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Hazelwick School

Our Shared Vision:

For each and every student to achieve their maximum potential.

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Careers

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.

Hazelwick 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 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Gatsby

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

In line with guidance and using the eight Gatsby benchmarks shown below, at Hazelwick 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 ‘Compass’ audit is carried out to make sure we are on track.

For more information about Hazelwick School’s careers programme, please contact Mrs S Andrews (Careers Leader) - sandrews@hazelwick.org.uk.

Independent Careers Advice

The school employs an external independent adviser, the Educational Development Trust, to complement other careers education provided through the curriculum, assemblies and form time.  Pastoral teams also offer support for students in terms of future progression routes.  The school policy on CEIAG is available here: www.hazelwick.org/attachments/download.asp?file=662

All students receive an individual independent careers interview and students can also request an interview through Mrs Frost (Careers Co-ordinator) - lfrost@hazelwick.org.uk. 

Support for Parents and Carers

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

Monthly Careers Café articles, in the Hazelwick Newsletter and under the 'In this section' heading at the right or bottom of this webpage, 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:

Support for Educational Professionals

Hazelwick School aims to meet all eight benchmarks identified by the Gatsby Foundation. 

We believe that careers education, information, and guidance, is the responsibility of all staff in the school.

Teachers aim to link careers to their subject area.  By including careers information in lessons students can understand the variety of jobs on offer and the skills that are used.  Students may often say what subjects they enjoy and we aim to raise awareness of the jobs they could go into with a love for that subject.  Lessons might also include employability skills such as presentation, team work and leadership.  At Hazelwick school we encourage all subject areas to do the following:

  • have a prominent display that links subject learning and skill development to different careers
  • develop links with businesses and organisations
  • to invite alumni and other external speakers to come into school (virtually where an actual visit is not feasible)
  • where appropriate to organise external visits by students to local businesses/organisations
  • record careers learning opportunities for students in schemes of learning
  • explore the possibility of developing real projects/challenges for students with a local business or organisation
  • consider the needs and interests of all students and ensure that information challenges stereotyping and unconscious bias

All teachers and departments have had INSET training and time devoted to embedding careers education and information into their curriculum.

Lessons across all subject areas during National Careers Week will link to careers.

For further teacher support and resources, please contact Sarah Andrews (Careers Leader).

Support for Employers

As part of our careers provision at Hazelwick School, we are keen to work with employers to support our students in preparation for future careers and employment.  Our aim is to help all our students reach their maximum potential and, regardless of whether they leave us at 16 or 18, we want to ensure that they move on to their destination of choice.  With the help of employers, we can ensure our students are fully informed about their next steps and what is available to them beyond Hazelwick.

There are many ways employers can support us.  Below are just a few of the ways you could help:

  • offering talks to students interested in a particular sector or area of industry
  • delivering an assembly to students on a particular sector or area of industry to inform students about the world of work
  • offering interview experience
  • linking with a relevant Head of Department in school and enabling visits to the workplace for a class, where it links with a topic being studied, or coming in to speak to a class to bring real world context to a particular topic
  • helping to build our students' knowledge of employability skills and the workplace

If you are an employer and would like to support us in any of the above or in other ways, please email Sarah Andrews (Careers Leader) - sandrews@hazelwick.org.uk.

For further reading on the benefits of employer engagement please review the links below:

Provider Access

Our Provider Access Policy 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 and individual support and mentoring by members of the Post 16 team, as well as having access to the external independent Careers Adviser.  Exceptional support is given with UCAS statements, applications for apprenticeships or other employment. A range of occupational talks is delivered to students by a variety of speakers 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.

Unifrog

Hazelwick School makes use of 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.  Additional careers interviews with an independent provider take place for Year 12 and 13 students who require these and the sixth form teams assists with work experience placements when required. 

Throughout the year, students from Years 12 and 13 are encouraged to take part in a schedule of off-site visits, such as the Sussex University visits for EPQ students.  Students also attend various apprenticeship interviews and taster sessions, such as the University of Surrey Year 12 Taster Day.

We welcome a range of guest speakers into school as well as hosting .  Recently, these have included:

  • Paul Brione, Bank of England
  • Mirza Baig, (alumnus) regarding post 18, accompanied by Hazelwick alumni
  • National Citizen Service
  • Emma Wadey, National Head of Mental Health Nursing, NHS England
  • Ishaaq Saleem, (alumnus) presentation on Apprenticeships
  • Lekha Viramuthu, (alumna) presentation for prospective students of medicine
  • Izzy Pompova, Apprenticeship opportunities at Nestlé
  • Ed Flack, finance workshops
  • Henry Smith MP
  • Mental Health and Diversity Day, Life skills Company
  • Personal Statement Writing, life Skills Company
  • Various Presentations and live broadcasts, Speakers for Schools

Apprenticeships:

Within the 6th 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 displayed in school, posted on satchel:one, published in the Hazelwick Newsletter and promoted by the year teams.

The West Sussex Apprenticeship Portal (Apprenticeships - West Sussex County Council) is aimed at all local teachers, students, parents/carers and businesses.  It is designed to help people aged 16+ who have left, or are due to leave, secondary education to make the right decisions about their next steps.  The portal can also support parents/carers, teachers and employers, helping everyone to understand the benefits of apprenticeships in West Sussex and its surrounding areas.

Current local Apprenticeship vacancies in West Sussex can be found on the CCG website: Current Vacancies · CCG | Training (ccgapprenticeships.ac.uk)

Key Stage 4:

A full programme of interviews with our independent Careers 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 review questionnaire during Year 11, so that we can keep track of their Post 16 plans.  This is in addition to discussion at their individual Year 11 Progress Interview. 

A wealth of information about Post 16 options is provided in assemblies delivered by the pastoral teams.  6th form information evening is very well attended by Year 11 students as well as prospective external sixth form students.

Information about college open days is shared with students and prospectuses are available in the library and careers office as well as online.  Hazelwick School staff accompany a number of students  on college open days and to interview, where this is requested and appropriate. 

In the spring term all Year 11 students undertake a Progress Interview with a senior member of staff.  This is to review their careers research to date and to discuss their next steps beyond Year 11. 

Key Stage 3:

GCSE options are chosen during Year 8 at Hazelwick and students are fully supported as they make their choices.  Options evening gives parents/carers and students a chance to talk to staff in different subject areas, with displays of work and resources; students who are already taking the courses are on hand to take questions and provide their own insight.  In the run up to this evening, students are provided with a wealth of information via the tutor programme and in assemblies.

Career Exploration, Information, Progression and Links:

Click the link below to access a 'Coast to Capital Labour Market Information Infographic':
Coast to Capital IMI Infographic

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 travelling in Europe on a budget
  • Volunteering in Europe (10 suggestions)
  • How to successfully find and apply for an internship in Europe

All the articles can be found here: https://www.omio.com/travel/gap-year.

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