Oakbank003
Careers

At Oakbank we are committed to equipping our students with the knowledge, tools and skills to enable them to make informed decisions about their future careers.

Oakbank wants all young people to leave with an ambitious, achievable, career goal; and the knowledge of how to get there.

Students can use the Careers Education Information Advice & Guidance (CEIAG) provision within the school which is delivered through our Personal Development programme of PSHE lessons, assemblies as well as specific Careers and Work-Related Learning activities. Our careers resources are consistently updated and developed to provide a quality careers area that is available to all students. 

Our named Careers Lead in school is Mrs Katherine Walker. Please do get in touch if you have any specific careers queries via

 

Gatsby Benchmarks

The Charitable foundation, Gatsby, commissioned Sir John Holman to examine what could be done to improve career guidance in England’s secondary schools. After international research judgements were made on what “good” careers guidance looked like.  These judgements are in the form of eight benchmarks, identifying different dimensions of good career guidance. The benchmarks are summarised in the table below. These benchmarks underpin and run through the careers programme at Oakbank School.

1

A stable careers programme

Every school and college should have an embedded programme of career education and guidance that is known and understood by pupils, parents, teachers, governors and employers.

2

Learning from career and labour market information

Every pupil, and their parents, should have access to good quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities. They will need the support of an informed adviser to make best use of available information.

3

Addressing the needs of each pupil Pupils have different career guidance needs at different stages.

Opportunities for advice and support need to be tailored to the needs of each pupil. A school’s careers programme should embed equality and diversity considerations throughout.

4

Linking curriculum learning to careers

All teachers should link curriculum learning with careers. STEM subject teachers should highlight the relevance of STEM subjects for a wide range of future career paths.

5

Encounters with employers and employees

Every pupil should have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace. This can be through a range of enrichment activities including visiting speakers, mentoring and enterprise schemes.

6

Experiences of workplaces

Every pupil should have first-hand experiences of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing and/or work experience to help their exploration of career opportunities, and expand their networks.

7

Encounters with further and higher education

All pupils should understand the full range of learning opportunities that are available to them. This includes both academic and vocational routes and learning in schools, colleges, universities and in the workplace

8

Personal guidance

Every pupil should have opportunities for guidance interviews with a career adviser, who could be internal (a member of school staff) or external, provided they are trained to an appropriate level. These should be available whenever significant study or career choices are being made. They should be expected for all pupils but should be timed to meet their individual needs.

Our young people have access to a wide range of opportunities over different year groups to learn about different careers and the employability skills required to get them. These include:

  • One-to-one interviews with a qualified careers advisor

  • Careers education in Personal Development time

  • Visits to universities and colleges

  • Work experience opportunities

  • Enterprise days

  • Employability workshops run by local employers

  • Help with letter writing, CV building and interview skills

  • Use of online software (Unifrog) to self-assess future career interests and research pathways into chosen fields.

  • Talks from subject specialists

  • Information in lessons where relevant

  • Intervention mentoring programme for students struggling to find the correct path when they leave

The school uses drop-down days (where the school timetable is suspended), personal development time and assembly time to deliver these.

Next review date of our Careers programme – 31st January 2024


 

 

Who do we work with?

One of our close partners for the Career Programme is:

Study Higher

Study Higher

Study Higher is a network of universities within our region, working together to deliver outreach activities to young people with the aim of helping them make strong decisions about their future. The outreach is aimed at students in Years 9-13.

Oakbank is a target school for Study Higher and we have the support of a Higher Education Liaison Officer (Joanna Ridley) and access to a wide range of activities and resources to support our careers program. All Study Higher activities are free of charge to the school and to participating students.

We have developed links with the Universities of Reading, Surrey and Oxford Brooks. We are have worked closely with local businesses through the Hire Power event. We have had the British Army and the NHS in this academic year.

Impartial careers advice in school is provided by:

Adviza

 

Career Pilot

It is our aim to get all students an account set up on Career Pilot - a free, award-winning, careers website www.careerpilot.org.uk. It is for young people and of a Parent Zone aimed at helping parents and carers get the information they need to help their children make the right choices at 14, 16, and 18. The site is managed by the Western Vocational Progression Consortium and funded through a partnership of 20 universities. 

The Careerpilot website aims to provide 13-19-year-olds in the South of England with information on the full range of choices available at 14, 16 and 18, including apprenticeships, college, higher-level study, etc.

  • The website also includes information on 19 job sectors, a tool where you can search for courses and apprenticeships, links to providers in the South of England and, if users register (which is free, on the home page and takes 1 minute), they can save their choices of job sectors, providers and qualifications in Career Tools. They can also save their results from the Pre 16 Skills Map and Post 16 Skills Map.
  • In 2017-18 over 350,000 young people used the Careerpilot site.
  • 97% of users surveyed say the site was useful.

The Careerpilot Parent Zone can help you as a parent/carer get answers to the career questions you want to ask, about:

  • Choices at 14, 16 and 18
  • Further Education College
  • Apprenticeships and Traineeships
  • Higher Education (including HE provided at local colleges)
  • Job sectors and growth
  • Funding and support

Answers are clearly written and link to additional information on the Careerpilot website or to other websites. Access the Parent Zone from the Careerpilot home page or by clicking on this link Parent Zone

 

Barclays LifeSkills

Virtual Work Experience

The following is a link to a virtual work experience offered through Barclay’s Skills for Life. These opportunities take place during half term and you will need access to a device during this time. If your child chooses to take part, they can log this on Unifrog and it will help towards the building of their CV.

Online Work Experience | Young People | Barclays LifeSkills

Careers in the Curriculum - Department Displays

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Downloads

Page Downloads Date  
Provider Access Policy 2023 - Mar 2023 15th Mar 2023 Download
Sixth Form Open Events - 2023 28th Sep 2023 Download
Careers Bulletin - Autumn Term 1 2023 04th Oct 2023 Download
Careers Newsletter - Autumn 2 08th Nov 2023 Download