Employability & Careers

Schools Careers Leader and Advisor:

Rebecca Jones is the school’s named Careers Leader and her email contact is:

Vicky is the school’s Independent Careers Advisor and her contact details are:

vickymcmanus@positive-steps.org.uk

The Government’s careers strategy aims to make sure that all young people in secondary education get a programme of advice and guidance that is stable, structured and delivered by individuals with the right skills and experience.

At Key stage 3 & 4 careers forms part of the school curriculum and is taught as a discrete lesson to all pupils, through their Preparation for Adulthood lessons.

Pupils at Key Stage 4 have opportunities for tailored work experience placements and vocational opportunities build on our effective careers programme.

Addressing the needs of each student, students have different amounts of career guidance at different stages of their time with us.

Opportunities for advice and support are tailored to the needs of each student and our careers programme promotes and supports equality and diversity considerations throughout.

Linking Curriculum Learning to Careers

Posters linking curriculum learning with careers are displayed in school. All subject teachers and staff are keen to highlight the relevance of their subjects for future career paths.

Careers Week

Encounters with Employers and Employees

At Hollinwood Academy we invite employers and employees into school to deliver workshops and talks to our students. We also organised a range of trips for our students into a variety of workplaces and careers events to meet employers and employees.

Enterprise activities are also embedded into our KS3 curriculum and our Vocational curriculum in KS4 and KS5.

Past students are invited to talk to our current students about moving on, careers choices and life experiences since leaving Hollinwood Academy.

Park Life

Pilot Visit Spring 2024

Police Visit

Careers Fair July 2023

Encounters with Further and Higher Education

Our careers programme is designed to ensure that all students understand the full range of learning opportunities that are available to them. This includes both academic and vocational routes and learning in schools, colleges, universities and in the workplace.

College Visit Spring 2024

Information on Apprenticeships

What is an apprenticeship?

Matt Leigh from ASK explains some of the features of an apprenticeship, click here to access the video.

Virtual Apprenticeship Week: There are a series of recorded sessions and events from the event held last year:

https://gmacs.co.uk/news/virtual-apprenticeship-week-12th-21st-august

Introducing T-Levels

T Levels are an exciting new offer for students, offering a valuable alternative to A Levels and supporting progression to either an apprenticeship or full-time university.

In September 2020 the first three T Levels were launched; by September 2021, a further 10 subjects will be available and more to follow the year after. Video explanation for parents: Minister Keegan Explaining T Levels for Parents. TLevels website: https://www.tlevels.gov.uk/ Useful links for researching careers and labour market information

iCould – aims to help you to make the most of your potential by showing how others have used theirs, take the ‘Buzz’ personality profile quiz:

https://icould.com/

Amazing Apprenticeships –useful information to help you understand the opportunities available within the apprenticeship scheme:

https://amazingapprenticeships.com/

GMACS (Greater Manchester Apprenticeship and Careers Service) – a ‘one-stop’ shop for anything careers related for young people in Greater Manchester:

https://gmacs.co.uk/

Apprenticeship website – register, search and apply for Apprenticeships via this website:

https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/

National Careers Service website – useful information and a wealth of labour market information if you click on ‘explore careers’:

https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/

Not going to Uni:

https://www.notgoingtouni.co.uk/

Careermag:

https://careermap.co.uk/careermag/

How to write a CV:

https://www.myworldofwork.co.uk/getting-job/building-cv

How to write a cover letter:

https://www.myworldofwork.co.uk/cover-letters

Start Profile: investigate careers, watch videos and get great advice, find out about employers and work experience opportunities in your area

www.startprofile.com

Go Compare:

https://www.gocompare.com/life-insurance/uk-riskiest-jobs-report/

LMI for All: information about careers and skills for particular careers:

https://www.lmiforall.org.uk/widget/

The intended audience for this document is staff. All students have an equal entitlement to high quality Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance at Hollinwood Academy that helps to prepare them for choices and transitions affecting their future education, training and employment.

The government has created a framework of guidelines that as a school we should look to implement. These are known as the Gatsby Benchmarks, a framework of 8 guidelines that define the best careers provision in schools and colleges. The Careers Strategy is built around them, and they make a great place to start for planning or improving your programme.

The eight Gatsby Benchmarks are:

A stable careers programme
Learning from career and labour market information
Addressing the needs of each student
Linking curriculum learning to careers
Encounters with employers and employees
Experiences of workplaces
Encounters with further and higher education
Personal guidance

Click here for more information:

https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/schools-colleges/understand-gatsby-benchmarks

Current Gatsby Benchmarks Score

Inclusion Report

It is important you know why your curriculum is being delivered to ensure that all students are provided with the best platform of success to get into the careers or profession they desire.

1. Discuss pathways within your subject, and how it could be taken further at Post 16, degree level or through an apprenticeship, discussing the careers and jobs it could lead to.

2. Create a departmental “Careers” display to show routes, and progression in your subject.

3. Create a poster to show Courses and Apprenticeships in your subject.

4. Create a display in your room to show why your subject is vital for careers and the world of work.

5. Invite a guest speaker from the one of our local colleges or Universities to promote and raise aspirations.

6. Invite a local business employee/employer to discuss how they use your subject in your lesson.

7. Arrange a visit to a workplace related to your subject area. Careers can be part of the focus. Labour market information (LMI) What is labour market information? It is information relating to career occupations and industries, such as job numbers and salaries. It can also include a range of more specific details, such as educational levels for occupations, workforce demographics and employment patterns locally and/or nationally.

Why is labour market information important in careers education?

High quality, reliable and robust labour market information is vital to offering effective career guidance as it helps:

Navigate complex labour markets
Identify a pathway to goals and ambitions
Inform career decision making
Our understanding of a changing labour market
Why is it useful for students/staff/parents and carers to engage with local labour market information?

It is useful to find the answers to questions such as:

How many jobs are there? How many in my area? What are the past trends? What are likely future trends?
How much do people get paid for this job? How much is the starting average? How much in my area?
What level of qualification do people have in these jobs and what am I likely to need?
How many vacancies are there for this job? What proportion of people in this occupation are currently out of work?
Apprenticeship Week

Apprenticeship Week

For our local employers:

As an employer, what is your average employee age? How stable is your workforce over the next 10-15 years? Do you find it difficult to recruit qualified staff? How do you recruit apprentices? If any on these questions are on your lips as an employer, then you need our help as much as we need yours.

Working together with schools is now much more than simply meeting corporate social responsibilities, you need our children to develop the skills required to solve your industry challenges. Hollinwood Academy are keen to develop links with employers and would welcome any enquiries. If you feel you may be able to support our careers programme please use the email below. Any employers who have worked with our school and have any feedback about our careers programme, please email:

info@hollinwood.org.uk

For our families:

Hollinwood Academy welcome feedback from students and their families. If any students, parents or carers have any feedback about our careers programmes please email:

info@hollinwood.org.uk

For our teachers:

Please look at all the useful information about Careers on the school website, including the Aims & Objectives, Careers Curriculum (which has a link to the Careers Programme), CDI Careers Framework, Gatsby Benchmarks, Responsibilities, Useful Careers Resources & Websites and Work Related Learning sections.

The Useful Careers Resources & Websites section may be of particular interest in helping you to link careers to your subject area, as Careers is a whole school responsibility. There are links to the Careers software packages that school purchases each year. To access many short videos linking your subject to different careers you may also find the listed icould website useful, as this allows you to search by subject area and view the available career options:

https://icould.com

More information on how Hollinwood Academy prepares students for Preparation for Adulthood and Employment can be found here:

https://www.hollinwoodacademy.org/employment/

We welcome regular feedback.

Department Improvement Plan