Careers Education, Information and Guidance (CEIAG)

We believe that giving students the best careers education and guidance is vital to improving their motivation to learn and helps them to achieve.

Cheam High School is committed to ensuring that students have high quality impartial advice on career opportunities and that they progress onto appropriate courses or employment on leaving the school. It is very important to us to know that all leavers have a plan for their next step.

Statutory guidance for careers

January 2018 saw the introduction of new statutory guidance for careers. The eight Gatsby benchmarks that underpin the statutory guidance are shown below and more detail can be found in the following link;

Careers guidance and access for education and training providers.pdf

In line with guidance and using the eight Gatsby Benchmarks shown below, at Cheam High School we aim to help students:

• understand their options and different paths to work, to plan the steps they need to take, and to get from where they are to where they want to go;
• be inspired about new opportunities they might not have known about (or that might not exist yet), or thought they could not achieve;
• understand their knowledge and skills and how they can be used in the workplace;
• get, hold and progress in a job, whatever their age, ability or background;
• increase the amount they earn across their working lives;
• improve their well-being through doing a job they are good at and enjoy.

The school is working towards implementing the guidance and a termly ‘Compass’ audit is carried out to make sure we are on track.

For more information about Cheam High School’s careers programme, please contact Mr S Brewis (Assistant Headteacher; Director of Sixth Form and Careers Lead) or Mrs A Elliott (Careers Coordinator)

Independent Careers Advice:

The school employs an external independent adviser, to complement other careers education provided through LIFE (PSHCE) lessons, assemblies and tutor times.  Ivana O’Brien is available in school every Monday and is based in the LRC interview room. As well as one to one interviews, Ivana delivers group sessions to 6^th Form students across a range of topics, from dealing with exam stress to working in Engineering. Ivana also attends 13+ and 16 + evenings. Pastoral teams also offer support for students in terms of future progression routes. The school policy on CEIAG is available here.

Priority Next Steps interviews are arranged for students in key Year Groups, but students can also request an interview through Mrs Elliott, the Careers Coordinator. Each September, Year 11 students are prioritised for Next Steps interviews. Students are targeted based on clear identification of need and support requirements, progress is monitored and further interviews are arranged as required.

Support for parents and carers 

Making sure your children are aware and take advantage of all the opportunities available to help set them up for successful career and a good quality of life, is a challenge for every parent/carer. In partnership with the school, you have an important role to play in helping your child to access information and make decisions about their career paths. We strongly encourage you to play an active role in this process.

Weekly 'Careers matters' articles in the Cheam High Flyer can help with this and we are always happy to receive careers related enquiries from home.

Further information can be found on various websites including: the National Careers Service https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk, UCAS https://www.ucas.com Barclays Lifeskills https://barclayslifeskills.com Prospects https://www.prospects.ac.uk/  National Apprentiship guide https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship

Provider Access

Our policy statement https://0e58658be539ee7325a0-220f04f871df648cf4a4d93a111e3366.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com/cheam/uploads/document/C22.Provider-Access-Policy.Sep21.docx for provider access provides all the required information to enable providers wishing to visit the school for the purposes of sharing information directly with students. This may include providers of technical education qualifications and apprenticeships, FE & Sixth Form Colleges, HE institutions and employers.

Careers Education in Key Stage 5:

Students receive excellent advice and guidance on potential careers through the Tutor programme, assemblies, career events, individual support and mentoring by members of the Post 16 team, as well as having access to the Next Steps Adviser. Exceptional support is given with UCAS statements, applications for apprenticeships or other employment. A range of occupational talks is delivered to students by the Next Steps Adviser for those interested in pursuing careers in areas including medicine, criminology and accountancy. Excellent use is made of Unifrog, the award-winning online platform which helps students make intelligent choices about their futures.

Cheam High School subscribes to both Unifrog services: 'Unifrog for Universities', and 'Unifrog for Apprenticeships'. Both services allow students to use data to decide which route to choose after school, help students avoid common decision-making mistakes and enable teachers to track where their students have got to in making their choices.

As well as making it easy for students to use multiple data points to compare individual university courses and apprenticeships, Unifrog is unique in allowing students to compare going to university with doing an apprenticeship.

Full support is given to students who do not wish to go to university. The Next Steps evening takes place in March each year, at which a large and diverse number of organisations, employers and educational institutes are represented (see the 2019 exhibitors below). An invitation to attend is extended to 6^th Form students as well as Year 11 and more able students from Years 8 & 10. Prospective external applicants are also invited to attend.

Age UK	Essex University	Loughborough University	Ravensbourne College
Atkins	Fashion Retail Academy	LSE	Reading University
Bath Spa University	Fidelity International	Mazars	Roehampton University
BIMM	Frontier	Metrobank	SOAS
Brusasports UK ltd	Greenwich University	NCS The Challenge	Southampton Solent University
Cabin Crew Global	Hitachi Solutions Europe	NHS	Southampton University
Canterbury Christchurch	Infosys Ltd	Northumbria University	St Marys University
Cardiff  University	Institute of Cancer Research	Outsource Training	Surrey University
Cherry Childcare	Investment 20:20	Oxford Brookes	Sussex University
CHS Careers	JACE	Oxford University	Swansea University
Cogent Skills	Kent University	Pearsons	UCA
Coventry University	Kings College London	Plymouth University	Unilever
Deloitte	Kingston University	Police (Specials)	University & College of Football Business
Education & Employers (Ask Project)	Leicester University	Portsmouth University	University of Law
Westminster Kingsway	Lincoln University	Project Trust	University of West London
Westminster University	London Met University	Wallace Fields School

 

Throughout the year, students from Year 12 & 13 are encouraged to take part in an exciting schedule of off-site visits, including the UK University Search fair, Oxbridge event at Sandown Racecourse and the National Apprenticeship Show. Students also attend various apprenticeship interviews and taster sessions. Visiting speakers have recently included the Metropolitan Police, YMCA volunteering, Age UK, University of Roehampton (student finance) as well as assemblies and workshops on applying to overseas universities and apprenticeships.

Progression Day in June gives students from Year 12 a chance to investigate the pathways open to them at the end of their school career. A number of organisations deliver seminars, in addition to sessions delivered by school staff, for example, writing a winning CV, how to apply for apprenticeships. This year visiting speakers on the day included; Kings College London, NHS, Mazzars (Accountants) and BIMM (British Irish Modern Music Institute).

Year 12 students also take part in two days of Work Shadowing in the summer term.

Apprenticeships:

Within the 6^th Form team there are experienced staff who are able to advise and guide students through the Apprenticeship application process. Information from local and national employers about Apprenticeships is posted on the Careers page of the school website, via the Cheam High Flyer, Twitter and by Year Teams.

The London Borough of Sutton Apprenticeship Hub (http://getaheadsutton.org) is aimed at all local teachers, students, parents/carers and businesses and is run by a team of apprentices, who are very keen to inspire other young people to get involved and get ahead. It is designed to help people aged 16+, who have left or are due to leave secondary education, make the right decisions about their Next Steps. The hub can also support parents/carers, teachers and employers, helping everyone to understand the benefits of apprenticeships in Sutton and its surrounding areas.

Key Stage 4:

A full programme of interviews with our independent adviser starts at the end of Year 10 and continues into Year 11. The data collected from interviews, combined with information about proposed destinations obtained from all students, results in a clear picture about Post 16 intentions.

Students are asked to complete a Next Steps review questionnaire several times during Year 11, so that we can keep track of their Post 16 plans and ensure that a Next Steps interview is arranged if required or requested. Referrals to the Adviser can also be made by Tutors, the Year Team and the SENCO.

A wealth of information about Post 16 options is provided in Assemblies delivered by the 6^th Form Team. Students take part in the annual Sixth Former for a Day event experiencing taster lessons across the curriculum. This gives students the opportunity to find out what life as a 6^th student at CHS is like. The Next Steps evening is well attended by Year 11 students.

Information about college open days is posted on the school website and prospectuses are available in the LRC. An after-school presentation is provided by NESCOT College in the autumn term.

Work Experience for Year 10 students takes place in the Spring Term. Students go into the world of work for two weeks and are encouraged to find their own placements, with help and support from the Work Experience Coordinator, the Year Team and Tutors. A full programme of work-related activities takes place during Tutor time and a number of assemblies also provide students with the information they need to successfully secure a placement. The LIFE programme has a focus on Work Experience in the Spring term, prior to the launch of Work Experience, with students learning to write an application letter and a CV, as well as investigating Labour Market Information and talking about work skills. The Year 10 Information Evening at the start of the Autumn term provides an opportunity for parents/carers to speak to the Work Experience Coordinator about the scheme. Students take part in a debrief when they return to school, during which they evaluate their placements. We are very proud of our record for having all students go out to work for two weeks. The pre-placement preparation helps to ensure that students get the very best from their placements and, as a result, we have been able to establish a data base of local employers who are more than pleased to accommodate students from Cheam High School.

Key Stage 3:

GCSE options are chosen during Year 8 at Cheam High School and students are fully supported as they make their choices. 13+ evening in early May gives parents/carers and students a chance to talk to the different subject areas, with displays of work and students who are already taking the courses are on hand to provide an insight. In the run up to this evening, students are provided with a wealth of information via the Tutor programme and in assemblies.

The early launch of Work Experience for the following year means that students have plenty of time to find the placement of their choice. Success stories and photographs from the previous year’s work experience help to encourage Year 9 to be aspirational in their choices.

Careers at Cheam High School – What’s new?

For the first time this year, Cheam High School has introduced a ‘Big Careers Fortnight’. All students in Years 7 – 12 had at least one lesson in each of their subjects, with the focus on careers and work in that particular field. This new event will now be run annually.

Career Exploration, Information, Progression and Links:

https://national careersservice.direct.gov.uk - Job profiles, planning tools and more.

www.plotr.co.uk - Career exploration matching tool and job locator.

www.allaboutcareers.com/careers - Careers information aimed at 16-24 year olds.

www.inputyouth.co.uk – Job search with information and alternatives, CV building, volunteering, career planning and outside links.

https://jobsearch.direct.gov.uk/ - British government website for finding job vacancies.

www.totaljobs.com – Search for jobs by sector or location, CV builder and checker.

www.indeed.co.uk - Search jobs from thousands of job boards, newspapers, classifieds and company websites.

www.careersbox.co.uk -  Films, News and information on various careers.

www.Icould.com - Videos, stories, news and articles.

www.notgoingtouni.co.uk - All other options than full time university courses.

www.apprenticeships.gov.uk - National apprenticeship service.

www.londonapprenticeship.co.uk - Search for local apprenticeship vacancies in your London borough.

www.futuremorph.org - A site to stimulate ideas about what you might do with STEM (Science, technology, engineering, maths) subjects.

www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk - One stop shop for information and resources for careers in engineering.

Gap Years:

Omio's Gap Year guide contains detailed information on:

• The benefits of taking a gap year
• How to organize a year abroad step by step (e.g., accommodation, transportation, entry requirements & travel restrictions)
• Itinerary suggestions and tips for traveling in Europe on a budget
• Volunteering in Europe (10 suggestions)
• How to successfully find and apply for an internship in Europe

You can find all the articles here: https://www.omio.com/travel/gap-year