Vocational Learning

School Careers Leader:

Robyn Becker (r.becker@millford.plymouth.sch.uk, 01752 300270)

The Statutory Guidance:

Careers guidance and access for education, and training providers (October 2018) is the long term plan to build “a World class careers system that will help young people and adults choose the career that is right for them”.

Its aims are as follows:

All young people in secondary school get a programme of advice and guidance that is stable, structured and delivered by individuals with the right skills and experience.

All schools and colleges are to achieve the 8 Gatsby benchmarks by 2020:

1. A stable careers programme.
2. Learning from career and labour market information.
3. Addressing the needs of each student.
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers.
5. Encounters with employers and employees.
6. Experiences of workplaces.
7. Encounters with further and higher education.
8. Personal Guidance.

At Mill Ford School we are committed to ensuring that our students and parents have high aspirations and reach their full potential. Our careers programme aims to ensure that students have equal opportunities in the work place and experience of the world of work during their time at school.

Our careers familiarisation begins, where right and relevant, for students within KS2 and continues until they leave us. Students at KS4 and 5 receive accredited modules in vocational skills through either AQA or OCR examination boards.

Our aims within our careers programme are:

• To contribute to strategies for raising achievement, especially through motivation.
• To support inclusion, challenge stereotyping and promote equality of opportunity.
• To encourage participation in continued learning including further education.
• To develop enterprise and employment skills.
• To reduce drop out from and course switching in education and training.
• To contribute to the economic prosperity of individuals and communities.
• To meet the needs of all our students through appropriate differentiation.
• To develop self-awareness of skills and talents and support students to explore their whole self rather than just their academic achievements
• To support students to make their own decisions and accept change
•  To focus students on their future aspirations.
• To involve parents and carers.

Assessing the impact of the programme:

We assess our programme for careers in a number of ways including the Compass Assessment Tool to ensure that we monitor achievement within the Gatsby Benchmarks. We are trialling the use of Compass + to track achievements of the pupils and this will form a record of employment experiences undertaken and support them with their next steps in education. The impact of the course is explored at the end of each Academic Year.

Parent/Carer Involvement:

There are links on this section of the website that parents can explore in order for them to support the students. We have strong links with CSW who also work closely with families, particularly during transition. News of open days and events are shared with parents from Yr 7 upwards and parents are encouraged to be part of the discussions surrounding next steps and employability.

Baker Clause Policy Statement

As part of our commitment to informing our students of the full range of learning and training pathways on offer to them, we are happy to consider requests from training, apprenticeship and vocational education providers to speak to students. Mill Ford School also proactively seeks to build relationships with these partners as we plan our Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) programme activity throughout the school year to ensure that providers have multiple opportunities to speak to students and their parents across years 7-14. The purpose of these relationships is to offer information on educational and vocational pathways.

Mill Ford School ensures that staff involved in personnel guidance and pastoral support are up to date on their knowledge of these post 16 and post 19 pathways, through continuing professional development.   Opportunities for providers to speak with students may include class visits, employer and provider engagement events or opportunities to speak with students and parents on a one-to-one basis.

The Senior Leadership Team monitors Mill Ford School’s careers programme for quality and impact. In the first instance, requests by providers should be sent to the School’s Careers Lead Robyn Becker at r.becker@millford.plymouth.sch.uk with a minimum of 6 weeks’ lead time. All requests will be considered on the basis of; staff availability to support the activity, clashes with other planned activity, trips or visits to the School, interruption to preparation for examinations or rooming and space availability to host the activity.

Useful Websites:

https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/

https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/

https://cswgroup.co.uk/ (Careers South West)