Aims
Our careers programme thoroughly prepares students for university and the world of work. We help students develop the skills and knowledge needed for the fast-changing job market, and provide them with a exciting range of opportunities to engage with employers, further education providers and higher education institutions throughout their time at the Academy.
Our Careers Lead
Maureen Malcolm-Douglas
Key activities
At Ark Globe Academy, we use the Gatsby Benchmarks as a guide to plan our Pathways and Enrichment programme – a nationally recognised framework for world-class careers provision.
Primary provision
Our Primary students participate in career-related events starting from Year 3 onwards. They learn about different career paths in an informative and fun way that is tailored to their age. This programme includes trips to Kidzania, work place visits, university tours and a full day of business experience (Year 6). On their business experience day, our Year 6 students take part in work experience with Ark Globe's Business Support Team and experience different career paths such as Marketing, Finance, Premises, Catering and Human Resources.
Secondary provision
Our varied careers programme includes networking events, masterclasses, termly enrichment days, careers fairs, Apprenticeship Week events, mock interviews and university visits.
Preparing for University
Our belief here at Ark Globe Academy is that all students are capable of studying in higher education, and all students should be supported to find and study a subject that is right for them. As such, there is provision throughout the academic year that ensures that each and every student is supported to make informed and practical decisions about their futures.
Year 12 students are educated about the world of higher education in regular assemblies throughout the year. They are also supported in weekly learning family workshops to research, think critically about and take action towards the idea of applying to university. This includes providing them with information and resources which ensure they are proactive in identifying and developing their degree-subject passion early, such as learning the differences between types of degrees, and how to write a strong personal statement.
In September of Year 13, students receive concentrated and personalised support to consolidate all parts of their university application. This takes place every Wednesday afternoon during enrichment periods, and throughout the Autumn term during learning family workshops. This is to ensure that all students have submitted high quality university applications to five suitable, UK based degree courses/universities by the end of Autumn term (December).
We work with the Access Project to give our students all the support they need. The Access Project offers 1:1 tutoring and study skills workshops, as well as bespoke support for Oxbridge and STEM subject students.
Monitoring and Evaluation
We measure the success of our University and Careers curriculum in the following ways:
- Pupil voice & reflections – we place a lot of emphasis on pupil voice, listening to how they feel our school Values and Character programme, pillar days and careers offer are supporting their personal development. Surveys and focus groups help us to gain insight on what pupils find useful and what we can improve (e.g. further requests for in-person university trips post pandemic). In addition, pupils reflect on their experiences when they visit workplaces or hear from speakers. This allows us to identify which experiences pupils enjoyed and which they didn’t, as well as providing a record for the pupil they can use in future applications.
- Pupil Level Tracking – as we track what our pupils do each academic year individually, this allows us to identify groups of pupils who are not receiving as many opportunities for careers and university related experiences. It also allows us to see trends and patterns between attainment data, destinations and the experiences pupils in that year had.
- Evaluation of the programme – each year, we have an annual review of the programme with Ark, who assess how many of the Gatsby Benchmarks we are meeting and identify strategic goals for us to work on over the next year.
- Destinations Data – we will monitor destinations data each year, to ensure we understand what our pupils go on to do and whether the Information, Advice and Guidance they received during their time here has had an effect.