Careers Curriculum at Welland Park

The careers programme of study at Welland Park is delivered through citizenship lessons, assemblies, outside speakers, interview days, careers fairs, and visits. The programme looks at careers employability and enterprise education, as well as learning and revision techniques, self-esteem, emotional well-being, finance skills and developing personal and social skills. Each year students measure their progress through their entitlement statement.

Year 7 start the year with the Developing Me unit exploring their strengths, weaknesses and how they can improve. The topic enables them to identify their personal and social skills.

Year 8 students complete the World of Work unit. During these lessons, they look at employment law and necessary employability skills. As they progress through the year, they compete in The Real Game. The Real Game initially allows students to select the lifestyle they are hoping for in adulthood then provides ‘reality checks’ as to the realities of work, pay, and hours required in employment to afford such dreams.

In Year 9, the World of Work topic is further developed to cover different employment sectors, considering the local job market. The students are introduced to various career websites, resources, and key adults from the world of work. Our young people are shown how to make well-informed choices with sessions on how to complete a job application form, and they practise interview techniques ready for their Mock Interview Day. Colleagues from the business sector conduct individual interviews with each Year 9 student and provide feedback. Students are invited to attend in interview attire.

Throughout Year10 and 11, students explore and select their post-16 choices. Post-16 providers, universities, apprenticeship providers and places of employment are invited into school for a careers fair. In addition, a number of post-16 providers deliver assemblies to Year 11. Students are taught to develop their CV writing skills and interview techniques as well as looking at personal and social qualities. The Barclay’s Life Skills programme provides an opportunity for students to learn about personal finance and enterprise. All student have a one to one careers interview with a qualified careers advisor and are able to participate in a second interview day with a panel. Work Experience is offered and facilitated to enable the students to complete this valuable opportunity during the summer holiday between Year 10 and 11.

Year 7 - Developing me
Lesson	Lesson Title	Lesson Objective
1	This is me	Students to identify likes and dislikes and then comparing them to others
2	What else can I do?	Students to recognise their achievements
3	What’s it all about?	Students will clarify links between education and the world of work. Students will examine the nature of lifelong learning. Students will assess how this impacts on them.
4	Why have homework?	Students will clarify the purpose of homework.
5	What are key skills?	Students will identify key skills and examine how they are used in daily life.
6	Things I can do	Students will identify their achievements, recognise the skills developed in these activities and relate them to employment
7	What is work related learning?(WRL)	Students will examine what work related learning means. Students will identify activities which contribute to WRL. Students will explain the importance of WRL.
8	Making things better	Students will identify areas for improvement and formulate an action plan

Year 8 - World of work
Lesson	Lesson Title	Lesson Objective
1	What is work?	Students will:- examine the nature of work To discuss different views about work and what constitutes work Propose a definition of work
2	Moon Mission	Students will discuss the role of various jobs in society and rank them.
3	This is what I want	Students will distinguish between what you want the learner wants out of a job and the likely rewards for it.
4	What’s my line?	Students will identify tasks of different jobs and challenge stereotypes.
5	Which job? Which family?	To gain an understanding of job families and increase the range of jobs student know.
6 - 9	The real game	Students will take part in the real game

Year 9
Lesson	Lesson Title	Lesson Objective
	Moving on	To show students opportunities beyond KS3
1	Ks4 options link to subject content and skills to job	To ensure that learners are aware of the career relevance and usefulness of their KS4 core and optional subjects. Learners: clarify their understanding of the core and optional subjects available to them next year explore the links between investing in their own learning at school and the jobs they will be able to get in the future.
2	What’s in a job title?	To enhance learners’ understanding of the change in the labour market and availability of jobs locally
3	Who gets what? Challenging stereotypes	To enable learners to challenge the stereotyping of career choices. Learners: examine their views on attitudes to ‘who can do what’ in our society realise that typically male-oriented jobs tend to be better paid than typically female-oriented jobs challenge their own and others’ stereotypes regarding jobs and roles.
4	Decisions	Learners: realise the importance of having accurate and relevant information when making a decision understand and practise a decision-making technique appreciate the need for contingency or back-up plans.
5	Subjects and careers	To ensure that learners understand the skills they are developing through the subjects they are studying. Learners: investigate the skills they are developing through subjects identify ways of developing their skills.
6	Investigating Careers	Students research a job profile on the national careers service web site Students find out about different qualification Students use the internet to investigate different careers
7-8	Interview Day	Students will learn how to apply for a job and receive and interview by a local business person

Year 10 – Barclays life skills
Lesson	Lesson Title	Lesson Objective
1	21^st century skills	Justify why a range of skill are increasingly valuable in the workplace Identify a selection of 21^st century skills employers are looking for Explain how students may develop one or more of these skills
2	Creativity and Ideas generation	Helps student to think outside the box through creativity and enterprise Understanding what enterprise and creativity mean Explore how to generate ideas Reflect where they see creativity being used and on where they use it
3	Budget game	Understanding living within financial constraints Make decisions about spending and understanding the importance of controlling their finance Develop money management skills and learn basic personal finance
4	Understanding debt	How to manage debt, reduce spending and save regularly
5	Money and work	Help students to read, calculate pay, explore loans and pensions and identify employee benefits beyond salary
6	Financial risk and security	Compare risks in different situations and demonstrate how insurance can provide protection against some financial risks

Year 10 - Preparing for post 16
Session	Lesson Title	Lesson Objective
1	Where to find help?	To introduce student to the careers Advisor and where to find information about post 16 choices
2	Apprenticeships	To inform students about apprenticeships
3	Post 16 providers	To inform students of the different providers at post 16
4	Career interview	To give each student independent guidance
5	Work experience	To give students the opportunity to complete a week’s work experience
6	Careers fair	To give students the opportunity to talk to post 16 providers and local businesses.
7	Post 16	To give students the opportunity to attend career related events in and out of school

Year 11 – preparing for post 16
Lesson	Lesson Title	Lesson Objective
1	CV/personal statements	to give students guidance on how to write a good CV/personal statement
2	PD16	To give guidance to complete PS16 application forms
3	Interview day	To give students the opportunity to complete an application form To give students the opportunity to experience an interview with two business personal.
4	Post 16	To give students the opportunity to attend career related events in school and out of school.

Impact

Our comprehensive careers programme enables our student to make well-informed post-16 choices, as can be evidenced by the wide range of post-16 destinations and choices.

11 different destination on 2018

14 different destinations in 2019

No NEETs (Not in education, employment or training) in both 2018 and 2019).

Positive feedback from students and parents in surveys regarding the provision for careers development.

Careers advice and information

At Welland Park Academy, we have a clear commitment to providing independent, impartial Career Information Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) to all our students, from Year 7 onwards. We hold the Career Mark which demonstrates our determination to provide each student with tailored and appropriate support in their career choice. Each student has access to:

independent, impartial advice
help tailored to individual students
a Careers Advisor based on site, accessible at all times
a one to one interview in Year 10
guidance on applying for Post 16 education

What happens during the careers interview?

During Year 10, each student will have a 20-minute interview with our Careers Advisor. During this interview, students will have a chat about what they would like to do in the future and the best way for them to achieve their goals. At the end of the session, an Action Plan is drawn up with some suggestions for students to follow to assist them in their choices.

For further information please contact Mrs Hix hixs@wellandparkacademy.com

What are my options post 16?

All students now need to stay in some form of education or training until they are 18. After GCSEs, there are three main pathways to choose from and making the decision between the different pathways needs careful thought.

General academic e.g. A-Levels (offered at Sixth Form colleges such as Robert Smyth Academy, Beauchamp College etc).
Work-based: e.g. apprenticeships (learning on the job but also spending some time in college).
Vocationally-related: this could be through a 'vocational subject' related to a broad employment area (such as business, engineering, IT, health and social care) or through a 'vocational course' that leads to specific jobs (such as hairdressing, accounting, professional cookery or plumbing).

Useful Websites

http://www.ncsyes.co.uk/ (National Citizen Service)

https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/ (National Careers Service)

https://www.getingofar.gov.uk/ (Government Website for Apprenticeships)

https://futurelearncareers.com/ (Useful careers information)