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Careers, Work Related Learning & Enterprise

Careers Lead: Mr S Lane / Miss J Coe
Email: lanes@hattonacademy.org.uk / coej@hattonacademy.org.uk
Telephone: 01933 226 402

The aim of Careers education at Sir Christopher Hatton Academy is to build a whole school community focussed on excellence; which promotes careers education as an integral part in inspiring our students, to aspire in achieving the best that they possibly can.  Fostering lifelong learning to take our learners in the direction which is right for them as individuals, by embracing and incorporating the Hatton Values in all that we do:

  • Aspiration
  • Inspiration
  • Community
  • Excellence
  • Achievement

The Lifeskills programme comprises lessons that deliver some aspects of the careers provision form KS3 through to KS5 including: labour market information, gender balance and gender bias, routes and options to success including VI Form, College, Apprenticeships and University as well as finance and budgeting.   Careers information is displayed on the careers notice boards across the academy, within departments and in the VI Form centre.  

Students have access to a variety of platforms to allow them to audit and enhance their skills and record their experiences. These platforms such as Start Profile and Unifrog can be used outside of school and opportunities are also afforded to students to use these systems during directed curriculum time.

We also offer a variety of initiatives that push and raise the profile of careers and run activities during National careers week and Science week in March each year as well as raising the profile of careers during events such as our curriculum careers week in June.

As part of our commitment to ensure that students are ready for work the Academy also ensure that skills for work and real world examples are embedded into our curriculum through both our lessons and also extracurricular offerings and trips. Subject leads also engage with employers to ensure that the curriculum is enhanced and work relevant. We also now have our own in house cadets who are able to offer support to students who wish to join the forces.

The following initiatives are also delivered in addition to the above; students will be involved in some or all of the events alongside other opportunities that present themselves throughout the year.

In addition to the information below, in December of every year we run the annual Careers day for the whole school, which consists of career focused activities.

**Our careers provision has been approved by the Board of Directors.

KS3

  • HBacc (in house character eduction initiative) 
  • STEM day – students gain a taste for STEM based subjects
  • Careers mentoring on parent tutor day
  • Personalised enrichment opportunities.
  • Students are encouraged to take the icould careers quiz (The BUZZ quiz) to identify potential options suited to their skills and qualities.
  • Year 8 residential encouraging communication, independence and team work
  • STEAM Day - students select workshops of choice run by employers
  • Options evening - students and parents can discuss options and opt into relevant teacher lead workshops
  • Trip to the Big Bang Careers fair
  • Increasing resilience – A 1-day event run by the army which focuses on team work and resilience

KS4

  • One to one careers interviews with an independent adviser (all students)
  • Careers mentoring on parent tutor day
  • Use of the Unifrog careers planning tool https://www.unifrog.org/
  • VI form open evenings for students and parents
  • Assemblies - What is an Apprenticeship?
  • Milton Keynes apprenticeship show
  • STEAM careers fair
  • Additional intervention sessions for students with SEND
  • The offer of college application support for students who have not applied to destinations
  • Promotion of the NCS residential and action research scheme for students to partake in over the summer, so they are “Ready to be more independent”
  • Interventions with a qualified careers adviser to support students with applying to college and for apprenticeships
  • College & Apprenticeships information evenings
  • HBacc (in house character education initiative)

KS5

  • 1 week of work experience in the summer term (Year 12)
  • Year 12’s attend the UCAS Fair at the University of Bedford with a range of universities present. There are also workshops and events sampling student life.
  • Oxbridge application support sessions (Year13)
  • Form tutor mentoring including careers mentoring
  • One to one careers interviews with an independent adviser (All of year 12, year 13 by request)
  • Milton Keynes apprenticeship show (Year 13)
  • Trip to an Oxbridge University via the G&T provision (Year 12 and 13)
  • UCAS information evenings (Year 12)
  • Personal statement writing sessions (year 12)
  • An Individualised preparing for an apprenticeship provision (year 13)
  • Opportunity to join the senior student team
  • Opportunity to be a subject ambassador
  • VI form Personal development plan initiative
  • Use of the Unifrog careers planning and research tool https://www.unifrog.org/  (students have a personalised log in)
  • Access to the Extended project qualification and MOOCS (Massive open online courses)
  • Getting settled into VI form sessions focusing on the skills needed for independent learning and independent study (Year 12)

Gatsby Benchmarks

Our careers programme is evaluated using the compass tool which references the Gatsby Benchmarks. The Gatsby Benchmarks are a framework of 8 guidelines that define what an outstanding careers provision should look like in schools and colleges. All of our students' careers experiences are tracked against the benchmarks, this information is then used to evaluate our success on a termly basis (3 times a year) alongside our yearly improvement planning cycle.

  • Dates of Compass Tool Review: Terms 2, 3 and 6
  • Date of Next Improvement Plan Generation: September 2023

 

 

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