The David Ross Education Trust

David Ross Education Trust schools create a rich and exciting learning environment that inspires students to become their confident, academic best.

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Thomas Middlecott Academy

Thomas Middlecott Academy seeks to broaden the horizons of each and every student, helping them to achieve at the highest level both academically and through their talents outside the classroom.

Careers Guidance & Post 16

Careers Guidance is highly valued at Thomas Middlecott Academy. We aim to inspire and motivate our students, to enable them to make informed and aspirational decisions about their future choices. The Academy supports students through the provision of an engaging and aspirational programme of study using labour market information and online programmes. We work closely with LincHigher who work to raise aspirations in young people. Our Enterprise Advisor is Melanie Baker, a former student of the school who is Group Managing Director for Euroflow Automation Ltd. We are also working with the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership and The Careers and Enterprise Company to embed Careers Education across the curriculum and our programme will be reviewed regularly.

Careers Plan

Year 7

Through Academy drop down days, focus weeks, assemblies and PSHE lessons, students begin to question and reflect upon concepts relating to careers and aspirations. Topics include “Who am I?” in which students identify skills and strengths, and “What are my dreams and ambitions?” which leads into a brief introduction to Post 16 education and training. In addition, careers links are made explicit across the curriculum.

Year 8

Through the online Start Careers platform, drop down days, focus weeks, assemblies and PSHE lessons, students are given the opportunity to reflect upon the concept of careers and to begin to consider their own career goals and aspirations. Students are also asked to collate information about how family members and friends earn a living to open up discussions about the world of work. In addition, careers links are made explicit across the curriculum.

Year 9

Through the online Start Careers platform, drop down days, focus weeks and assemblies, students consider career development as well as employability skills such as interview techniques. PSHE lessons allow students to reflect upon GCSE option choices and how these choices can be linked with career pathways. Students are taught about Post 16 options as well as Higher Education. In addition, careers links are made explicit across the curriculum.

Year 10

Through drop down days, focus weeks, assemblies and PSHE lessons, students focus on their next steps after completing Year 11. Continued access to the Start Careers platform allows students to investigate a variety of career paths. Study skills sessions delivered by an external provider make direct links between success at GCSE level and future employment opportunities.

Year 11

Year 11 assemblies focus on post 16 options, Higher Education, employability skills, interview techniques and CV writing. Students receive prospectuses from local Post 16 providers who are also invited to be guest speakers in assemblies. All Year 11 students have a 1:1 meeting with an independent Careers Advisor and have access to the Start Careers platform. The Head of Year 11 and Year 11 tutors offer help and support with post 16 applications. There is specialist TA ELSA support from the Inclusion team for students whose learning is vulnerable in order to secure the right setting and to support with transition to post 16 provision. Students are encouraged to have a plan A and a plan B. Study skills sessions delivered by an external provider make direct links between success at GCSE level and future employment opportunities.

Teachers Role in the Careers Programme

All staff within TMA have a responsibility for supporting students with their career pathways.

In addition to this subject teachers are responsible for ensuring they clearly outline the industry links their subject has with the wider world of work.

Information for Students

Please feel free to speak to Mrs Baldwin (RBaldwin@thomasmiddlecott.co.uk) if you have any careers questions or need some careers information and an appointment will be made for you.

Information for Parents/Carers

Thomas Middlecott Academy is committed to providing students with high quality information, advice and guidance regarding education pathways, apprenticeships and careers.

We aim to help students make informed decisions at key times in their education, for example with option choices in Year 9 and post-16 plans in Year 11 as they plan for further education and training. In addition to dedicated careers input for all year groups, students also have the opportunity to interact with universities and businesses.

Here are some links which you may find useful:

Information for Employers

At Thomas Middlecott Academy we are passionate about supporting our students to achieve their full potential.

A key factor in accomplishing this is providing students with inspiration through finding out more about the world of work and the local and regional opportunities. If you are willing to support and can commit time we would be delighted to hear from you.

Below are a few examples of how you could support our careers programme:

Mock interview day with year 11 – our learners really value this opportunity
Supporting our CV and job skills workshops
Providing talks about your industry/sector and your own career journey
Allowing a group of learners to visit your place of work
Work shadowing/work experience placements

In dedicating your time to support our careers programme you are not only supporting community development but you can also support your future workforce recruitment needs.

How we measure the impact of the provision

Our independent Careers Advisor forms a Careers Action Plan with each student who is interviewed. The plan includes how the student rates his/her confidence about future plans before and after interview. A copy is given to the student and a copy is retained by the Head of Year 11.

The Head of Year 11 keeps a spreadsheet which records each student’s plan A, plan B, date of application, interview date and conditions of offer.

The Careers programme is measured against the Gatsby Career Benchmarks. Thomas Middlecott Academy uses Compass +, the careers benchmark tool which measures our provision against the Gatsby benchmarks. A Compass evaluation is carried out three times a year.

The eight Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance are: