School Life
Careers & Raising Aspirations
The Careers Programme is designed to meet the needs of all students at Ellowes Hall.
A young person’s career is the progress they make in learning and work. All young people need a planned programme of activities to help them choose pathways that are right for them and to be able to manage their careers and sustain employability throughout their lives.
Ellowes Hall is committed to providing a planned programme of careers education and information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) for all students in Years 7-13, in partnership with the Local Authority Service. Students are entitled to CEIAG which meets professional standards of practice and which is person-centred, impartial and confidential. It will be integrated into students’ experience of the whole curriculum and be based on a partnership with students and their parents or carers. The programme will raise aspirations, challenge stereotyping and promote equality and diversity.
The programme follows the eight Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance which are:
1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance
The careers programme includes careers education sessions, career guidance activities (group work and individual interviews), information and research activities (in the Careers Resource Library and on the school intranet), work-related learning (including one weeks work experience), and individual learning planning/portfolio activities. Careers lessons are part of the school’s personal development programme. Other focused events, e.g. visits from employers are provided from time to time. Work experience preparation and follow-up take place in careers lessons and other appropriate parts of the curriculum.
Please use the pages below to find more specific and thorough information.
Measuring the impact of our careers programme
At Ellowes Hall Sports College we believe in the importance of measuring the impact of our careers programme.
Firstly, we gather and analyse destination data for our year 11 leavers. We record their pathway and analyse the most popular routes for our students looking at the type of qualification, level and provider. This enables us to evaluate our provision in terms of equality and relevance. We can then tailor our programme to meet the needs of our students. We also do the same for our year 13 leavers in conjunction with our colleagues across the Invictus Sixth Form. We track the career journey of our students for three years from the end of year 11 so that we can review their progress, ensuring that they are on the right pathway.
We value feedback from our students and involve them in the design of our careers programme. After any careers education, information, advice or guidance (CEIAG), we obtain feedback from students so that our offer is current, relevant and useful. We also include teaching staff in this process of reflection as their input on the delivery of CEIAG is just as important. Parents are invited to provide feedback too as we recognise the importance of helping them in supporting their child.
In addition, we request feedback from providers or volunteers who have participated in an event so that we can continue doing it successfully or tweak it to suit all involved. A valued source of information comes from our Enterprise Coordinator and Enterprise Adviser who work closely with our Careers Leader to ensure that the programme is effective. Continuous dialogue also occurs between our Independent Careers Adviser and our local authority Careers Adviser who work closely with our students to ensure that we meet their needs.