Careers

Careers Education

Students are enthusiastic about their future and feel well prepared to make independent decisions about their next steps - Ofsted 2024

At Wyvern we consider Careers Education to mean preparing our young people for adulthood, and for the meaningful activity they will be undertaking when they leave school. For some of our young people this will mean employment, undertaking supported internships or traineeships, continuing in further education at college or accessing the range of local day provisions in the community.

Destination Data 2019-2023

We take a child/person-centred approach to our Careers programme, to give our young people the opportunity to experience options according to their interests, and encourage them to express their preferences for what they would like to do when they leave school.

Gatsby Benchmarks

The eight Gatsby Benchmarks to support the development of good careers guidance 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

We follow the principles of the Gatsby Benchmarks to support the success of our careers provision. Our objectives for the careers provision are:

• Support our students to gain a good understanding of the world of work
• Facilitate meaningful encounters with employers for all students, in a manner appropriate for them
• Support students to develop skills for adult life, including for transition settings and the workplace
• Support positive transitions at KS4 and KS5 to onwards destinations
• Encourage participation in continued learning, apprenticeships, internships, and support access to day provision in consultation with parents and the wider teams working with our students
• Support our students to develop independence across all areas of their lives
• Supporting our students to develop the skills, attitudes and qualities to make a successful transition to their post-19 setting
• Support inclusion and challenge stereotypes, promoting equality of opportunity for our students

We assess how effectively we meet the Gatsby Benchmarks using the Careers and Enterprise Company's Compass Assessment tool. We assess our progress and success annually. See our previous assessments below;

Curriculum

We follow a pathway approach to our curriculum. As such, we differentiate the careers provision across the pathways, to ensure that it is appropriate to meet our learners where they are, and supports them to take their next steps.

For further information, please see the attached policy.

Over their time at Wyvern, we offer our students the opportunity to engage with:

• - Encounters with employers both in and out of school
• - Work experience, tailored to our young people’s interests
• - Opportunities to develop independence across all areas, and apply these skills to community settings
• - One-off sessions with STEM ambassadors, Kent Fire and Rescue and other organisations to encourage exploration of different jobs
• - Careers talks with colleges, employers and day service providers
• - Sessions with the Department of Work and Pensions to support our young people in getting ready for work
• - Careers interviews, for those it is appropriate for, at year 10 and year 13
• - The opportunity to work with arts organisations such as Confidance and the Primary Shakespeare Company

Family Support Group

The Careers Lead and Transition Coordinator run a Family Support Group session to facilitate discussion with parents about supporting their child to make decisions about their next steps.

If you missed this session, the slides are attached here.

Contact Details

If you would like to contact the Careers Lead to discuss work opportunities you can offer our young people, or if you would like to know more about the careers provision, then please contact Jess Hyder jhyder@wyvern.kent.sc.uk   01233 621468

If you would like to discuss transition or would like more information about post-19 options, then please contact our Transition Coordinator Vicki Hawkins vhawkins@wyvern.kent.sch.uk  01233 621468

Please click here to access our Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance Policy (CEIAG Policy 2024).