Provision & Achievements
We are really proud of the support that the Careers team offers to all of our students and the way that our careers programme has grown:
Gatsby Benchmarks – how we meet them
1. A stable career programme - Careers Leader in post, Assistant Head with responsibility for Careers and link governor in post. We monitor and evaluate our careers policy annually and our Careers provision is monitored and evaluated within the whole school improvement plan. Impact and feedback is sought regularly by careers leader via evaluations. Our destinations are closely tracked. We have a dedicated budget for careers and key information for students, parents, teachers and employers can be found on the careers section of our website.
2. Learning from career and labour market information – Year 7 are introduced to our Careers offer as soon as they begin at BA through weekly tutor activities. A minimum of 25% (often more) Personal and Careers Development lessons across the academic year are dedicated to careers learning this is enriched further through year group and needs based careers events and visits, talks and subject specific information and resources shared with teaching staff. We have a continually growing online resource hub which is interactive and user-friendly for students to access the most up-to-date information and signposting. Our careers team helps students to make the best use of available information, offering a drop-in service as well as targeted small-group ‘careers chats’. Parents are informed about key careers information and events via email or letter.
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil – We organise a range of specific events to raise aspirations and challenge stereotypical thinking across the academy. We target specific needs with events such as our employer mentoring, HAPs programme, college transition talks, alternative provision insight opportunities, challenging stereotypes events and DWP employability skills workshops. Career Action Plans and learning are added to Unifrog. We systematically track and analyse student destinations for three years after students leave and share relevant information with Bedford Borough. Student 1:1 and small-group careers chats are embedded into our offer.
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers – Linking curriculum learning to careers is included in our new staff induction and there is whole staff training planned for this academic year to promote and embed Careers learning across subject areas. We have developed the use of ‘Careers Corners’ around the Academy building to support the use and sharing of LMI and other careers-related information, opportunities and ‘fun facts’ in a way that is subject-specific to any given location in the building. A career learning logo is now in use to highlight careers learning within lessons and assemblies. Staff are encouraged to participate in opportunities that link their subject to Careers and wider FE/HE options.
5. Encounters with employers and employees – All our pupils have the opportunity to meet with a range of employers at numerous events such as guest speakers, meet the professional events, mock interviews, assemblies, lunchtime stalls and external visits.
6. Experience of work places – We run Year 10 and Year 12 work experience weeks to ensure students have had at least one meaningful experience of the workplace by the end of Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5. Virtual work experience opportunities are also available as an additional opportunity and students are also encouraged to engage with super-curricular opportunities that are often linked to the workplace.
7. Encounters with further and higher education – The majority of students will have meaningful encounters with sixth form colleges, further education colleges, universities and independent training providers via parents’ evenings, open evening, targeted events, meet the professional events, Next Steps events, results day, PCD lessons, assemblies, careers fairs, lectures and workshops. By the end of Key Stage 4, we aim to have given students the opportunity to visit a university, either as part of their subject learning or for a generic taster visit. Students in Year 12 attend the UCAS Discovery conference, along with at least two university visits across Key Stage 5, targeted visiting lecturer experiences and subject-specific HE experiences and projects.
8. Personal guidance – We have one full-time qualified careers advisor. We are affiliate members of the Career Development Institute (CDI) and adhere to their code of practice. Parents and students from any year group can request a careers appointment and all students will have at least one careers chat by the end of Key Stage 4. In Key Stage 5, all students taking unplanned subjects will be seen and appointments are made available for all other students. In addition, some students may be seen more often in order for support to be given. This includes students with an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP), Looked After Children, those with specific pastoral needs or students identified as high achievers.
See our latest Careers & Enterprise Compass evaluation here:
