Careers in the Curriculum

What are the bench marks?

The Gatsby Benchmarks are a framework of 8 guidelines that define excellent career guidance, which the Department of Education (DfE) expects schools and colleges to meet by the end of 2020. OFSTED will also want to see how the Raising Aspirations team and subjects are putting careers into the curriculum.

1: A stable careers programme

As a school we have to have a careers programme in place for all year groups. Teachers, pupils, parents, governors and employers must have access to our basic programme. Our programme can be found on the school website. Our programme involves careers lessons (Personal Developemnt), tutor time activities, visits and workshops.

2: Learning from careers and labour market information (LMI)

This benchmark allows students and parents to have access to good information about what jobs are available in their local area, what business are situated near them, what areas need more employees and which jobs might not exist in the future.

Subject leaders can help students by talking about local businesses and new job roles that link to their subject. You can find out more about LMI in the tab on this website.

3: Addressing the needs of each pupil

All of our students have different career aspirations and will need different guidance at different points in their education. The careers guidance and education needs to be tailored to reach individual students. During their time at school our students will have individual interviews to discuss their next stage, opportunities to visit businesses and further education and additional support if they require it.

4: Linking curriculum learning  to the careers

ALL TEACHERS should link careers to their subject area. Students can't choose the best career path for themselves if they don't know what jobs are out there. By adding in careers information into lessons students can understand the variety of jobs on offer. Students can often say what subjects they enjoy but can't often say what jobs they could go into with a love for that subject. Lessons can also include employability skills such as presentation, team work and leadership.

5: Encounters with employers and employees

Students need to have multiple encounters with employers so they can learn what the world of work is like. Both the careers lead and subject staff bring employers into the classroom - this could be to do a talk, run work shops or be a virtual talk.

6: Experience of the workplace 

Every student should have first hand experience of the work place.  As part of the careers programme, year 8 have one day in the work place as part of Take Your Child to Work Day and year 10  have 2 days as part of Get Work Ready. There are also a number of trips to local workplaces 

• (Visits currently on hold due to Covid 19)

All subject teachers are encouraged to run trips to businesses - this counts as careers in the curriculum.

7: Encounters with further and higher education

All students must have encounters with colleges, 6th forms, learning providers and universities and work based learning. As a school we run a careers & apprenticeship fair each year with a variety of learning providers and colleges.

Some of the  universities we currently work with are 

8: Personal guidance

All students must have access to impartial advice about their career choices. 

The school employs a Level 7, CDI member - Miss Hanson to offer independent personal guidance