Careers Education, Information, Advice & Guidance

At St Mary’s we encourage every student to be aspirational and offer them a comprehensive programme of careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) from Year 7 onwards.

St Mary’s has achieved the Quality Mark for careers education and guidance that is based on the Gatsby Benchmarks. In 2014, Lord Sainsbury’s Gatsby Charitable Foundation published a report titled “Good Career Guidance.” The report identified eight benchmarks that are the core dimensions of good careers and enterprise provision in schools and these are:

1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance

The Gatsby Benchmarks have a key role in:

• raising young people’s aspirations and promoting access to all career pathways
• enabling all young people to develop the skills and outlook they need to achieve career wellbeing including adaptability and resilience

• underpinning the Department for Education guidance to schools on meeting their statutory responsibility for careers guidance

St Mary’s has a dedicated Careers Lead, Mrs Claire Scarisbrick, who oversees all aspects of careers education, advice and guidance at St Mary’s. Mrs Scarisbrick can be contacted using admin@st-maryshigh.herts.sch.uk

St Mary’s will facilitate access of providers to the School for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training

offer. This complies with the School’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997. For details click on this link:

 SMHS CEIAG Access Policy Feb 2019

For full details of our CEIAG policy please click on the link below:

School : CEIAG Policy July 2019

Key Stage 3

St Mary’s invests in UNIFROG, a complete destinations platform that supports Students to explore careers, universities and apprenticeships.

Year 7 – students will:

• experience workshops on building Aspirations.
• access UNIFROG.
• be introduced to University.
• have employer interactions.

Year 8 – students will:

• be introduced to apprenticeships
• use UNIFROG to explore GCSE options, different careers and skills
• University discussions
• employer interactions during National Careers Week.

Year 9 – students will:

• participate in a careers carousel
• visit or interact with Universities
• use UNIFROG to determine interests and personality traits linked to careers
• have an introduction to Sixth form

Useful Websites:

www.icould.com contains information and advice on choosing GCSEs

www.whichuniversity.co.uk gives further advice on the link between GCSEs and university

www.nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk provides information, advice and guidance to help you make decisions on learning, training and work

Key Stage 4

We provide independent Careers guidance through Services for Young People for every student in Year 11 and offer a drop in service for all students to discuss careers.

Year 10 – students will:

• undertake a weeks work experience
• experience workshops and talks on employability
• Create a CV and experience interview skills and techniques
• Use UNIFROG for career exploration and Post 16 options

Year 11 – students will:

• Experience interactions on Further Education, Higher Education and Independent Training Providers.
• Discuss apprenticeships
• Use UNIFROG to explore post 18 options and employment rights for young people

Useful websites:

www.ychertfordshire.org has information on colleges or further education and training providers

www.russellgroup.ac.uk and www.whichuniversity.co.uk can help with choosing the right subjects for degree courses

www.apprenticeships.gov.uk for information about traineeships and apprenticeships

www.nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk provides information, advice and guidance to help you make decisions on learning, training and work

https://www.hopinto.co.uk/ – Created by the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Network to bring employment, apprenticeship and training opportunities to the Community as well as provide students and teachers with resources into specific careers.

Post 16

Students will have continued opportunities to visit further and higher education facilities, experience Apprenticeship and University fairs and have support throughout their Sixth form journey.

Students will also:

• have UCAS and Oxbridge Application Support
• career related work experience
• interview and CV skills
• apprenticeship Sourcing and application Support
• use UNIFROG to support UCAS application and University exploration
• personal statement support

Useful websites:

www.ucas.com

www.apprenticeships.gov.uk for information about traineeships and apprenticeships

www.opendays.com for information on university open days

www.ychertfordshire.org jobs page for those seeking work along with apprenticeships and details on local employers

www.nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk provides information, advice and guidance to help you make decisions on learning, training and work

https://www.hopinto.co.uk/ – Created by the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Network to bring employment, apprenticeship and training opportunities to the Community as well as provide students and teachers with resources into specific careers.

Local Employer Engagement

We are constantly on the lookout for employers to engage with our students.  If you are an employer that wishes to support our students in the Careers Education Programme, please contact admin@st-maryshigh.herts.sch.uk. Any time or experience that you could give to support our students in understanding more about the world of work would be greatly appreciated.