Careers

‘Students receive high-quality careers advice. They have opportunities to meet with employers
and find out about different careers. They also take part in work experience.' Ofsted 2019

We are proud to be part of the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Careers Hub in line with the DfE vision for all schools and colleges to be a part of a Careers Hub by 2024. We work closely with the Careers and Enterprise Company to further expand and improve our careers provision. The CEC is the national body for careers education in England, supporting schools and colleges to deliver modern, 21st century careers education. Their mission is to help every young person find their next best step. Supporting schools and colleges to engage with local employers to help them deliver world class careers support for all young people by building networks, supporting Careers Leaders in school and using the Gatsby Benchmark framework as a best practice standard and tool for continuous improvement.

At Paget High School, our aim is to help students to choose a career that is right for them. We are fully committed to careers education and guidance (CEG) for all of our students and evaluate our practice against the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s Benchmarks. CEG is an integral part of our provision for all students and it is taught within the PSE (Personal Social Health and Education) curriculum within all key stages, although there is some crossover into subjects. For further details on how careers information is integrated into the school please click on the road map below; this careers plan is supplemented by additional activities throughout the year.

PSHE

Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9)

Career's Education commences in Year 7 where we investigate the various job sectors using LMI data for Staffordshire & Stoke, producing a Careers Fair for the year group during Activities Week.

Year 8 explore Enterprise and Employability skills and take part in a number of work related challenges as part their Year of Empowerment Challenges.

Year 9 is an important year for students; they get to choose which subjects and qualifications to study within Key Stage 4, be it the academic traditional GCSE qualifications or the revised rigorous vocational qualifications. This is the first opportunity that they get to make decisions that may affect their future career. Our students are thoroughly prepared for this during their PSHE lessons, assemblies, options evening and careers conventions where available. Year 9 also experience the work place though our work shadowing programme.

It is important for students to choose the right courses as they can: determine the Sixth Form that they go to; determine the qualifications that a student may take at Level 3 (A Level); be used to assess if a student is suitable for a particular course at University; or affect the career a student is suitable for in the future.

‘It is vital, in an environment where new industries are emerging and many of the most important jobs of the future don’t yet exist, that individuals have access to high-quality labour market information and earnings data to underpin their choices’. Anne Milton MP

Key Stage 4 (Year 10-11)

As soon as their GCSEs are, under-way students begin to look towards the next transition in their lives. PSHE lessons and assemblies are used to inform students of their choices post-16. Their choices are: full time study in a school, college or training provider; an apprenticeship, traineeship or supported internship.

Later in their courses, students take part in an experience of work. This is normally during the last half term of Year 10 in the Summer term. We encourage students to self-place finding a placement that interests them and work there as an employee would.

Finally, Year 11 students begin to think about and choose which subjects and qualifications to study within Key Stage 5. A typical student who opts for the academic A Level route undertakes 3 A Levels along with the optional Extended Project Qualification in Year 13. If a student did not achieve a grade 4 or above in English Language or Mathematics at GCSE, they are required to continue to study these subjects regardless of the pathway that they have chosen.

At this stage, students also make a decision upon which place they would like to study. This may be Paget Sixth Form or it may be a Sixth Form College or Further Education College within our vicinity.

Further information can be found on the Post-16 Options page of the careers area of the website.

Key Stage 5 (Year 12-13)

During sixth form, Paget students receive a wealth of information on higher education, Apprenticeships and careers opportunities.

Throughout Year 12 and Year 13, students have careers talks and feature talks that can include: employability workshops, studying abroad, alternatives to higher education, working abroad, gap years, CV writing, UCAS, student finance, Apprenticeships and work experience.

During Year 12, students participate in higher education days that includes visits to universities; and they attend the UCAS and Apprenticeship conventions. They are encouraged to attend Higher Education open days and students are supported through the university (UCAS) application process. An important part of Year 12 is their work experience enrichment activity.

IAG is provided by Higher Horizons who deliver not only specialised workshops in partnership with Keele and Staffordshire University but also IAG sessions and one to one mentoring.

In Year 13, students continue to research their next step and attend visits and interviews for universities, colleges, apprenticeships or work.

At any time, Sixth Form students can request an interview and ask for help by contacting Emily Hardy (Entrust Independent Career Adviser) from the 'Request and Interview' page.