Choosing which direction to take after leaving school is a big decision.
The Careers Programme relates to the Acorn Park School mission statement ‘we care, we strive, we grow, we thrive.’
In order to achieve this, the Careers Programme aims to inform and inspire students, providing advice and guidance to enable them to make decisions that are both realistic and ambitious, while equipping them with the skills, qualifications and experience they need to reach those aspirations. The programme is constructed around the Gatsby Benchmarks to:
- Include career and labour market information
- Address the needs of each student
- Link curriculum learning to careers
- Offer encounters with employers and employees
- Offer experiences of workplaces
- Offer encounters with further and higher education
- Include personal guidance
STUDENT ENTITLEMENT
The Careers Programme will deliver the following entitlements for students:
- Clear advice and information about options available to students when making key decisions for GCSEs, post 16 and post 18
- Use of appropriate support strategies to make plans including ‘Help you choose’.
- Attend external careers events.
- Flight path documents will be completed with students from Year 8 onwards. These detail student voice, sharing goals and aspirations for the future. As part of this process we then detail the steps students must take, with support, to achieve their goals and aspirations. This document is revisited through careers education, referenced in the annual review process and serves as a means to check in on their progress towards their goals.
- An understanding of students’ own skills and strengths
- Awareness of key employability skills and opportunities to develop these
- Support and guidance to help them make choices and complete a career plan for the future
- Personal support and information through personal guidance
- Practical support with applications, CVs and interview skills
- Opportunities to learn about the world of work and gain inspiration direct from employers and staff
The details of this approach are included more specifically in our policy and programme documents in the policy section of our website. This includes our themed weeks, and further details of areas of study per key stage.
There is a link provided to a flightpath case study in the Policies section of the website