Careers Education Information Advice and Guidance (CEIAG)

We aim to give each and every pupil here at St. Patrick’s relevant, informative and tailor-made careers advice and guidance (CIAG) from internal staff, our personal Careers Connect advisor and a huge array of external agencies. The impact of our careers provision here can be seen in our extremely low NEET figures (pupils Not in Employment, Education or Training once they leave here) which are viewable under ‘Latest Destination Figures’ within the Parents tab. Careers is something which is covered whole-school; within subject lessons, during form time or in break out days or evening events. Below, there is a variety of useful information aimed at Students, Parents, Employers and Teachers. If you do not find what you are looking for then please feel free to contact Miss Mainwaring on mainwaring.h@stpatricksrchigh.co.uk for more information.

Latest Careers Assembly

Please click here to view the latest careers assembly from Mr Macafee advising of the options available to students once they leave St Patrick’s.

What is the Baker Clause?

The Baker Clause stipulates that schools must allow colleges and training providers access to every student in Years 8 to 13 to inform them about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships. At St. Patrick’s, we actively encourage this and are fully compliant with the Statutory guidance for schools set by the Department for Education (DfE).

At St. Patrick’s we:

  • Open our doors to other education and training providers
  • Provide a range of opportunities for providers to talk to all of our pupils
  • Ensure that pupils are aware of the different avenues of study beyond St. Patrick’s, including apprenticeships, T Levels and other approved technical education
  • Make every effort to improve our performance against the Gatsby Benchmarks by systematically reviewing our offer at a Senior and Governing Body level
  • Publish all of our policies, programs and provider access statements on our school website for pupils, parents, teachers and employers/providers to see.

Please see here for our full Baker Clause Policy Statement

Careers Lead: Miss H Mainwaring

Careers Advisor – Hannah Fox (Hannah.fox@careerconnect.org.uk)

Careers Admin – Mrs S Taylor

Careers Policy 2022 23

We understand that a successful CEIAG programme cannot just be delivered internally. We value our excellent support from our industry links and from our network of post-16 providers: including colleges, universities and apprenticeship providers. Please see our Provider Access Statement below for more information about how to get involved.

Provider Access Statement

Management of Provider Access Requests

Opportunities for access

Our careers provision includes a range of opportunities for students to access independent Careers Advice and Guidance. This is delivered internally as part of the school’s careers programme and curriculum but also requires contributions from external providers, where appropriate.

Procedure

Local providers are invited to relevant key events throughout the year. However, if a provider wishes to request access to a set of our pupils they should contact Mr. D. Macafee, Careers Coordinator, via the school’s contact details in order to identify the most suitable opportunity. The school’s policy on safeguarding sets out the school’s approach to allowing providers into school as visitors to work with our pupils either as a group, or as individuals.

Resources

Once visits/sessions have been agreed, the school will provide appropriate rooming to facilitate any work with pupils, along with any equipment requested by the provider where it is available. Providers are always welcome to leave copies of prospectuses, or other course literature at reception, where it will be taken to the Careers Information Hub. This will be readily accessible by all pupils.

Raising The Participation Age

What does Raising the Participation Age (PRA) mean?

Raising the Participation age came from government legislation, introduced in 2013 to encourage young people to stay in ‘education and training’ until they are 18.

It’s not quite the same as the school leaving age as it doesn’t mean young people have to stay on at school. They will have a choice of what they can do:

Full time education at school or college
Part time education or training if they are employed, self-employed or volunteering for 20 hours or more a week
Apprenticeship

Why has this changed?

The RPA has been introduced to help students improve their career prospects by continuing with some form of learning or training after their GCSEs. This change give all students the opportunity to develop more skills and qualifications for future employment.

More Information on RPA

You can find out more information on Raising the Participation Age at:

www.gov.uk

www.plotr.co.uk

Latest Destination Figures

Please click here to view our latest destination figures

Labour Market Information (LMI)

LMI Growth Sector Information for parents/guardians – Click on this link

Further Information for Parents

Apprenticeship information for parents/guardians – Click on this link

A guide to university for parents/guardians – Click on this link

Help your child explore career ideas and plan their next steps – Click on this link

Resources and events for parents/guardians for Higher Education – Click on this link

Go Construct – Click on this link

Information on this page was updated for September 2021. The information on this page is due for review in July 2022.

Advice and Resources

Careers Leaders in School

If you need to speak to any members of staff in relation to careers or post-16 provision, please contact Miss H Mainwaring on mainwaring.h@stpatricksrchigh.co.uk or 0161 921 2301. Alternatively, please contact our school based careers advisor as below.

School Based Careers Advisor

Our Careers Advisor, Hannah Fox visits school each week. Hannah meets with every student in Year 10 and Year 11 to ensure they are given individualised advice and guidance on their proposed courses and routes post 16. Accordingly, each and every pupil receives an individual action plan. If you would like to speak to Hannah or arrange a careers meeting, please see her in her office when she is in school. Alternatively, speak to your form tutor or Miss Mainwaring.

Careers Resources

Throughout your time here, you will be provided with a wealth of information in order to make an informed decision about your future. You will also receive advice, guidance and development on ‘real world’ skills which you will need to navigate yourself through the next steps, once you leave St. Patrick’s. The following website provides you with some excellent information on: careers education, advice and guidance, emotional health, apprenticeships/training and employability skills: https://www.salford.gov.uk/14to16

Labour Market Information (LMI)

LMI Growth Sector Information for parents/guardians –Click on this link

Post-16 Pathways

After your GCSE examinations there are many different avenues to take and these are all dependent on your aspirations, the grades you get in your exams and what type of learning you want to receive once you leave school. Although there are more and more avenues available each year, below are the three main routes which pupils tend to take:

A-Levels

A Levels are Level 3 qualifications that you can choose to take after your GCSEs. You can take A Levels in schools, sixth form centres or at a Further Education College. They are very well regarded by universities and employers. A Levels will give you a chance to find out about your GCSE subjects in greater depth or you can choose to study one of the subjects that many schools and colleges only offer at A Level such as Law, Economics or Psychology.

They are good preparation if you are thinking of going onto higher education or if you are not sure of your career plans as they can keep your options open.

Most sixth forms and colleges will be looking for grades 4-9 in your GCSEs. A full A Level qualification is achieved after 2 years of study. How many you take depends on how well you have done in your GCSEs and what the sixth form or college suggests would be best for you.

Vocational Qualifications

Many schools offer a range of vocational courses like BTECs and OCR Cambridge qualifications and many more are available in colleges. By applying learning to real-life situations, these qualifications offer a more practical approach than more traditional A-Level academic courses.

Vocational subjects – these are related to a broad employment area such as business, engineering, IT, health and social care. Previously called BTECs and OCR Cambridge Nationals, if they are at Level 3 these are now called Applied Vocational Qualifications. These courses are offered in schools and colleges.

Vocational courses – these courses lead to specific jobs such as hairdressing, accounting, professional cookery or plumbing. These courses are called Tech Levels (if they are at Level 3) and are offered mostly at colleges.

Applied General Qualifications and Tech Levels are the same level qualifications as A-Levels – they are all Level 3 and are considered as entry requirements to many higher education courses or to employment. Choosing a vocational qualification can be a good option if you have a job sector in mind for the future or if you would like to gain employability skills linked to a particular type of work.

Apprenticeships

An apprenticeship is a great way to learn on the job, building up knowledge and skills, gaining qualifications and earning money at the same time. You will spend most of your time in the workplace gaining job-specific skills, but you will also be supported by a specialist learning provider to build up your knowledge and qualifications.

There are no set entry requirements as this depends on the apprenticeship, however, apprenticeships have grown very popular in previous years and there is a lot of competition, so good qualifications are important, as well as being motivated and committed.

Apprenticeship training can take between one and four years to complete and the length of your apprenticeship will depend on its level, the industry you’re training in and the skills you already have. It is important to note that there are different levels of apprenticeship and higher level apprenticeships will require higher grades and/or experience.

Open Days

We advise that students visit as many open days as possible, to get a real feel for the colleges or providers that they are interested in and ask relevant questions about the courses, whether these be face to face open days or those which happen virtually.

 

School Leaver Case Studies

Tyler Woonton

Shaun Kane

Molly Robinson

Hope Duncan

Alfred Melia-Redgrave

Alex Chaisty

Lucy Forshaw

Amelia McLaughlin

 

5 Year Curriculum

We take the aspirations of our pupils very seriously at St. Patrick’s and we ensure that every pupil is given the opportunity to think about their next steps and given the relevant information to help them get there. We take two approaches to ensuring that pupils get the relevant knowledge, information and skills to thrive in life after St. Patrick’s. The first approach is to ensure that each and every subject area is making reference to the careers which their subject could potentially lead to. This involves dedicated lesson time, external visitors coming into school and further investigation into particular career paths. The second approach is for more general careers skills and knowledge to be attained outside of subject lessons. This involves work during form time on relevant careers education, break out days and whole-year events such as: mock interview day, careers information evening and working skills day.

Please see the documents below which give you a detailed overview of how specific careers are covered within subject lessons and also a more general careers program to equip students with the relevant careers information and guidance that they need to succeed in St. Patrick’s, and beyond.

Careers Program – Subject Lessons

General Careers Program

Our teaching staff have an active interest in getting the very best from our pupils and inspiring them to achieve in whatever they want to do once they leave us. Our teachers are keen to promote the variety of careers and opportunities available within their own subject areas through their lessons (see subject specific careers program), through mentoring and through engaging with external contacts.

Teachers can enhance careers activity through their subjects in a variety of ways – such as guest speakers in school, subject-focused careers trips, and employer-led careers lessons, with employers helping to deliver aspects of the curriculum. If teaching staff want to learn more about embedding careers into their lessons, please speak to Miss Mainwaring. We also have an amazing Enterprise Adviser – Michelle Richardson – who works closely with us in bringing external colleague and delivering content herself (please see Miss Mainwaring for more details). Finally, have excellent support from Salford City Council through policy & development officer Sarah Scanlan, who teachers are welcome to contact by email – sarah.scanlan@salford.gov.uk to discuss any ideas or activities.