Careers
“Careers education is about inspiration and aspiration as much as advice.”
Welcome to the careers page at Harris Garrard Academy. The world has changed greatly in the last 20 years with many people working in jobs today that simply didn’t exist when their parents left education. The idea of a ‘job for life’ has disappeared. What’s important is to recognise these exciting new opportunities that are available and to gain the knowledge, skills and expertise that will enable you to work in those areas.
At Harris Garrard Academy we believe a good quality Careers Education Information Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) Programme increases the aspirations and achievement of every student and supports our core vision “learning changes lives”. At an early age child are exposed to careers and work-related information that develops their sense of enquiry not only about careers and higher/further education but also about their individual skills and aptitudes.
Read our latest news stories about careers. Download our higher education booklets below.
Our careers vision
The vision of our careers team is that students will leave our academy with the drive and ambition to accomplish their chosen career pathway, and that the will become ambitious, successful, caring citizens equipped with the confidence and skills capable of making decisions in any given situation.
How can our parents/carers support our careers programme?
We recognise that parents/carers come from many different work backgrounds and can also contribute to helping our students make informed decisions. Therefore, if you are able to offer some time to deliver an occupational talk, host a stand at our annual careers fair, or are able to take a student for a work experience placement we would eagerly welcome you contacting Alistair Whibley on 020 8320 4800 or a.whibley@harrisgarrard.org.uk.
How do we prepare students for the future?
Harris Garrard Academy understands that all students need to prepare themselves for progression through learning and education into adulthood. We aim to prepare students for life after school by providing information on the ever-changing future occupations and progression routes to sixth form, college, university or work/apprenticeships.
We are committed to providing a varied programme of activities for all students from Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 13 and beyond. Various careers-related opportunities are provided via a number of different methods such as:
- assemblies
- tutor time programme
- careers fairs
- Character Days
- practise careers interviews
- career workshops
- trips to employers and universities
- and visiting speakers.
The academy utilises the expertise of the Harris Federation Careers Advisor who supports students on a regular basis either during drop in sessions or also for booked appointments. These sessions can be 1-2-1 or completed in a group.
We offer particular support for SEND students. The aim is to provide activities and events that meet the needs of the individual students. We offer independent and impartial careers guidance to support career and option choices, raising the aspirations of individual students and equipping them with the necessary skills, attitudes, knowledge and understanding.
Our careers programme - a summary
Below is a summary of our careers programme for all years. The programme will be updated during the year. If you require further information on our programmes, please contact Alistair Whibley on 020 8320 4800 or a.whibley@harrisgarrard.org.uk.
|
When |
Activity |
Type of Activity |
Provider Access |
|
All year |
Assembly programme – all years Labour market trends Raising aspirations |
Assembly |
Internal |
|
All year |
Tutor time programme – all years As part of the tutor time programme (taught by tutors during the week) students cover a variety of careers related key skills such as:
|
Tutor time programme |
Internal |
|
All year |
Sixth Form assembly programme
|
Assembly |
Assistant Principal for Sixth Form |
|
All year |
Careers interviews Students identified as in need and/or students put forward by tutors have ‘early action planning’ careers meetings, setting targets for Key Stage 4 and beginning to think about work experience. |
Careers advisor interviews |
Federation Advisor |
|
All year |
Personal Careers Guidance – All Years Every Monday and Tuesday break and lunch time, pupils are able to visit the careers advisor for a drop-in session. These have been very popular. |
Personal guidance |
Federation Advisor |
|
September 2019 |
Careers Student Survey – ‘Who Am I?’ Students answer questions about what they are interested in, to inform the careers programme for the year ahead. Years 7-13 |
Careers baseline questionnaire |
Internal |
|
September 2019 |
Year 8 – Be an Entrepreneur Year 10 – Curriculum; pathway types and HE institution types, with case studies |
Thematic Day |
Internal |
|
December 2019 |
Year 8 (A band) – Employability skills Year 10 – Coca Cola business trip Year 12 – University visit |
Thematic Day |
Internal and External |
|
January 2020 |
Year 7 (A band) – Careers workshops interviews skills, STEM careers, workplace skills, career options Year 8 (B band) - Employability skills Year 11 – Amazon workplace visit Year 12 & 13 (Business students) – Bank of England |
Thematic Day |
Internal and External |
|
February 2020 |
HGA Careers Fair |
Information Evening |
External providers |
|
March 2020
|
Year 7 (B band) – Careers workshops interviews skills, STEM careers, workplace skills, career options Year 9 – Entrepreneurship and Apprenticeships Year 10 – How much can I earn? Year 11 – Careers in STEM; HE pathways and choosing a career for me |
Thematic Day |
Internal and External |
|
May 2020 |
Year 7 (Band B) – Careers speaker |
Thematic Day |
External |
|
June 2020 |
Year 7 (Band A) – Careers speaker |
Thematic Day |
External |
Strong student aspirations
Through a student survey we asked students to express their aspirations. We asked what their dream job would be. Their answers provide strong evidence which supports our vision that our students are driven and ambitious.
- “I want to be a special effects makeup artist, including hair and costume design for west-end shows”. Fauve, Year 10
- “If I had a dream job, I would want to be a teacher or nurse because I love little children and teaching. Also, I would like to be a nurse because I want to help the injured and work hard”. Yeasmin, Year 7
- “I would like to work as an animator/stop motion animator for Bethel or be working full-time at Bethel." Seth, Year 7
- “I would like to become an astronomer”. Iqra, Year 8
- “My dream job would be a business manager." Peter, Year 9
This disgram shows which industries our students said they would like to work in, and clearly illustrates a wide range of aspirations.
Our students are successful, caring citizens, with 97% saying they would care for others.
Our SEN students also expressed their aspirations (see diagram below). They expressed a keen interest in engineering, ICT, the police, fashion and sport. The career team will be working with external providers to support the aspirations of our SEN students.
Evaluation of the careers programme, student voice and pupil impact
All of our events are evaluated by pupils in some way, either verbally or through a formal evaluation procedure. For example, after our careers fair in February 2019, pupils were given an evaluation form to complete where they could provide feedback on the evening. This data was then collated and analysed so that we can improve next year’s event. Student voice is extremely important to us in the academy and all suggestions are considered as ways to improve the pupils experience.
85% of pupils that attended our careers fair in February 2019 agreed that the event helped them in choosing their future career, and 97% of pupils would recommend the event to younger pupils for next year. Next year pupils would like to have more of the interactive workshops, as well as more leaflets for them to take away.
Careers booklets will be given to all pupils starting in September 2019 as a method of tracking their career progression throughout their time at the academy. All one-to-one interviews with our Level 7 trained Careers Advisor are logged and tracked, as well as their destinations data being kept up to date.
Year 10 higher education booklet
Year 11 higher education booklet
Labour market trends
We believe that young people need access to up-to-date careers and labour market information as it is important for social mobility. Many pupils have high aspirations but are unaware of how to plan for succeeding with them. Therefore, we provide information, guidance and explicit teaching of:
- employability skills, career pathways and progression routes in the local labour market
- job applications and interviews
- educational institutions, courses, qualifications, entry requirements and costs
- employment sectors, employers, jobs, salaries and employment trends
- jobs, training and apprenticeships
- financial planning
We also use published material on specific employment sectors to give students an understanding of that sector, such as this BBC briefing on housing, which includes information on construction trends. Up-to-date labour market information can be found of the government’s website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-labour-market-statistics-sept-2018
Destinations
The information, advice and guidance we give our students helps them with the transition from Year 11 to Post 16. Destinations data for our 2018/19 cohort are given below.
Year 11 cohort - 2019 leavers
- Staying in education or training 94.6%
- Apprenticeship 3.4%
- Activity not captured in the data 1.4%
- NEET 0.6%
Year 13 cohort - 2019 leavers
- Employment 15.8%
- Staying in education or training 78.9%
- Apprenticeship 5.3%
- Activity not captured in the data 0%
Access to external providers/speakers
We welcome outside speakers and organisations to contribute to our careers programme. An organisation wishing to request access should contact Alistair Whibley on 020 8320 4800 or a.whibley@harrisgarrard.org.uk. Requests will be considered in line with our visiting speaker procedure within our safeguarding policy, and also by our provider access policy. Both policies can be downloaded from our safeguarding page.
