Careers Education Information, Advice and Guidance
At St Mary’s we have an extensive careers programme created in order to help develop our students’ knowledge of career and further education opportunities available to them, to help them to develop employability skills and to raise their aspirations and ambitions to achieve their future goals.
In KS3 and KS4 students study a ‘life beyond school’ topic as part of the Personal Development Curriculum. At KS5, students study ‘preparing for the world’ and ‘entering the world’ topics. Below is a brief description of what students study in each year group as part of their CEIAG lessons.
Year 7 – Students will explore and understand what careers are and learn about how careers education can help them to plan for the future. Students will also look at key education, training and employment transition points in their lives and what they will need to develop in order to navigate their exciting career journey. Students will consider which skills are important for different careers and how they can develop employability skills.
Year 8 – Students will think about potential careers and initially focus on their interests and preferences, as well as how these may change over time. They will develop their understanding of themselves and their interests and how these will help shape their choices in terms of options and future career ideas. Students will learn about what Labour Market Information (LMI) is and how it can be useful to them. They will begin to start using LMI to get a realistic picture of the labour market and how it can help them to make decisions about future careers. Students will also learn about UK Job sectors and explore a wide variety of jobs, evaluating different qualifications, starting salaries and duties involved in a wide range of careers.
Year 9 – Students will understand how success and failure are often linked and explore what motivates people to achieve incredible things in their careers, including the importance of resilience and learning from mistakes. Students will explore the importance of their personal happiness in their choice of career and how this is influenced by many different factors. Students will learn about the need for financial competence in their careers and the different types of employment available to them. This will include looking at self-employment, full time, part time and contractor work.
Year 10 – Students will explore employment rights and responsibilities and the importance of these areas in any career choice. Students will learn how to work out calculations such as Gross Pay and Net Pay on a payslip. They will also evaluate the importance of paying tax and about their NI contributions.
Year 11 – Students will explore a full range of post-16 options that will be available to them after their GCSEs. Students will learn about the importance of a Curriculum Vitae and explore the purpose of a CV, learning how to create a clear and concise CV. Students will look at examples of personal statements, learn about the features of personal statements and also how to write one that is effective and impressive.
Year 12 – Students will explore a full range of post-18 options that will be available to them after their time in the Sixth Form. Learning will focus on how students can best prepare for their future lives and careers. The lessons will include looking at ideas such as Entrepreneurship and career goals. Students will also learn how to prepare for interview and the concept of ‘personal branding’. Students are fully supported as they begin the UCAS process or as they begin to explore apprenticeship/work opportunities.
Year 13 – Students will develop their employability skills, with a key focus on leadership, professionalism and teamwork. Students will look at, the next stage of their development after school, create their own goal plans and plan the actions required to make their ambitions for the future a reality. In addition to the broad range of CEIAG lessons, which are taught as part of the Personal Development Programme, students are given many opportunities to explore and encounter career and employment opportunities.
