion, personal writing, self-presentation, DVDs, speakers, visits and extensive use of technology.

Differentiation is provided through the variety of resources used, student tasks, including extension activities, and through targeted support to individuals and small groups of students.

Action-planning takes place at some stage in each of years 7 to 13, by both class teacher and Careers advisor.

Most Able

Most Able students at Saltash Community School benefit from additional support to encourage high aspirations, including entry to the professions and ‘top’ universities including Oxbridge. Such provision includes:

  • A special options session for Year 9s focusing on pathways to top jobs and universities, and introducing the idea of career planning and CV building.
  • A new addition to the most able section of the website which includes guidance for each year group, job profiles and key dates.
  • Additional support offered for applicants to the Russell group, Oxbridge, medicine, veterinary etc including taster trips in Key Stage 4, and tailored interview and application support in Key Stage 5.

Monitoring & Evaluation of provision

 Monitoring includes: learning walks and lesson observations, analysis of annual destinations information, CSW surveys, internal student surveys & questionnaires, work sampling of Year 10 & 11 work, in particular, Work Experience & Career Portfolios and contact with parents.

Partnerships – Who is involved?

  • Within school – Head of Careers, Head of 6th Form, PD teachers, form tutors, Heads of Year, teachers, Work Experience Co-ordinator, Most Able Co-ordinators, SENCo, school counsellor, KS4 and KS5 Learning Mentors & Intervention Officer, Careers South West PAs.
  • At home – parents, carers, siblings, etc.
  • Agencies – Social Services, EWOs, YOT, etc.
  • Education/training providers – colleges, universities, employers, UCAS, Armed Forces, etc.
  • Future First, the alumni organisation

Careers Enterprise Network

In order to meet the expected Gatsby Benchmarks we have an appointed Careers enterprise coordinator who supports us as a school in meeting and maintaining benchmarks, they are involved in supporting careers practice within the school and creating a link between employers and schools, by supporting in creating the enterprise advisor network, which means that dedicated employers are happy to be involved in careers events and lessons within our school, our advisor is Jo Tomlinson who is a Human resources manager for GL leisure with a wealth of job experience and actively gets involved in our careers work within the school. Our progress is monitored using a tool called compass, where evaluations and targets can be set based on what we are doing and what we need to do as a school.

Timetabled Careers events

In addition to a detailed career education curriculum within both PD lessons and discrete subjects, we have timetabled careers events for all year groups throughout the year to ensure that Gatsby benchmark 5 is met and to bridge the gap between school and the world of work, which is scheduled on the calendar as drop down time for students in each year group:

Year group Event
7 Love My Job morning - Students get the opportunity to rotate around to 20 or more different employers and former students asking them about what they like and which skills they use in their current and previous jobs.
8 WOW event - all about the world of work, looking specifically at jobs in the Creative Industry and what jobs are available in the local area.
9 Where my subjects have taken me - an opportunity to talk to former students and former employees about their GCSE Options and how they use their GCSE’s within their job areas.
10 Work experience preparation, covering Health & Safety and employers expectations for students when they go out on work experience.
11 Aspirations day - the day comprises of a range of activities including HE, Apprenticeship and staff panel sessions as well as employer and subject teacher workshops finishing with a Careers fair.

CEIAG updated programme

Enclosed you will find our updated whole school Careers provision In order to quality assure our programme it has been mapped against the 8 Gatsby benchmarks (please see website information on Gatsby Benchmarks) and the Careers Development institute careers framework which includes 17 areas of learning for careers, employability and enterprise education which are the following for reference:

  1. Self-awareness
  2. Self-determination
  3. Self-improvement as a learner
  4. Exploring careers and career development
  5. Investigating work and working life
  6. Understanding business and industry
  7. Investigating jobs and labour market information (LMI)
  8. Valuing equality, diversity and inclusion
  9. Learning about safe working practices and environments Individuals need to share in the commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion
  10. Making the most of careers information, advice and guidance
  11. Preparing for employability
  12. Showing initiative and enterprise
  13. Developing personal financial capability
  14. Identifying choices and opportunities
  15. Planning and deciding
  16. Handling applications and interviews
  17. Managing changes and transitions

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