The Holt School Careers Programme

The Holt School Careers Programme

At The Holt School we are committed to ensuring all students have access to impartial careers advice, support in school and access to employers and the workplace.

Our named Careers Lead in school is Mrs Hart s.hart@holt.wokingham.sch.uk (0118 978 0165)

Please do get in touch if you have any specific careers queries.

Our careers provision is based on the Gatsby Benchmarks as recommended in the DfE’s Careers Strategy (December 2017) and the Statutory Guidance for Careers (January 2018). The 8 benchmarks are outlined below:

A stable careers programme
Learning from labour market information
Addressing the needs of each pupil
Linking curriculum learning to careers
Encounters with employers and employees
Experiences of workplaces
Encounters with further and higher education
Personal guidance

Aims of the Careers Programme

The main aims of the programme are to:

Provide a planned programme of careers education, information, advice, and guidance for students of all ages
Give access to independent and impartial information on opportunities in learning and work
Give individualised careers guidance and support.
Provide experience of the workplace to develop key employability skills.
Identify and reduce the likelihood, through a variety of interventions, of students becoming NEET (not in employment, education, or training) when they leave us.
Ensure students have interactions with a variety of colleges, training providers, employers, and universities to make informed decisions.

At The Holt School we believe that high quality careers advice, guidance and support are key in preparing students for their next steps in life and to manage those vital steppingstones from learning and training into the world of work.

We prepare our students to have high aspirations and provide careers education from year 7 to 11 with the intention for students to be prepared for life after The Holt.

The Holt School is part of the Career Hub where schools and colleges work together to accelerate their provision for careers. The careers hubs are a central part of the governments Careers Strategy, published in December 2017 and we work alongside The Careers and Enterprise company. As well as this we also work closely with our Enterprise advisors and Career governor who are professional people working in the industry.

Careers Advice and Guidance

We offer careers advice and guidance to all students throughout their school life. To book an appointment students should send an email request.

Students will be given designated slots with Mrs Hart to discuss their career path, KS4 options and decisions about further and higher education.

Careers Ambassadors

Each department within the school has a careers ambassador. The careers ambassador is a member of staff who has responsibility for promoting careers within their subject and learning. If you have any questions relating to careers within a particular subject, you can contact the careers lead or the career ambassadors detailed below.

English – Ms Rawlins	Maths – Mr Fulker	Science – Ms Kostaki	Geography – Mr Marrison
History – Mrs Hagger	Languages – Mr Darby	Social Sciences – Mrs Dakovic	Arts – Mrs Skeates
Music – Mr Gray	Drama – Miss Edwards	Computing – Mrs Dearing	Business – Mrs Styles
PE – Mrs White	Product Design – Mrs McCarville

Gatsby Benchmarks

We aim to provide students with the skills and knowledge they need to make informed and aspirational choices. As such, our programme begins with Year 7 students considering the world of work and the range of career sectors available to them; it ends in Year 11 with guidance and support to help students make the next appropriate steps for them, whether that is sixth form, FE college or apprenticeship.

At The Holt School our full-time careers lead ensures that our students are given high quality, impartial information, advice, and guidance in line with the Department of Education statutory guidelines and the Gatsby Benchmarks:

1. A stable Careers Programme: The Holt School will have an embedded programme of careers education and guidance that is known and understood by students, parents, teachers, governors, and employers.

2. Learning from Careers and Labour Market Information: Every student and their parents/carers will have access to good quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities.

3. Addressing the needs of each student: Our students do have different career guidance needs at different stages. Opportunities for advice and support, will be tailored to the needs of every student. Our careers programme will embed equality and diversity considerations throughout.

4. Linking curriculum learning to careers: All teachers should link curriculum learning with careers, and stem subject teachers should highlight the relevance of stem subjects for a wide range of future career paths.

5. Encounters with employers and employees: Every student should have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about the world of work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace. This will be through a range of enrichment activities including visiting speakers, mentoring and enterprise schemes.

6. Experiences of workplaces. Every student will develop first-hand experiences of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing and work experience in Year 10 and in Year 12, to help their exploration of career opportunities and expand their networks.

7. Encounters with Further and Higher Education: All students should understand the full range of learning opportunities that are available to them. This includes both academic and vocational routes and learning in schools, colleges, universities, and apprenticeships.

8. Personal Guidance: Every student can see a qualified careers guidance practitioner. This adviser is available whenever significant study or career choices are being made and timed to meet students’ individual needs from Year 7 to Year 11. This can be through Careers Guidance specific appointments or through the Drop-In service.

Our careers programme will include access to information from a range of FE colleges, universities, employers, STEM ambassadors, and apprenticeship providers.

At The Holt School we track all experiences our students have had from year 7-13 that support their careers education.

This policy statement sets out the school’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to pupils at the school for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the school’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.

Pupil entitlement

All pupils in years 7-11 are entitled:

To find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point.
To hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options events, assemblies and group discussions and taster events.
To understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.

Please speak to our Careers Leader, Sharon Hart to identify the most suitable opportunity for you.

Premises and facilities

The school will make the main hall, classrooms, or private meeting rooms available for discussions between the provider and students, as appropriate to the activity.

The school will also make available equipment to support provider presentations. This will all be discussed and agreed in advance of the visit with the Careers Leader.

Providers are welcome to leave a copy of their prospectus or other relevant course literature with the careers lead.

Title	Download
Provider Access Policy	Download

Useful information for students and parents

There are several websites available to both students and parents that can help provide information and advice.

Careers Information

For more information and videos on a range of different careers please visit the below sites
Careers Box
National Careers Service
Icould
Prospects

Labour Market Information

Labour market information is readily available online and can be used to check whether a student’s preferred career path is one which will be in demand in the future. It also provides useful information on salaries, working hours and practices, and common tasks in each field of work. A link to the latest labour market information can be found here: Starting Out – The Berkshire Careers Guide

Evaluation of the Careers Programme

To ensure that our careers programme is delivered to a high standard we use several different ways to evaluate the provision.

We use the Compass+ online self-evaluation tool on a termly basis to assess our progress in meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks. From the results we create an action plan that is focused on the areas of improvement. The students also have access to Unifrog.

We also use current destination data to assess the impact the programme has had for our students when they leave us at 16 & 18 years old. This information will then be used to inform the experiences our current students are offered.

To find out about the upcoming events, all details are shared via the Careers Sharepoint.

Instructions for students:

1. Click on the ‘LaunchPad’ via the school website (or if you are accessing the page in school, then the LaunchPad will open when you open a web browser)

2. Click ‘Departments’

3. Select ‘Careers’

4. Look for opportunities in ‘All year groups’ or select your year group. There is also a news feed at the top of the page with announcements.

The Holt School Careers Programme