Careers

Careers Leader and Principal Lead for Personal Development:
Ms S Hutchinson, sthutchinsons@caludoncastle.co.uk 02476 444822 ext. 308

Broadening Horizons

At Caludon, we recognise that careers-related learning encompasses many aspects of personal development that are central to students’ positive self-perception and to their successful futures. We aim to broaden our students’ horizons, as students cannot aim to be what they cannot see. We therefore aim to empower our students to find and pursue their passions by providing a range of new opportunities.

We aim to raise aspirations, challenge stereotypes and encourage our students to consider a wide range of careers and future pathways.

Through careers related learning and guidance, it is hoped that our students will be encouraged and empowered to make the most of their talents and to go on to future pathways, including jobs or courses, which suit their needs and skillset.

In particular, we intend our students to:

  • develop a broad understanding of the world of work and an ability to respond to changing opportunities
  • develop independent research and evaluation skills so that they can make good use of information and guidance when making careers-related decisions
  • develop and use their self-knowledge when thinking about and making choices
  • develop the skills they need to review achievements, plan future actions, make decisions, present themselves well and cope with change and transition.

We recognize that the process of making career decisions is a lengthy one and that many of our students will make their final choices only after completing their higher education courses.

KS3-4 Careers Education, Independent Advice and Guidance: CEIAG

Caludon has a fully developed CEIAG programme starting from Year 7. Our Personal Development curriculum encompasses careers-related learning for every year group. A half-term programme each year guides students from an introduction to careers paths right through to making active choices about option subjects, college/ apprenticeships and university applications. The Personal Development programme also aims to develop students’ soft skills for employability: creativity, communication, collaboration, connections, critical thinking and resilience. These soft skills can be assessed against the Skills Builder programme and are recorded using Unifrog’s competencies.

5 CsSkills BuilderUnifrog
LearningSelf-AssessingRecording
ResilienceAiming High
Staying Positive
Aiming High
Staying Positive
Independence
CommunicationSpeaking
Listening
Communication
Listening
Presenting
Critical thinkingProblem SolvingProblem Solving
ConnectionsLeadershipLiteracy
Numeracy
Leadership
CreativityCreativityCreativity
CollaborationTeamworkTeamwork

Students in Year 10 participate in a day-long Virtual Work Experience programme. The 2023 VWEX day included 16 different employers, either online or in-person, who each gave an insight into their career roles, set a task for students, and provided feedback.

We hold two highly successful careers fairs and a number of targeted careers events both in-person and online for different interest groups and years.  For example, in recent years we have hosted engineering days, Russell Group University days and a number of apprenticeship afternoons in person, and have hosted sessions on medical careers, apprenticeships, local college courses and other career pathways online.

We work with a full range of local education providers, including colleges, training institutions and universities.

The school also has a careers advisor, Carole Foster, who is based in school 2 days a week.  Students from Year 9 onwards are booked in for appointments to discuss plans and apply for college and apprenticeships.

We work with Unifrog, an online careers company which helps students make positive choices about their future by simplifying the searching process.

These processes have ensured that students at Caludon make positive choices about their future pathways. This is represented by over 99% of students in Year 11 moving on to productive education or training for the last 7 years.

6th form CEIAG

In our last Ofsted inspection, careers provision in the 6th form was judged as being “taken to another level”, something that the 6th form team have worked hard to build.  Our careers team work across KS4 and Post-16 to ensure that students have a consistent approach to CIAEG.

Students in the 6th form follow a tutor programme and Personal Development curriculum which supports their choices from the beginning of Year 12 right through their Post-16 education.  This includes careers evenings, tutor sessions, Unifrog training, Oxbridge guidance (where required) and a full and comprehensive UCAS application training schedule, as well as support from ASK with apprenticeship applications.  This is all reinforced by a strong pastoral programme which ensures students access the advice and guidance that they need to make the best possible choices. Students in Year 12 take part in a week-long Work Experience in the early part of the Spring term, usually with an employer they have approached themselves.

Feedback and development

We regularly obtain feedback from our students regarding the impact of the careers programme. In addition to this verbal feedback we collect data regarding: the use of Unifrog by students; the outcomes from the interviews with our careers advisor Carole Foster; questionnaires filled in by parents/carers and students; feedback from tutors regarding the Personal Development programme; our destinations data (particularly the data surrounding those students not in employment, education or training).

This information will be updated annually, and is next due to be reviewed in September 2024. If you have any feedback or questions regarding the careers provision at Caludon then please contact our Principal Lead for Personal Development, Ms S Hutchinson at sthutchinsons@caludoncastle.co.uk or on 02476 444822 ext. 308.