Careers & Work Experience

Our careers education and guidance programme helps to develop students' awareness of their skills, talents and interests to enable them to make informed choices about their future. Please see the Careers Roadmap document below for further information on our programme for each year group.  

What help is on offer to all our students

• Vocational guidance
• Career choice
• Career planning
• Managing career change
• Employability Skills
• Job search
• Writing or updating your CV
• Completing job applications
• Preparing for job interviews
• Finding part time employment to complement your studies
• Education
• Planning the next stage of your studies
• Choosing and applying for Further Education and Higher Education (University)
• Exploring study abroad
• Information on Volunteering, work experience and Gap year opportunities
• Exploring volunteering opportunities
• Finding independent work experience opportunities
• Sign posting to other agencies that help with a range of issues such as:
  • funding
  • health
  • counselling
  • housing etc....

Useful Careers websites for students

• https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk This website has hundreds of job profiles and general information about finding work, CVs and interviews
• http://www.plotr.co.uk/ Look at different career sectors explore your options and do a quiz to see what careers you may be suited to
• https://www.indeed.co.uk/ This is a website for finding jobs
• http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/ Apprenticeship opportunities
• http://www.notgoingtouni.co.uk Alternatives to going to university including apprenticeships, training and job opportunities.

Going to University

A large number of our students go on to universities and staff are there to help and support this process. It is important that students research the courses and universities that they are applying to, so that they are able to make informed decisions.

Questions to consider when choosing courses

• What do I want to study?
• Do I want a vocational course that will train me for a profession e.g. Radiography or do I want to study a subject I really enjoy e.g. Physics and specialise later on?
• Should I study a completely new subject?
• Can I combine subjects?
• How do I want my course to be assessed - modular, coursework, exams?
• Do I have the required entry grades for what I want to study?
• Where can I study this course?
• On choosing the right University
• Does the University offer the courses I want to study?
• What’s its reputation like? League table ratings?
• How competitive is it to get a place – entry requirements?
• How much teaching support and time can it offer me?
• What are its teaching facilities, ICT resources like?
• How far away from home do I want to be?
• Do I want to live in a main city or more rural location?
• Do I want to be at a large city centre university or on a Campus?
• What are the costs – fees, accommodation, cost of living?
• Does it offer a range of clubs and societies?
• What’s the social scene like?

There are over 50,000 courses available at 310 institutions so students need to do some serious research to ensure they find the right course for them. Students should see Individual University websites and on line prospectuses but in addition the following websites are really useful:

• www.ucas.com This is the official site for all UK universities and colleges offering Higher Education courses and the key one you will use to research universities and courses. You will apply online to universities via UCAS apply. This site has links to all university websites
• Universitycompare.com - one of the leading Higher Education comparisons sites. This allows students to compare their favourite universities based on student reviews.
• www.medschools.ac.uk/studying-medicine/making-an-application 
• www.opendays.com Details of all University and College open days
• www.whatuni.com A comprehensive University search site
• www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk Offers advice on choosing courses and league tables

Useful student finance Websites

• NHS Bursaries
• Student Finance England

Assessing impact and reviewing the careers service

We assess the impact and review the careers servuce by;

• Student feedback/evaluations after 1:1 guidance meetings
• Student evaluations after events/employer encounters
• Analysing our Destination Data
• Completing the Compass Careers Benchmark tool on a termly basis to evaluate our provision
• gathering feedback from employers/guest speakers