Careers Strategy

Intent

• To understand themselves and develop their capabilities
• To investigate careers and opportunities
• To implement their career plan

Implementation

Visiting speakers, trips to education and work place settings, careers advisors, video and careers literature are used in the Careers Education programme to provide pupils with background information relating to further education and a wide range of jobs and training.  We have a former Connexions advisor Sarah Myles employed as a full time Careers Leader in school to support with guidance and applications. Our Aim Higher co-ordinator arranges a variety of trips that are specific to career paths as well as University visits to raise aspirations.  Careers in school is line managed by Mr Paul Keylock – Head of Humanities.  Our SMT Careers link is Mrs Marti Elliott and our Careers Link Governor is Mr John Gopsill.

We work with a number of outside agencies who support the work we do on Careers in PSHE lessons such as Aim Higher, Transformation Trust and Local Colleges such as Cadbury, South & City College Birmingham and Halesowen.  In addition, guidance is given in completing CV’s and personal statements via KUDOS. This programme also gives pupils in depth information about a wide variety of careers and will match them to those most suitable for them. 

All Year 11 pupils receive help with how to prepare for an interview and take part in a ‘mock interview’ in school with our partners from Transformation Trust and Barclays Bank.  We also hold a careers fayre every year to give students further guidance (Providers can find our Provider Access Policy here)

King Edward VI Northfield School for Girls is a member of the Birmingham Careers Hub. We work collaboratively with colleagues in other hub schools, employers, training providers, higher education institutions and universities to co-ordinate careers and work-related learning provision in school. As part of our role in the Careers Hub, we work closely with our Enterprise Co-ordinator, Ravinder Lilli. We are collaborating to meet the demands of the Gatsby Benchmarks, set out by the DfE. The main school website has a ‘Progression’ section with a few key websites containing information on FE & HE options, as well as careers information including LMI.

How the school measures and assesses the impact of the careers programme on pupils

Our Careers programme is reviewed on an annual basis, at the end of the academic year.  Pupils and parents are consulted via questionnaires and pupil focus sessions as part of an ongoing careers evaluation process.  Information gained from this is used to ensure that the careers programme is as effective as possible for all pupils.  The Gatsby Benchmarks are used, and continually updated, to measure progress and impact.