CEIAG

Towards the end of Year 7 in Term 6, once the cohort has settled into life at Kendrick School, we have a session to give our students the opportunity to be inquisitive about careers. We know many students this age are unsure about what they might like to be or what career path they will choose later in life and that is fine. We do, however, want them to have a wide scope, to be informed of the many possibilities that are open to them and to have access to some of the tools that will help them access this type of information.

The session content will be planned to introduce the Unifrog platform and then to investigate the jobs/careers that they already know something about, but then to extend the search to unusual and less obvious career options. The outcome is to widen the aspirations and career horizons of our students.

Employability Skills

Year 7s really enjoy the 'Wheelie' Fun Business Challenge, which is a day off timetable where 12 teams devise a business idea based on the premise of up to 6 wheels (hence the name of the event!) The day comprises creative thinking, problem-solving, time management and presentation skills.

CEIAG

As our students engage with their career thinking, we enable them to investigate careers to a deeper level as each student is to interview someone they know that either has a career in the field they are currently interested in or in an area that is simply of interest, perhaps for its difference to regular careers or that it is unusual in some other way. They will be trained on how to carry out this research by their form tutors and then some dedicated time will be given for the students to give a presentation to the rest of their form. Students will keep a log of this information that they gain.

In Term 3 (February) Learning to Work run a Year 8 focussed Careers workshop. 

This 2-hour workshop comprises 3 sessions:

1. Pathways Presentation and Q&A, delivered by one of LTW’s  Level 6 IAG practitioners.
2. ‘People Like Me*’ session which includes a presentation from the LTW team, a personality profiling questionnaire for each Year 8 student to complete and an interactive workshop on how the results of the questionnaire map onto STEM careers.
3. Q&A session with local business volunteers.

Students will be encouraged to continue using the Unifrog platform to further investigate career paths and begin to see links to careers through subject choices. They will keep adding to their personal profiles, keeping a dynamic and helpful log of all useful experiences and encounters with guest speakers etc. which will enable them to reflect on their thought process towards their future career choices.

CEIAG

In Term 4, PSHCE lessons are used for the delivery of CEIAG in Year 9. In these sessions, the students are empowered to make informed decisions regarding their GCSE choices by creating an in-depth personal profile. They will have time to use more of the features of the Unifrog platform. They also have a thorough induction at the careers library and have time to investigate the resources there which could be of importance to them when thinking about their future potential careers.

• ‘Step into the NHS’ national competition: An opportunity to explore medical-based careers. Launched in Term 2 by form tutors. School Deadline mid-March. (National Deadline: end of April.)
• UNIFROG: Investigate and use the services on this interactive careers platform. February reminder session. We provide supported access to this popular and tremendously useful career platform which allows our students to explore many aspects of their own career journey (including searching for university courses and apprenticeships) both within the school setting and in their own time.
• Careers Teaching embedded in PSHCE sessions: Term 3 and 4 Feb/March.
• GCSE Options talk: early for parents/carers (early evening) and for the students, Thursday P3 early March. Students research their options and then make informed decisions about GCSE subjects.
• Design Your Future (Careers Fair): We held this event on 2nd March 2023.  It was provided by ‘Learning To Work’ as a live event where students were able to explore a variety of career paths by having conversations and seeing professional exhibits/presentations from inspirational employees of many prestigious companies from a whole range of career-disciplines.
• ‘Skills Builder’ digital online platform (for learning work-ready/transferable skills). This is a new-to-us digital resource, kindly part-funded by KPS, to engage our students with in-school PSHCE lessons and tutor-time sessions, so each student can progress through a wide range of skills. Completion of level-graded tasks generates evidence of achievement in the form of certificates. Also, free access to independent skills' development: https://www.skillsbuilder.org/about-launchpad Students in Year 9 have an assembly in Term 4 to introduce this platform and how students can access it by creating an account.
• Induction to the Careers Library and other resources. An in-school activity for March Profiling Day.