1. Legal framework

This policy has due regard to all relevant legislation and statutory guidance including, but not limited to, the following:

• Education Act 1997
• Education and Skills Act 2008
• Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009
• Equality Act 2010
• Children and Families Act 2014
• Technical and Further Education Act 2017
• The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2018
• DfE (2022) ‘Careers guidance and access for education and training providers’

This policy operates in conjunction with the following school policies:

• Complaints Procedures Policy
• Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy

2. Roles and responsibilities

The Headteacher is responsible for:

• Ensuring that all registered students are provided with independent careers guidance from Year 7 to Year 11
• Ensuring that arrangements are in place to allow a range of education and training providers to access all students and inform them about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships. A policy statement will set out these arrangements.
• Ensuring that the independent careers guidance is presented in an impartial manner, showing no bias or favouritism towards a particular institution, education, or work option.
• Ensuring that the guidance includes information on the range of education or training options, including apprenticeships and technical education routes.
• Ensuring that the guidance that is provided promotes the best interests of students.
• Ensuring this policy does not discriminate on any grounds.
• Handling complaints regarding this policy as outlined in the school’s Complaints Procedures Policy.
• Providing clear advice and guidance to the Headteacher on which they can base a strategy for careers education and guidance which meets the school’s legal requirements.

The Curriculum Lead is responsible for:

• Managing the provision of careers information.
• Taking responsibility for the development, management, and reporting of the school’s careers programme.
• Planning careers activities, managing the careers budget and, where necessary, and managing and coordinating other staff involved in the delivery of careers guidance.
• Establishing and developing links with employers, education and training providers, and careers organisations.
• Liaising with the Headteacher and the careers adviser to implement and maintain effective careers guidance.
• Liaising with the PSHE teacher and other subject leaders to plan careers education in the curriculum.
• Referring students to careers advisers.
• Establishing, maintaining, and developing links with FE colleges, universities, apprenticeship providers and employers.
• Providing students with effective careers guidance and supporting social mobility by improving opportunities for all young people.
• Supporting teachers of careers education and tutors providing initial information and advice.
• Supporting subject teachers to build careers education and guidance into subjects across the curriculum.
• Monitoring teaching and learning in careers education, and the access to and take up of career guidance.
• Advising senior leadership on policy, strategy and resources for careers education, information, advice, and guidance (CEIAG).
• Preparing and implementing a development plan for CEIAG.
• Reviewing and evaluating the programme of CEIAG.
• Encouraging the training of school staff to promote careers guidance to their students.
• Using the Gatsby Benchmarks to improve the school’s careers provision and ensure compliance with legal duties, with an ultimate aim to meet all benchmarks.
• Allowing students to have access to providers of technical education, such as colleges, and apprenticeships to ensure every student is well-informed about their future options at every stage.
• Self-evaluating the careers provision the school offers.
• Publishing details of the school’s Careers Policy on its website.
• To ensure teachers know which students are in care/are care leavers, to understand their additional support needs and to ensure that any personal education plans can inform careers advice.
• Working closely with the staff to identify the guidance needs of all students with SEND and implement personalised support.
• Ensuring that students with SEND understand their different career pathways, and enabling them to gain the skills, knowledge and experience they require to achieve their career goals.

The Careers Adviser is responsible for:

• Reporting regularly to the Curriculum Lead, regarding student progress and the effectiveness of the school’s career plan.
• Providing a thorough, personalised career service throughout the school.
• Staying up to date with relevant CPD and developments in the CEIAG sector.
• Producing careers information and guidance through online and hard copy literature, and visual displays in school.
• Organising workshops for students and actively promoting the careers service in-house at open evenings, presentation days, assemblies, and parents’ evenings.
• Developing incentives and initiatives which actively encourage students to sign up to the school’s career service.
• Attending regular meetings with the Curriculum Lead to discuss the school’s career plan.
• Providing an open-door service for students once a week to drop in and discuss their options.
• Arranging meetings and follow-up appointments with students who are interested in the careers service.

Teaching staff are responsible for:

• Ensuring careers education is planned into their lessons.
• Attending any relevant CPD or training to ensure they are up to date with the school’s careers plan.
• Promoting careers guidance in the classroom through visual aids.
• Being good role models for their area of work or specialism.
• Creating a learning environment that allows and encourages students to tackle real life challenges, manage risks and develop skills that can be applied to the workplace.

3. Developing a stable careers programme

The school will have its own careers programme in place which meets the requirements of the eight Gatsby Benchmarks.

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

The programme will be reviewed termly against the benchmarks to ensure it remains on target.

The school will demonstrate how it is working towards each Gatsby Benchmark, as part of its career’s summary, including the aims, objectives and activities provided for each year group.

Regular feedback from students, parents, teachers, Executive Director, and employers will be invited. Feedback will be used to contribute to the development of the school’s careers programme to ensure it meets the needs of all students.

The Headteacher will work with enterprise coordinators to build careers and employer engagement plans to broaden the range of guidance that students have access to.

The school will work towards the Quality in Careers Standard to support the development of its careers programme, ensuring the programme is reviewed termly to ensure it is in line with the required standards.

4. Using labour market information

The school will ensure every student, and their parents, has access to high-quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities. Students and their parents will be referred to an informed advisor to help them make best use of the information available.

The school will ensure students and their parents understand the value of finding out about the labour market and support them in accessing this information. Students and their parents will be provided with information on the benefits of understanding the labour market, including the salaries and promotion opportunities for different jobs, and the volume and location of vacancies across different sectors.

The school will ensure that all students, by the age of 14, have accessed and used information about career paths and the labour market to inform their own decisions on study options. Students will be provided with the necessary links and information that will enable them to access this. Access will be monitored to review whether students are making the most of the service, and if not, what can be done to ensure they do.

Parents will be encouraged to access and use information about labour markets and future study options to inform their support to their children.

The school will make use of local enterprise partnerships to provide students with presentations and workshops on the local labour market and employer expectations. The information provided through the partnership will be used to shape career guidance and workshops in schools.

To support social mobility, the school will work to raise students’ aspirations and tackle stereotypical assumptions. Interventions will be used to tackle gender stereotypes; arrangements will be made for students to talk to employees who work in non-stereotypical jobs to raise awareness of the range of careers that STEM qualifications lead to.

The school will use labour market information, such as job roles, pay and vacancies, to inform students about the trends and opportunities in each industry. Information about a diverse range of progression pathways will be shared with students, including technical routes, to strengthen their capacity to make effective choices.

5. Addressing the needs of students

The school’s careers programme will aim to raise the aspirations of all students whilst being tailored to individual needs. The programme will inform students of the range of opportunities available to them, encouraging them to aim higher and make choices relevant to what they feel they can achieve.

The school will embed equality and diversity considerations throughout its careers programme and actively seek to challenge stereotypical thinking.

All forms of stereotyping will be prohibited in the careers advice and guidance that is provided, to ensure students of all genders, backgrounds and abilities can consider the widest possible range of careers.

The school will tailor careers activities and educational goals to the needs of each student, considering their prior knowledge and skills, the choices they may face, and any additional support they may need to overcome barriers to progression.

Comprehensive and accurate records will be kept supporting the career development of individual students at all relevant stages of education, beginning from the first point of contact. These records will be stored securely in the share drive. Access to this information will be permitted, should a student or their parent request it.

Data retained will be collected, stored, and managed in line with the Data Protection Policy.

The school will collect and analyse destinations data to assess how well the careers programme is countering stereotypes and raising aspirations. The data will be reviewed by the Headteacher and Curriculum Lead on a annual basis who can then base further development of the school’s career guidance plan on the results and areas of success or failure.

6. Providing targeted support

The school will work with the LA, Children’s Social Care and VSHs to identify students who need targeted support or those who are at risk of not participating in post-16 pathways.

Agreements will be made on how these students can be referred for support drawn from a range of education and training support services available locally. The school will share the relevant data on these students with the LA and local education and training providers where support costs may be required, such as care leavers and students who are eligible for FSM.

The school will work with Jobcentre plus under their ‘Support for Schools’ programme.

The school will ensure that students understand the programmes available to support them and the financial costs associated with staying in post-16 FE. To support students who are likely to need support with post-16 participation costs, such as those with SEND, the school will work with the LA and local post-16 education or training providers to share student data and ensure these students receive such support.

Students will be made aware of the 16-19 Bursary Fund, which has been devised to support those individuals with a financial hardship. They will be advised of how to access this funding and who they should speak to find out more information.

7. Supporting students with SEND

The school will ensure that careers guidance is differentiated, if appropriate, and based on high aspirations and a personalised approach. The SEND local offer will be utilised; annual reviews for a student’s EHC plan will be informed by good careers guidance.

The Curriculum Lead will work closely with the Headteacher and other staff to support students with understanding different career pathways and how to develop the necessary skills, knowledge, experience, and qualifications to succeed and fulfil their potential. The school will work with families of students to help them understand what career options are available.

Surveys will be conducted to find out individual students’ aspirations. The results of the surveys will create careers guidance and experience that will be tailored to students needs based on their own aspirations and abilities.

Careers guidance will take account of the full range of relevant education, training, and employment opportunities. It will inform students about the ways employees with SEND are supported in the workplace, and how jobs can be adapted to fit a person’s abilities. Guidance will focus on a student’s career aspirations and the post-16 options which are most likely to give the student a pathway into employment or HE.

The school will build partnerships with businesses and other employers, employment services, and disability and other voluntary organisations. Students will be prepared for encounters with employers and provided with any special support that will allow them to benefit fully from the experience.

Students with SEND will have the opportunity to hear from adults with disabilities who have succeeded in their careers as part of the school’s successful careers strategy.

When arranging work experience for students, the school will work with the employer to determine any additional support that will be needed during the work placement.

8. Linking curriculum learning to careers

The school will ensure all requirements to meet ‘Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers’ as outlined in the DfE’s ‘Careers guidance and access for education and training providers.

The school will work to encompass careers education and guidance into subjects across the curriculum. All teachers will be asked to support the career development of young people in their role and through their subject teaching. Teachers with industry experience will play a part in building careers guidance into the curriculum.

Students are expected to study the core academic subjects at GCSE, including English, Maths, Science, PSHE, Careers. Students will be informed that if they do not achieve a grade 4 or higher in GCSE maths and English by the end of KS4, they will be required to continue working towards this aim as part of their 16-19 study programme. Students will be taught to understand how these subjects provide a sound basis for many careers, as well as how they can enrich and enhance their lives and prepare them for adult life in general. Careers, employability, and enterprise lessons will be embedded into the PSHE curriculum.

The school will ensure that, by the age of 14, every student has had the opportunity to learn how various STEM subjects aid their entry into a wide range of careers and enable them to be more effective workers. The same will be applied for every student in their chosen subjects by the end of their course of study. The same will be applied for every student in their chosen subjects by the end of their course of study. The Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) have collaborated with STEM Learning to produce a series of STEM toolkits

9. Enabling encounters with employers and alumni

The school will ensure all requirements to meet ‘Benchmark 5: Encounters with employers and employees’ as outlined in the DfE’s ‘Careers guidance and access for education and training providers’.

The school will engage with local employers, businesses, and professional networks, inviting visiting speakers, particularly alumni with whom students can relate to. Every student will be exposed to the world of work by the age of 14.

Every year, from the age of 11, students will participate in at least one meaningful encounter with an employer; at least one of these encounters will be with a STEM employer or workplace. These encounters will include:

• Careers events such as careers talks, careers carousels and careers fairs.
• Alumni activities.
• Transitions skills workshops such as CV workshops and mock interviews.
• Mentoring and e-mentoring.
• Employer delivered employability workshops.
• Employer encounters with parents.
• Employer involvement in the curriculum.
• Business games and enterprise competitions.

The school will develop strong links with local, regional, and national employers across all sectors to help students obtain information on, and participate in, the rollout of T-levels.

The careers programme will have a strong employer focus, allowing students to meet with sector representatives and businesses, to gain insights into a range of industries and sectors. This will include the opportunity to learn about the entrepreneurial skills needed for certain types of self-employment. Students will have the opportunity to meet with individuals from different levels within an organisation and those who have followed a variety of pathways into employment.

10. Providing work experience

The school will ensure that all students have had at least one first-hand experience of a workplace by the age of 16, additional to any part-time jobs they may have.

The school will ensure that, by the age of 18, or before the end of their programme of study, every student has had at least one further first-hand experience of a workplace, additional to any part-time jobs they may have.

Where required and appropriate, virtual experiences of the workplace will be used to complement the in-person experience. This method will not be used for T-level industry placements. Mandatory industry placements for students undertaking T Levels will differ from traditional work experience, and involve more long-term and immersive placements that are designed to lead to a particular type of employment.

The school will encourage students to experience a wide variety of workplaces and support them to plan for, reflect upon, and learning from these experiences.

Work experience will be designed to meet the needs of individual students, with consideration each students SEND. The school carefully match the placement to each student’s ability, needs and aspirations. The school will work with the employer to put in place additional support within the work placement for students with additional needs, where required, and help prepare the student for the work placement.

16-19 study programmes will require high-quality and meaningful work experience. A flexible approach will be adopted for younger students. Experiences of the workplace by the time the student is aged 16 will include the following:

• Workplace visits
• Job shadowing
• Career-related volunteering and social action
• Café on site experience
• Farm on site experience
• Horticulture on site experience

Experiences of the workplace by the time the student is aged 18 will include the following:

• Internships and holiday placements
• Work experience that takes place during term time
• Longer work placements

11. Enabling encounters with further education (FE) and higher education (HE)

The school will ensure all requirements to meet ‘Benchmark 7: Encounters with further and higher education’ as outlined in the DfE’s ‘Careers guidance and access for education and training providers’.

The school will ensure all students understand the requirement to remain in education or training until their 18th birthday and what this requirement means for them.

The school will ensure students are aware that this does not mean they need to stay in school, and that they may:

• Study full time in a school, college or with a training provider.
• Undertake an apprenticeship, traineeship, or supported internship.
• Work or volunteer 20 hours or more a week, combined with part-time accredited study.

The school will provide students with a range of information and opportunities to learn about the academic and technical pathways for education, training, and career paths throughout their school life, to prevent last minute decision-making. The school will not present HE more favourably compared to FE or other technical routes, nor will it disproportionately promote its own sixth form over other options.

By the age of 16, every student will be provided the opportunity to have a meaningful encounter with providers of educational opportunities, including sixth forms, colleges, universities, and apprenticeship providers.

The school will ensure that, by the age of 18, all students who are considering applying for university have been provided the opportunity for at least two visits to universities. In addition, before the end of their programme of study, all students will have been provided the opportunity to encounter a range of higher and further education and training providers.

Students will be encouraged to use information tools, such as websites and apps, which display information about opportunities, such as the National Careers Services’ Find a Course. Education and training providers will have access to all students in Years 8 to 13 for the purpose of informing them about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

12. Providing personal guidance

The school will ensure all requirements to meet ‘Benchmark 8: Personal guidance’ as outlined in the DfE’s ‘Careers guidance and access for education and training providers’

Careers advice provided by the school will be unbiased and always maintain the best interests of individual students. The school will not promote career or progression routes as better or more favourable than others; however, students will be advised, where evidence supports it, whether a chosen course has the potential to lead to poor career outcomes.

All students will be provided with opportunities for personal guidance interviews with a qualified careers adviser. Such interviews will take place by the time the student reaches age 16, with the opportunity for a further interview by the age of 18.

Careers advisers will meet the professional standards outlined by the Career Development Institute. The school will integrate personal guidance interviews within the pastoral system so that they can be followed up by the form tutors or equivalent.

Careers advisers working with students with SEND will use the outcome and aspirations in the EHC plan to focus discussions. Careers advisers working with

CLA or care leavers will use their personal education plan to focus discussions. These students will have a named adviser who will build a relationship with them to better understand their individual needs.

13. Sharing information

The school will provide the relevant information about all students to the LA support services including:

• Basic information, such as the student’s name or address.
• Other information that the LA requires to support the student to participate in education or training to track their progress.

The school’s privacy notice will offer students and their parents the opportunity to ask for personal information not to be shared.

Students with SEND will have their data monitored by the LA up until the age of 25.

LAs will be notified, as early as is possible, whenever a 16- or 17-year-old student leaves an education or training programme before completion. The school will agree on local arrangements for ensuring these duties are met.

14. Compliance with legal duties and statutory guidance

Where someone has a complaint about the school’s careers provision, such issues will be handled locally in accordance with the school’s Complaints Procedures Policy. All complaints will be easy to submit and considered impartially.

Under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997 and the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, the school has a duty to provide students in Years 8 to 13 with access to providers of post-14, post-16 and post-18 education and training. This will provide students with additional information about approved technical qualifications and apprenticeships, enabling them to build a picture of the kind of training that may suit them best, ultimately reducing the risk of them dropping out of courses.

All students in Years 8 to 13 will receive at least six encounters with accredited providers of technical education and apprenticeships. These encounters will be divided accordingly:

• In Year 8 or between 1 September and 28 February during Year 9, all students must attend two mandatory sessions by accredited providers.
• In Year 10 or between 1 September and 28 February in Year 11, all students must attend two mandatory sessions by accredited providers.
•  In Year 12 or between 1 September and 28 February during Year 13, there will be two sessions held by accredited providers – these will be optional for students to attend.

The school will be clear on the following:

• Who is to be given access to students.
• Which students’ access will be given to.
• How this will happen and when.

The school will ensure that providers provide the following information to students and parents:

• Information about the provider and the technical qualifications and apprenticeships that they offer.
• Information about the potential careers to which those technical qualifications or apprenticeships might lead.
• What learning and training with them is like
• Any answers to questions that students and parents may have.

The school will ensure that provider visits are available to all students in the relevant year group and will not do anything which may limit the ability of students to attend. The school will not, under any circumstance, restrict invitations to selected groups of students or hold events outside of normal school hours.

The school will prepare a policy statement which sets out the circumstances in which education and training providers will be given access to students. This policy statement will be published on the school website and will include:

• Details on how the school will meet the legal requirement to provide six encounters with providers between Year 8 and 13.
• Any procedural requirements in relation to requests for access, e,g. the main point of contact at the school to whom requests should be directed.
• Grounds for granting and refusing requests for access, e.g. details of timetabled careers lessons, assemblies or careers events which providers may attend.
• Details of premises or facilities to be provided to a person who is given access, e.g. rooms and resources.
• How the school will work with each visiting provider.
• A list of providers who have previously visited the school.
• Destinations of previous students.
• Details about live online encounters with providers.
• Information on how a provider can raise a complaint and the procedure to go through.

15. Monitoring and review

The Executive Director, in conjunction with the Headteacher and Curriculum Lead, will review this policy on an annual basis, considering the success of supporting students in accessing post-16 education and training. The Headteacher will make any necessary changes to this policy and will communicate these to all members of staff.

Careers Survey – Plans for Your Future

This survey is intended to help you begin thinking about your career path when you leave school. Each year, this survey information will be updated to reflect your changing perspective on your aspirations as you get closer to leaving school. This information will also serve as a guide to your teachers in deciding which classes and educational experiences you should have to help you be successful in the kind of life you want to have after secondary school.

Careers

Please tick as many boxes as you wish below, and answer the relevant questions, to indicate what you would like to do following completion of your GCSEs.

Hobbies

Year 11 only

Destinations Survey – Plans for Your Future

This survey is intended to gain an insight into the career paths of students who have completed their time of study at Danebrook House School. This survey will also support our school in providing evidence for how our current careers programme has impacted on past students. Please fill in the questions below and return the survey back to the school.

Careers Audit