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The King's School

The King's School Founded 1545

Achievement for All

Careers Support

Our Aims

The aims of The King’s School Careers Guidance Programme are:

  • To help our students to understand and explore all the options and pathways that are open to them
  • To raise students’ aspirations and challenge stereotypes
  • To address the needs of all our students, and provide independent advice that is in their individual best interests
  • To meet the Gatsby Benchmarks – a series of benchmarks that set out best practice in the provision of careers guidance activities.

We want to prepare our students for life after school, so that when students leave after Year 11 or 13 they do so with confidence and optimism in their chosen next steps.

The SLT with overall responsibility for careers is Mr Gerry.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of the Careers Programme, please contact Fiona Hogan, Careers Coordinator: careers@thekings.devon.sch.uk.

Our Programme

In line with the Gatsby Benchmarks, The King’s School delivers a stable and structured programme of careers education and work related learning to all students in Years 7-13.  This programme is delivered by individuals with the right skills and experiences, from a wide variety of providers both internal and external to the school. 

Year Group

  Activities

Year 7 

Introduction to Careers via PSHE. Activities structured around learning how to

  • reflect on their own skills, interests and values;
  • research the wider world of work to understand what options exist now and may exist in the future.
  • See PSHE schemes of work
  • Employer Encounter: Parental Volunteers (Summer Term 1)

Year 8
  • Careers lessons delivered via PSHE
  • Employer Encounter: Parental Volunteers (Spring Term 1)
  • PAL Encounter KS3 1: Higher Education/Apprenticeships/Technical Education (Pete Offield, Exeter University)
Year 9
  • Careers lessons delivered via PSHE
  • PAL & Employer Encounter: Choosing your GCSE Options (Exeter College & Local Employer) – January.
  • Careers Advisor available for meetings at Parents’ Evening

Year 10
  • Careers lessons delivered via PSHE
  • Employer Encounter: Work Experience (7th – 11th July)
  • PAL Encounter via Ask (Amazing Apprenticeships via Future Smart Careers, 6th and 8th November)
  • By invitation: Bicton College Taster Event for Entry / Foundation Level students
  • By invitation: Students invited to Careers Interviews on request by staff/students

Year 11
  • Careers lessons delivered via PSHE
  • Employer Encounter: Mock Interviews with matched interviewers from the local community. 
  • PAL Encounter (RAF 8th January).
  • Careers linked to subjects (via A level / Level 3 options lessons)
  • All students invited to Careers Interview with an independent Careers Advisor via CSW
  • College Transition visits and taster days for Entry/Foundation Level and PP students
  • Advisor from CSW in attendance at Parents’ Evening and GCSE Results Day

Year 12

Via the PSHE Programme:
  • Why go to University? (Andrew Wallis, Falmouth University)
  • PAL Encounter 1: Degree Apprenticeships (Exeter University)
  • PAL Encounter 2: Apprenticeships (Meg Ginsberg et. Al. Alumni)
  • PAL Encounter 3: Mock Assessment Centre (4th October, Future Smart Careers / ASK Apprenticeships)

In addition:

  • Employer Encounter: Work Experience
  • All students taken to the UCAS Higher Education Fair (Westpoint)
  • Careers Interviews offered
  • Parents’ Guide to Post 18 Options (with Careers Advisor (how to support your students), Alumni employed in Degree Apprenticeships, Head of 6th (overview of UCAS process).

Year 13
  • Internal assembly on “Not Going to University”
  • Individual support with UCAS, apprenticeship and employment applications.
  • Careers Interviews offered

Tutor Programme

 There is a selection of Tutor Activities available to all Tutors, this includes games such as Panjango.

All Years

All subjects have embedded Careers Activities within their Curriculum areas.  For example, talks by external speakers and alumni (particularly Maths and Geography), hands-on activities (e.g., the Royal Navy and Food Science), and use of recommended resources to link curriculum learning to careers (e.g., Maths, Science and English use of My Path “Why Bother”?).

* The independent Careers Advisor is also available in school for events including ‘Post 16 Options’, Year 9 Parents / Options Evening and on GCSE and A Level results days.  All of Year 11 are invited to an appointment with the advisor.  6th Formers are able to make appointments on request.  All years may be referred by staff as necessary. 

 

Other Encounters with Employers

Throughout the year we host outside speakers through a range of mechanisms – including assemblies, lunchtime talks, or in lessons. The lunchtime talks are open to all year groups, and we invite local businesses, approved training providers and our alumni to contact us if they wish to deliver a session.  Our Provider Access Statement is an annex to our Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance Policy, available here under our Policy documents on this website. 

We meet the requirements of the Provider Access Legislation, with a minimum of two mandatory encounters with approved providers of apprenticeships and technical education for all KS3 and KS4.  In addition, our encounters for KS5 are also mandatory.

Impact Assessment

At The King’s, we use the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks and the Careers Development Institute Framework as a foundation when planning our Careers programme. The effectiveness of our provision is assessed as follows:

  • Termly reviews led by the Careers and Enterprise Company (Devon Careers Hub), involving the Careers Coordinator, Head of PSHE and Link School Governor.  Using the Compass Plus tool to evaluate our careers activity against the Gatsby Benchmarks. 
  • The use of the Future Skills Questionnaire with Year 7, Year 9 and Year 11 to measure students’ career-readiness and track changes over time (providing an indicator of the impact of our provision).
  • Using Destinations Data.  In addition to the aggregate data provided by Careers South West, (destinations of our students at Post 16 and Post 18), the school now also requests permission from all Year 11 to track their destinations for three years post KS4.  As this data set builds, it will inform our internal reviews.
  • Using Stakeholder Feedback.  For events such as Year 10/12 Work Experience, and Year 11 Mock Interviews, we seek feedback from the participating employers, students and parents.  This typically includes the use of questionnaires and classroom-based feedback sessions. In addition, the annual Parent/Guardian and separate Student Surveys include questions on satisfaction with the Careers Provision in school, the results of which are tracked by the Careers Coordinator.
  • Fortnightly team meetings between the Head of PSHE, the Careers Coordinator and the Deputy Head (6th Form), with involvement from the Deputy Head (Pastoral) as required.  At these meetings we reflect and review on our programme, making continuous adjustments and improvements as required.  

The Careers Library

The Careers Library has IT facilities for online research and key texts that are renewed annually.  In addition, we provide a full set of prospectuses covering most UK Higher Education institutions, all local FE colleges and many other specialised colleges. The Careers Coordinator is based in the Careers Library, and is available to assist students at break, lunch and tutor time.

Recommended Online Resources

The websites below are for students to access information on careers and employability skills:

CareerPilot
This website provides information on the full range of choices available at 14, 16 and 18, including apprenticeships, college, higher level study, etc.
The website has a number of tools that students can use to help them plan their careers and assess their employability skills.  There is also a Parent Zone with answers to career related questions.

i could
icould.com has excellent videos to inspire students, and a quiz based on Myers Briggs (the Buzz Quiz) to help students think about their personality and what type of career they might suit.

Success at school
This website has helpful articles and sections about how to develop transferable skills, information about apprenticeships, advice from people in different industries, plus industry and sector information presented in an easy-to-digest format. 

Informed Choice guide
This is a Russell Group guide to making informed choices about post-16 Education.  It is packed with useful information, and the “5 Point Plan” for making A Level choices is a good tool for clarifying your thoughts (see Page 56).