The Bishop David Brown School purpose is to enable students to reach their full potential regardless of their starting point or background.
The world of work and employment is constantly changing and we believe that our students need to have a well-structured CEIAG programme tailored to their needs in order to guide them in making well informed decisions about their future. The CEIAG programme plays a major role for all of our students by catering for their interests, abilities and individual needs. Our programme aims to:
- Empower young people to plan and manage their futures
- Respond to the needs of the learner
- Provide comprehensive information and advice
- Raise aspirations
- Actively promote equality of opportunity and challenge of stereotypes
- Help young people progress
- Track and monitor students to ensure they receive appropriate CEIAG.
- Track and monitor NEET figures to ensure CEIAG procedures are fit for purpose
A career is a “course or progress through life, preparing for the next stage and advancing oneself”. Careers education, advice and guidance at BDB follows a whole school approach and is a key aspect of all students’ learning. It is our endeavour to support all students’ at all key stages in order to help them to develop into well rounded individuals in preparation for life beyond school.
Student Entitlement
All students are entitled:
- to find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeship opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point;
- to hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options events, assemblies, PSHE sessions and careers and taster events;
- to understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.
Aims and Objectives
Effective CEIAG will provide opportunities for students to:
- investigate careers/post 16 opportunities
- build upon their skills, knowledge and attitude to make well-informed, realistic decisions
- be able to plan their future choices and understand how to access CEIAG
- understand how educational achievements are linked to maximising their potential future choices
- actively engage with employers to ensure that young people get to experience a workplace setting
- Gatsby Benchmarks– Bishop David Brown uses the Gatsby Benchmarks to guide the CEIAG programme:
Please contact Mrs Christofidis, CEIAG Coordinator, by email: achristofidis@bdb-unity.co.uk
Information for Employers
At BDB we are always very keen to welcome Employers and Businesses into school. In order to support our vision of helping students become more self-aware and find their purpose, we need the support of both the public and private sectors to help raise their awareness and aspirations. Our careers programme is the bridge between education and employment. Therefore our students need to understand careers that are available and what skills and qualifications are required to be successful in the workplace.
There are a number of ways you can engage with us at Bishop David Brown, please see details below.
- Employability Skills
- Interview Skills
- CV Writing Skills
- Mock Job Interviews
- Exhibiting at our Annual Careers Fair
- Break time Careers Insight Talks
- Offering a 1 week Work Placement to a year 10 student
- Taking part in our STEM Networking Event
- Mentoring
- Assembly Talks
- Linking Subjects to Careers – classroom activity
- Exploring Careers
- Visits to places of employment
What Employers say…
“Great to see a school taking a proactive approach to careers and career2”development” – BAE Systems
“Students were very engaged and asked some great questions” – Philips
“Great Careers Event, students were interested in what the company does and what jobs we have” – Siemans
“It was a very enjoyable day speaking to some very inquisitive and impressive student” – Pfizer
Information for Parents
As a parent, you are expected to have all the answers but as the world evolves it can be difficult to keep up with all the options out there. What is best for your child? A levels, T levels, B-TECs or apprenticeships?
To help you help your young one make the right choice for themselves there are various websites you can research, the links for which we have listed on the tab ‘Helpul Links’.
To assist students in finding their future education and career pathways we have created an Annual Careers Plan with a list of the outcomes we wish to achieve. That way you can track your child’s journey through school as we understand how important career decisions are.
UNIFROG
We have also partnered with Unifrog, an online platform that helps young people find and apply for the best opportunities after school. It brings together every step of the process, from exploring interests, to recording skills, to finding and comparing apprenticeships and university courses, to submitting applications.
Unifrog will be applied incrementally as the student grows and their needs change.
Y7 will work on What is a Career, What is an Entrepreneur, Exploring dream jobs, working on their interests and skills.
Y8 will work on understanding what CVs are, the challenges and rewards at work, what success looks like to them, careers and climate and continue working on their interests and skills.
Y9 will work on options after school, how to choose their KS4 subjects, taking control of their careers journey, managing money and understanding the labour market as well as continue work on interests and skills.
Y10 will work on reflecting on their career journey, exploring employer profiles, researching the best career for them, preparing to go on their work experience and wellbeing in the workplace as well as continue work on interests and skills.
Y11 will work on their employability skills, Post 16 choices and decision making, money talks in apprenticeships vs higher education, researching volunteer vs paid work, understanding AI in the workplace as well as continue work on interests and skills.
Helpful Links
Parents Guide to Post 16 Options
Post 16 options | National Careers Service
Careers Advice for Parents
Careers Advice for Parents – Youth Employment UK
Parents’ Toolkit for Career conversation
Parents Advice for Career Conversations – Talking Futures
Gov.UK find an Apprenticeship: https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/apprenticeshipsearch
Support for parents and guardians:
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/influencers/support-for-parents-and-guardians#
Support for students to explore jobs and careers:
Video case studies of people working in different roles and how they got there.
Discover the exciting careers opportunities available in science, engineering and technology. Gradcracker – Careers for STEM Students
Guide to universities and courses with reviews from former students.
Compare the Best University Degrees Courses UK | Whatuni
A comprehensive university comparison site, offering students resources, tools, student discounts and university stats and rankings.
Uni Compare | University Degree Course Search: UK Rankings (universitycompare.com)
Entry requirements including information on admissions tests information for HE students.
UCAS | At the heart of connecting people to higher education
Research Degree courses and universities
Access courses for those wishing to apply for HE but who do not have qualifications needed
Access to Higher Education (accesstohe.ac.uk)
Access 16-19 Bursary Funding
Apprenticeships
What are Apprenticeships?
Apprenticeship Parents Pack – Download
Find an apprenticeship
https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/apprenticeshipsearch
ALPS – Association of Learning Providers in Surrey
http://www.alpsurrey.co.uk/
The Apprenticeship Guide | Vacancies
http://www.apprenticeshipguide.co.uk/vacancies/
Amazing Apprenticeships
https://amazingapprenticeships.com/
Labour Market Information
What is Labour Market Information (LMI)
LMI effectively describes the world of work – it ranges from descriptions of different careers, their entry routes, promotional prospects, salaries paid, skills and qualifications needed, etc.
Crucially for young people, LMI also covers future demand – what kinds of jobs will be in demand after leaving school and what kind of skills will be needed.
Why is it important for our students to learn from LMI?
Understanding LMI is becoming more and more important as the world changes, so that all students can be aware of where the different job roles that are needed around the country and what types of jobs may be need more people in the future.
Interpreting and narrowing down LMI that is applicable to a young person’s needs can become overwhelming, it is therefore better to start researching areas of interest and concentrate on those industries. We also recommend looking local resources.
Take time to reflect on your own understanding:
- How up-to-date are you?
- How much has changed since your family went to university?
- What routes are there other than university?
It’s no longer safe to assume that if a young person has not achieved straight A* GCSE and A level results they can rule out medicine or veterinary science.
We would like to help ensure our students are aware of how their subject and course choices can open career options, but can also close them down.
We know that it is crucial that young people need to hear about careers, work and job roles from people doing those jobs. Visit https://icould.com/explore/ to view videos and information on numerous job roles.
Source of LMI for Surrey
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/lmp/la/1941962887/report.aspx
LMI For All – The LMI for All portal provides high quality, reliable labour market information (LMI) to inform careers decisions.
Careerometer can be used to explore and compare key information about occupations, help you learn about different occupations and identify potential careers.
It provides access to a selection of UK headline data relating to pay, weekly hours of work and future employment prospects for different occupations, as well as description of the occupation.
Simply type in the title of the job you are interested in and the widget provides a series of options from which you can select the most relevant to you. You can then look up another two occupations and compare. You can also select ‘display the UK average’ and compare the information with the occupation you have selected.
