Careers

Careers Fair 2023

Year 7 Mini Van Challenge

Year 10 World of Work Insight Conference

At Highcrest, we believe Careers Education Advice Information and Guidance (usually abbreviated to CEIAG) should equip young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence to plan and manage their individual pathways through learning and work on a lifelong basis.

Please click the link below, which will take you to the monthly newsletter produced by the Buckinghamshire Skills Hub whom Highcrest works very closely with to support the school in developing a diverse careers programme. Their website includes invaluable career-related information including guides to different job sectors, case studies on the world of work, how to make yourself employable and much more. Click here to find out more: https://bucksskillshub.org/

The newsletter, Classroom to Careers, from Buckinghamshire Skills Hub contains help and support for students, parents and carers. It comes monthly and has write-ups on what is going on locally in the way of careers, as well as covering what the colleges are doing and how that might relate. The newsletter has links that help with local apprenticeships, internships as well as work experience. They also publish help and support for SEND students with a detailed look into careers that support different way of working. Please do read it as you never know what gems you might find.

Provider Access Policy:

You can view Highcrest's Provider Access Policy here. In order to achieve the objectives in our provider, access policy, we will:

Help students make decisions about the options for learning that they will face both in school and when they leave.
Help students to manage the transition onto the next stages of education, training and employment.

Aims of CEIAG at Highcrest:

The aim of careers education, information, advice, and guidance at Highcrest is:

To enable students to understand themselves and develop their capabilities.
To enable students to investigate careers and opportunities.
To enable students to understand and develop the skills that employers tell us they need.

We will aim to achieve this through:

One-to-one interviews with external specialist advisers from Learning to Work - a specialist careers advice charity which works with the school to provide impartial, personal advice and a programme of activities for every year group.
Our Careers Education programme which takes place as part of our innovative “Life Lessons” programme
The Bridge to Employment Programme run in partnership with Johnson & Johnson
Careers information and guidance which can be obtained through Mrs Hollingworth, our Careers Leader.
Sessions with staff and external professionals talking about their career experiences..
External visits to places of work and promoting exhibitions such as The Bucks Skills Show, and a range of local businesses
Support for UCAS applications and visits to a UCAS Fair and liaison with local Universities
Young Enterprise to raise awareness of entrepreneurial activity.
Talks from higher education providers.
Regular communication with parents to update them and inform them of new developments via the parent bulletin.

Highcrest Current Careers Programme:

The Careers Programme

How we measure and assesses the impact of the careers programme on our pupils:

The full impact of a structured ongoing careers programme which covers multiple years of education is not always immediately apparent but there is now a substantial body of research which demonstrates the value and impact of a careers education programme based on the Gatsby Benchmarks: we are sowing seeds and developing skills and that take time for the full impact to be evident.

Highcrest’s CEIAG provision was reviewed as part of an Ofsted inspection in March 2020. The Inspectors said “There is an extensive careers provision between Year 8 and Year 13. Pupils have access to impartial careers advice. They also take part in events involving leaders from local and national industries. In Year 12, students take part in courses organised by employers. These include learning about internships and visiting foreign countries on fact-finding trips. The school’s high- quality careers provision means that pupils are well prepared for the next stages of their education.”
We work with external partners including members of the local business community, an Enterprise Adviser who is MD of a local business (ANT Telecom) and Bucks Business First who provide challenge, feedback and support and make sure that what we provide for our students is what businesses tell us they need.
Highcrest is afounding member of the Bucks Careers Hub so we share best practice and share resources and training with other Careers Leaders in member schools.
We discuss events and activities with the external service providers and businesses to identify improvements for future iterations of the same type of activity.

Labour Market Information

Careerometer

This widget helps you to find out about careers in different employment sectors, the jobs that might be available in future and how much you could earn.

Other Useful Information

Please also have a look at:

Personal Careers Guidance:

All students in Year 11 and Year 12 and some students from other years receive personal, one-to –one careers advice sessions with specialist, qualified careers advisers from Learning to Work. The sessions are timetabled automatically. Parents are e-mailed to let them know when their child has a session. Each student receives a written plan setting out future actions to help them pursue their ambitions. Additional guidance sessions are scheduled if needed. Students in other years can arrange for personal sessions by contacting Mrs Hollingworth, who is also happy to speak with parents by prior appointment if they would like advice and information.

Unifrog

In keeping with our commitment to provide students with outstanding careers guidance and tailored support when choosing their next steps after school, we are using Unifrog; an award-winning, online destinations platform. All students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 have access to this website.

Unifrog is the universal destinations platform and is designed to support learners in making the most informed decisions about their futures and has a range of tools that are suitable for all year groups. Each student has their own account where they can explore all the career and next step options available to them and find information on everything from managing their workload to writing a winning CV.

Students access the platform by clicking a link in their welcome email, where they create a password and can begin using the platform. They sign in to Unifrog using their school email address and password and they can do so from any computer, tablet, or smartphone.

We would encourage parents to use the platform with their child so they can support them through the process of deciding their next step.

Parents can have their own Unifrog account. They will be able to research careers, attend webinars delivered by employers and universities to learn more about opportunities, and compare pathways so they can support their child in making an informed decision about their next steps. In order to create your own account go to www.unifrog.org/code and use code HGCT parents.

For more information, go to www.unifrog.org

Careers Resources for Parents and Carers:

You will find detailed information from the National Careers Service. The National Careers Service also offer telephone advice service and you can find details of that here. Every year they offer a GCSE and A Level exam results helpline.

Open Day at Stoke Mandeville for NHS Careers - 14 September 2024

CareerMap Newsletter:

We recommend that students subscribe personally to Careermap Newsletter. This is a free resource. This will help students and their parents or carers to keep up to date with all the latest news and information on the world of work and higher education. Each edition focuses on a different employment sector. It also contains more general articles to help with writing personal statements and UCAS applications.

Bucks Skills Hub website – a one-stop shop for all skills and career-related advice in Buckinghamshire. This website is the first of its kind in Buckinghamshire and is designed to inspire, support and inform career seekers, career changers and educators. The website highlights job possibilities in key sectors across Buckinghamshire and shows 1000s of live jobs. It is also full of the latest resources and advice on career choices, skills development and recruitment, as well as redundancy support.

Careers Leader
Sarah Hollingworth
The Highcrest Academy
Hatters Lane
High Wycombe
Bucks
HP13 7NQ

01494 529866

shollingworth@highcrestacademy.org.uk