The David Ross Education Trust

David Ross Education Trust schools create a rich and exciting learning environment that inspires students to become their confident, academic best.

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Charnwood College

Charnwood College broadens the horizons of all students through high academic standards and unrivalled enrichment opportunities. Developing respectful, confident, articulate and motivated students.

Careers Guidance & Post 16

At Charnwood College we will inspire and engage our students in planning their own career path and increase their motivation to aim high using appropriate labour market information and online tools.

We will engage with a large number of employers and other organisations, including colleges, universities and apprenticeship providers in a range of ways to give students real life experiences of the world of work.

We will inspire students to achieve their maximum potential in order to give them the opportunities they aspire to both academically, personally and in realtion to their future. Our Careers Education Information and Guidance provision and plan are reviewed annually. Our next review will take place in January 2025.

Aims

1. We will inspire and engage our students in planning their own career path and increase their motivation to aim high using appropriate labour market information and online tools.

2. We will engage with a large number of employers and other organisations, including colleges, universities and apprenticeship providers in a range of ways to give students real life experiences of the world of work.

3. We will inspire students to achieve their maximum potential in order to give them the opportunities they aspire to both academically, personally and in relation to their future.

Internal Structure

Our Careers Lead is Mr Greenwood.

As part of the David Ross Education Trust we also have support from the Trust Wide Careers Lead based at Havelock Academy who sits on the Greater Lincolnshire and Humber LEP Employment and Skills Board.

Guidance

All Year 11 and sixth form students receive a one to one guidance interview by a Level 6 qualified practitioner provided by the LEBC (Leicestershire Education Business Company).

This one to one is also offered to targeted students from Year 10 onwards and referrals to this service will come via the Heads of Year and SENDCo .

External, independent and impartial careers services are invited to attend parent and open evenings to help students make the right choices and are involved in seminars for specific seminars.

Trips and Visits

Sixth form students visit two university fairs each academic year, one in October and the UCAS Exhibition in April.

Independent Research

All students from year 7 to 13 have access to Unifrog.

Unifrog is a complete destinations platform where students can plan their futures including writing CVs, record interventions and competencies, research college, sixth form, apprencticeships and universities and includes research tools for Oxbridge and universities overseas.

In Year 11 all students have tutor time sessions designated to enable them to research labour market information and look in depth at local provision.

@Charnwoodsixth - students are strongly encouraged to follow this twitter feed for interesting and up to date articles relating to careers and UCAS applications.

Curriculum

Regular meetings between Heads of Faculties and the Careers Lead to look at groups of disadvantaged students and use careers strategies to motivate and engage students in their future planning and as a result of this, raise their attainment in the process.

Training for new staff members and ongoing staff development includes strategies to include careers in the classroom and linking subjects to various different sectors.

Student Entitlement

Year 7

Raising Aspirations for University and Enterprise. Access to inspiring individuals and organisations in school and at universities. Introduction to the Unifrog careers platform.

Year 8

What does my future look like? What do my family do? What is my dream? What are my strengths? What am I going to do in the future? Where do I see myself in 15 years time? Improving employability skills.

Year 9

Skills analysis, reflection, what am I good at and how can I use my skills? Exploring the future, looking at different career paths and industries, careers and labour market information across all sectors, employability and enterprising skills and attributes - how can I develop these to benefit me? Making the right choices and decision making for my future.

Year 10

World of Work, Enterprise and Further Employer Engagement. Work with other organisations including Post 16 providers including sector specific options, all available colleges, apprenticeship providers and sixth form offer. Careers Advice, Guidance and Development. Further use of LMI to inform decisions. Challenge stereotypical careers and mangage risks within the workplace. Parent Involvement Strengthened, use of Unifrog as a mechanism to manage career choices.

Year 11

Individual, impartial careers guidance interviews by LEBC, review and reflect on choices, experiences and activities. Charnwood College sixth form applications, sixth form interviews, what direction am I going in?

Sixth Form

UCAS - personal statements and references, life at university, including student finance, career enhancement plans, develop enterprise and employability skills.

Finely tune direction with students in line with their academic ability.

CIAG Plan

The CIAG plan is supplemented with a comprehensive assembly programme from the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership, Liz Sahu, our Enterprise Advisor and Claire Jagger (our Careers Link Governor).

As part of the David Ross Education Trust, we also have support from the Trust Wide Careers Lead based at Havelock Academy who sits on the Greater Lincolnshire and Humber LEP Employment and Skills Board.

The CIAG programme is supplemented with a comprehensive assembly programme and six personal development drop down days. The 2023/24 dates are week commencing:

9th October, 30th October, 12th February, 18th March, 13th May and 24th June.

Measuring Impact

As an academy we use Compass + the careers benchmark tool as outlined in the Gatsby benchmarks to assess and improve our current CEIAG provision.

Our progress against the Gatsby benchmarks will be reviewed regularly throughout the academic year to help us meet all of the eight benchmarks by the end of 2024.

We will monitor the impact of our action plan and the CEIAG we deliver mainly through feedback from students and staff. All activities will be reviewed to ensure all goals and aims are met.

Making Choices

Do not panic if you cannot decide which direction to go in or which courses would best suit your needs.

Talk to your parents, teachers and Careers Adviser about the best option for YOU.

Do your research - use the websites and other sources of information to help make YOUR decision.

This is the first time in your lives where you are making a huge decision, it is YOUR decision, stand strong with YOUR choices.

Aim high, we have every confidence in YOU. Challenge YOURSELF and go for it!

This year is important, do not lose sight of your GCSE exams, the grades matter when it comes to your next step.

Things to Consider

Focus - what are your expectations, aspirations, do you have an idea of career choice?

Information - have you done your research, looked at labour market information, thought about training and qualifications, universities?

Realistic - are your thoughts realistic? If you do not want to leave home what options are there locally for you or is the sky the limit?

Scope - how far can you go in your chosen career, are you aiming at the right pitch, have you thought about how far you can go in this field?

Tactics - moving forward, what next, what does the development of this idea look like?

If you would like more information about careers or employment engagement at Charnwood College then please do not hesitate to get in touch with Mr Greenwood.

The review of our CEIAG provision and strategy takes place annually and will be reviewed again in July 2022. Our Careers Lead, Mr Greenwood, also conducts a termly internal review of our CEIAG throughout the academic year.

For more information please contact:-

Mr Greenwood

Tel: 01509 554400

mgreenwood@charnwoodcollege.org

Student Resources

These resources are available for our students to support their career aspirations.

Careers Resources

www.unifrog.org

www.mypathcareersuk.com

www.vinspired.com

Careers Help for Parents

www.careeralchemy.co.uk

www.parentalguidance.org.uk

University Choices and Applications

www.ucas.com

www.unifrog.org

www.whatuni.com

www.thestudentroom.co.uk

www.therussellgroup.ac.uk

Apprenticeships

www.unifrog.org

www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship
The government website has details of all apprenticeships available nationwide.

www.notgoingtouni.co.uk
Apprenticeship Information Pack

Local Labour Market Information

www.semlep.com/school-labour-market-information

www.lmiforall.org.uk/careerometer

Career Section Information

www.army.mod.uk
www.royalnavy.mod.uk
Websites for the army, navy and RAF.

www.healthcareers.nhs.uk

www.skillsforce.com

www.creativeskillsset.org

www.greenporthull.co.uk

www.retailcareers.co.uk

www.citb.co.uk

www.futurelearn.com

Information about the world of work

We work with LLEP (Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership) and we are developing our links with the Enterprise Advisor Network to inform young people at Charnwood College about the world of work and the local labour market.

Leicester and Leicestershire have strong national and global connections offering a variety of thriving industries in sectors such as advanced manufacturing and engineering, professional services, business and finance, food and drink manufacturing, creative industries and textiles. It also has a thriving tourism and hospitality sector as well as a growing space industry. Many large businesses have a base in the area such as IBM, Amazon, Next, Santander and 3M to name a few, generating fabulous career opportunities. With approximately a million population, Leicester and Leicestershire have an economy worth £23 billion, which is the largest in the East Midlands.

It has 17,430 skilled graduates entering into the workforce each year and with nearly 500,000 jobs and 42,000 registered businesses, this area is a great place to start and develop a career. Click here to find out more information about the job sectors in Leicester and Leicestershire.

Information for Teachers

In this section you will find a selection of resources to support you with embedding careers within the curriculum. For more support email mgreenwood@charnwoodcollege.org

CWC Careers Curriculum Snake

Careers in the Curriculum - what works well

Impact of careers guidance on wellbeing

Useful contacts for careers in subjects

Employers and the Business Community

At Charnwood College we are keen to give our young people the opportunity to engage with employers and employees in a practical way.

If you are a business and can offer us any support by providing our young people with an insight into your industry, please email mgreenwood@charnwoodcollege.org with the following information:

Name

Company Name

Contact Number

What you can offer e.g. Careers talk, Careers workshop or other opportunities (please specify).

Provider Access Agreement