Careers Education, Information, Advice & Guidance

Careers Team

Mr P. Colomb, Assistant Headteacher, Curriculum Careers Lead

Mrs G. Eke, Careers Advisor

Contact telephone number: 01372 745333

The Government’s careers strategy sets out a long-term plan to build a world class careers system that will help young people choose the career that is right for them whilst making the most of their skills and talents.

Schools Statutory Guidance

The latest statutory guidance published by the Department for Education (DfE) in October 2018 aims to ensure “that all young people in secondary school get a programme of advice and guidance that is stable, structured and delivered by individuals with the right skills and experience.” To achieve this aim, every school is expected to use the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s Benchmarks to develop and improve their careers provision. The Gatsby Benchmarks are a framework of 8 guidelines that define the best careers provision in secondary schools.

The Gatsby Benchmarks

Blenheim Careers

Intent – Blenheim’s careers education, information, advice and guidance programme aims to give students the knowledge, understanding and skills to plan and manage their progression through learning and into working life. Blenheim strives to ensure equality of opportunity by widening students’ horizons, providing inspiration and raising aspiration to unlock the potential of all learners. This will be achieved through:

Self-awareness - helping students to reflect on their ambitions, interests, strengths and abilities, recognise their potential and how they can shape their future via the Life Skills and Wellbeing programme of study.
Career Exploration - helping students to understand and investigate career opportunities, learning pathways, the labour market and employment sectors via the Blenheim curriculum education initiative “Careers in Context”.

Careers In Context Initiative

Career Management - helping students to plan, make decisions, implement choices and develop a range of skills enabling them to manage their own careers and prepare themselves for employment via the provision of statutory professional careers guidance from years 11 to 13. This includes links to a variety of internet based careers programmes, E-Magazines, details of apprenticeships and work-based training schemes, Further Education College and University open and taster days and much more. In addition, we have a separate Careers Library which contains a large range of reference books, university and college prospectuses and employment sector information.

Implementation Providing a distinct and progressive careers curriculum for every year group and embracing and embedding the requirements of the Gatsby Benchmarks.

Impact – Blenheim’s Careers Programme is assessed using a variety of measures; integrated in the Life skills & Wellbeing curriculum, work sampling, whole school “careers in context” initiative delivery in all curriculum subject areas, student and parent surveys at transition points, completing the Careers & Enterprise Company’s Compass Audit every 6 months, re-accreditation of the national Quality in Careers Standard award, monitoring destinations data and the school's development plan.

Blenheim currently holds the prestigious Quality in Careers Standard (QiCS) award which is the national quality award for excellence in careers education, information advice and guidance (CEIAG) in schools and provision is re-assessed every 3 years. QiCS is fully aligned with the Gatsby Benchmarks and fully complies with the DfE’s statutory guidance.

The independent assessor reports that there is:

“a strong focus on supporting students as individuals and ensuring that they understand the links between work and achievement at school and career aspirations. They are well prepared for decision making at 14, 16 and beyond.”

“the importance of the holistic development of each student and the importance of the CEIAG programme in enabling them to develop a range of personal and employability skills that will prepare them to succeed at transition.”

Careers Education

Careers education is delivered to all year groups as part of the Life Skills and Wellbeing curriculum. Each year group covers Careers based topics each academic year as outlined below.

Year Group	Topic
7	Careers and your Future Financial Education
8	Careers, Interest and Job Ideas Labour Market Information Exploring Careers Personal Skills and Qualities
9	Saving and Managing Money Employment and Financial Management
10	Consumer Rights Employment Rights Exploring a Pay Cheque
11	Post-16 Options Planning for the Future Personal Branding Writing a Personal Statement Writing a CV Making Applications Interview Preparation

Raising aspirations and ensuring students are well-informed about current careers pathways and prospects is a crucial element to their ongoing journey at Blenheim. We believe it is essential that our young people have every opportunity to discuss and explore their future pathways and make well-informed decisions that will create a strong foundation for their next steps.

Download the Full Careers Programme