Careers

What we already do for pupils at Northfield School for Girls:

1. We have dedicated careers lessons in years 8-11, covering topics like skills, career families, option choices, interview skills, preparing for interviews, applying for Further Education, planning for Higher Education.  Please see Scheme of Work on our website for more detail.
2. We give pupils the opportunity to speak to employers and employees through different avenues.    We invite employers in to help pupils to prepare for work, writing a CV, a personal statement, giving pupils a mock interview.
3. We work closely with Aim Higher to give pupils the chance to link their school subjects with career opportunities. 
4. All pupils have the chance to go to a Careers Fayre to speak to local colleges and some employers.
5. We invite local FE partners into school to speak to Year 11 in assemblies.
6. We take ALL pupils on a visit to a university (Higher Education) so they can see what it is like, to ask any questions they have about university and raise their aspirations for the future.
7. We take all pupils on at least one visit to a Further Education venue – our local partners are Halesowen, Cadbury College and Bournville College.
8. We offer all pupils a 1-1 interview with a qualified Careers Adviser, with further interviews as needed.  Our Careers Adviser is also available for drops ins Some Tuesday and every Wednesday lunch times.
9. Mr Keylock is seeing pupils in form time to support all Years 10 and 11 with future plans and to guide pupils in career choices.
10. We support pupils with SEND to transition to the next stage of their education.

Parents

What Parents can do:

Research has shown that only 5% of young people said they ignored their parent’s advice for careers.  It is really beneficial for discussions about careers to be carried on at home.  At the end of the day, we can only support pupils to make their choices, they have to make their own decisions for themselves.
We have prepared some information/tools/websites to support you with this.

1. We have prepared a document for you to help explain what the different types of qualifications are, how they are different, what pupils need to do to access them and what they can lead to.
2. Encourage your daughter to visit Open Days.  We will send out list of every Open Day when they have been announced. We have found that the majority of pupils are happy with their choice, but a small number start in September of Year 12 and have dropped out by November, waiting to start at a different venue the next academic year.  They can avoid this by visiting as many places as they can and seeing how they feel there.
3. We have encouraged pupils to get applications in by Christmas, to reduce stress levels for the GCSEs in the Spring Term.  Please encourage them at home, too.
4. Think about apprenticeships as another option.  We have included a list of useful websites, one of which describes what apprenticeships are and how to apply for one. 
5. Consider LMI (Labour Market Information) and have a discussion about that with your daughter.  The types of careers available now and in the future are changing rapidly.  One example of this is, there is a great need for people working in the digital sector, something that wasn’t a factor before.  We have included this in the following weblink.  They need to consider whether they are choosing a course that has the potential to lead to a career at the end.

All pupils have access to Kudos – a careers website paid for by the school.  Kudos can help pupils explore career options if they have no idea what they want (via a quiz).  You can use it to search for a specific job – including skills, academic requirements, salary and LMI.   It is also useful to search for courses for post 16 education.  They can access this at home.  They will all have had a log in.  Please encourage them to use this at home as well as in school. Please also have a look at the Parent’s Guide provided by Kudos.