At Notre Dame, our careers programme has been designed to ‘open doors’ to the ambitious, happy and fulfilled futures mentioned in our mission statement.
In doing so, we strive to meet all aspects of the Gatsby Benchmarks and Provider Access Legislation (PAL). Our careers programme supports all students in Years 7 to 13.

Careers Curriculum Journey 2023-24
Careers Entitlement
Students
All students at Notre Dame Catholic College will:
Take part in a careers programme in years 7-13 that helps them to:
- Understand their education, training, employment and other progression opportunities
- Develop the skills they need to plan and manage their own personal development and career progression
- Access relevant information and learning through participation in the range of activities provided in house and external visits
- Make and maintain individual progression plans to help them improve their prospects of success
- Offer feedback and ideas of how to improve the careers programme
Have access to and support with using careers information that is:
- Easy to find and available at convenient times and in convenient locations including online and the Connected Portal
- Clearly labelled, referenced and comprehensive, giving details of all progression opportunities and associated support arrangements such as financial help
- Unbiased and up to date
Obtain careers guidance that is:
- Impartial
- Confidential
- Focused on individual needs and fit for purpose
- Supportive of equal opportunities
- Provided by people with relevant training and expertise
Parents and Carers
All parents and carers can expect to:
- Be able to make an appointment with a member of staff or specialist adviser to discuss their children’s progress and future career pathway
- Have access to tutors, subjects, learning partners and specialist advisers at parents’ evenings in years 7-13 as well as Options evenings in years 9 and 11
- Be invited to feedback on the careers programme as well as the careers support and information their child/children receive
- Be invited to participate in careers and information events
Gatsby Benchmarks
What are the Gatsby Benchmarks?
The Gatsby Benchmarks are a framework of 8 standards that define excellent career guidance. The Department for Education (DfE) expects all schools and colleges to be working towards these 8 standards.
Curriculum areas and subjects will contribute to Gatsby Benchmarks 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7. But mostly GB4: Linking Curriculum Learning to Careers.
Teachers: for further information about how to incorporate GB4 into the curriculum and resources please contact Careers Advisor, Mrs G Hall, [email protected].
Teacher Support for UCAS Applications
There are lots of different ways for your students to train or continue their education. It’s important they decide on a direction that’s right for them.
For guidance on all aspects of supporting students including formulation of predicted grades and advising students on personal statements please click here
In addition to the careers education programme, students have access to one-to-one advice and guidance from a Level 6 qualified careers adviser. Notre Dame holds the Quality in Careers Standard Award in recognition of the range and quality of our careers related activities.
Key Staff with a responsibility to careers.
Mrs A M Costello
Acting Headteacher
has overall responsibility for CEIAG
Mrs G Hall
Careers Leader and Advisor
is the nominated Careers Leader and Careers Adviser who has day to day responsibility for the Careers Education programme , information and careers related activities in school. She can be contacted on hall[email protected] or on the main school phone number.
Miss Kath Wyke
Link Governor for CEIAG
Miss Maria Martin
Enterprise Coordinator, Careers and Enterprise Company
Ms Amanda Follit
Enterprise Adviser, Senior Manager EPAM and LCR Digital Skills Adviser
Evaluation/Quality Assurance
The school is committed to providing CPD opportunities for the Careers Leader on an ongoing basis. Regular meetings with the school’s Enterprise Coordinator and wider LCR Hub team ensure a robust programme which meets all of the criteria of Gatsby benchmarks and Government Statutory Guidance.
This combined with extensive pupil voice, parent and external provider comments ensures that the career programme at Notre Dame is robust and caters for the needs of all students. We were reccredited for the Quality in Careers Standard Award in October 2022.
Annual Monitoring and Evaluations
Reviews with CEC Enterprise Coordinator and Enterprise Adviser Regular reviews between the Careers leader, SLT and the governing body (Life of the School Committee) Pupil Voice, evaluations for all year groups after each event/activity Internal monitoring which includes, reports from pastoral staff and curriculum leaders.
The Careers Leader conducts an annual careers audit for each curriculum subject. Careers Education is monitored and evaluated through the wider PHSCE programme as well.
There is an annual review of the Year 11 Work Experience Programme to the evaluate how relevant placements have been in relation to the students’ careers plans and the quality of these experiences.
Destinations
All destinations of year 11,12 and 13 students are collated by the Careers leader, who collaborates with staff from the local authority and the Post 16 Careers Outreach Team to ensure students at risk of being NEET are supported. The Careers Leader monitors the destinations of school leavers for 3 years after they leave.
Some recent examples of our former students destinations include:
Faye Roberts is at Keble College, University of Oxford Reading Ancient & Modern History. Faye was part of the Liverpool Aspire Programme.
Tom Whittaker is currently on a paid internship for a year with The Anfield Wrap, ahead of his degree in Sports Journalism at UFCB, Manchester.
Adam Abbou – is a working Actor who has recently starred in ITV’s award winning drama Time, Casualty and The Rising.
Careers Curriculum Map
Careers Programme 20/21
Provider Access Policy 2021
Careers Education & Guidance Policy
Quality of Careers Education Report 2023
Careers Resources
Students
The following websites can support with your research and career planning.
Unifrog www.unifrog.org/sign-in
Key Stage 3 https://www.loom.com/share/d36d37f0fe4d4dcb8538c772b2508a4a
Key Stage 4 https://www.loom.com/share/32912a39957a4d57ab48f394c4142aa0
Key Stage 5 https://www.loom.com/share/bf30f7508ecc4bbaae87baa10aa04154
Parents
Target Careers https://targetcareers.co.uk/parents
Careers Support for Parents of SEND students https://www.parentalguidance.org.uk/help-information/help-for-parents-ofchildren-and-young-people-with-special-needs
National Careers Service https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/
Success at School –Parent Support https://successatschool.org/advice/parents
Guide to qualifications https://www.parentalguidance.org.uk/making-choices/an-introduction-toqualifications
Teachers
Teaching staff may find the following information and resources useful to support our students with their career progression:
What are the Gatsby Benchmarks?
The Gatsby Benchmarks are a framework of 8 standards that define excellent career guidance. The Department for Education (DfE) expects all schools and colleges to be working towards these 8 standards.
Curriculum areas and subjects will contribute to Gatsby Benchmarks 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7. But mostly GB4: Linking Curriculum Learning to Careers.
Teachers: for further information about how to incorporate GB4 into the curriculum and resources please contact Careers Advisor, Mrs G Hall, [email protected].
Teaching Support for UCAS Applications:
There are lots of different ways for your students to train or continue their education. It’s important they decide on a direction that’s right for them.
For guidance on all aspects of supporting students including formulation of predicted grades and advising students on personal statements please click here
Liverpool City Region Careers Hub – Click here to view.
View our USEFUL LINKS section above for further Careers resources.
Employers and other stakeholders
We welcome support from new employers or businesses that would like to support our careers programme in some way. Some examples of how you can support our students and staff include: careers fairs, mock interviews, assembly talks, skills focus sessions, supporting curriculum lessons. We welcome speakers from all sectors to inspire and inform our students.
We develop strong relationships with employers in our community, our students attend workplacements with a variety of employers across the city and we have established partnerships with organisations including Red Neighbours, Elevate, Shaping Futures and Taylor Wessing Solicitors.
Taylor Wessing Solicitors supported us with laptops through lockdown and hosted virtual employability skills workshops. They will be visiting Year 10 students in the Summer Term.
If you would like to discuss partnering with us please contact Mrs Gayle Hall Careers Leader on [email protected] or telephone 0151 330 5122 ext 135. We’d be delighted to work with you!
Work Experience Resources
Year 11 Work Experience will take place 11th –15th December 2023.
Owing to the increased demand for work experience placements over the last year, we feel it is essential that our current Year 10 students begin as soon as possible to identify their preferred placement choice.
We are asking Year 10 students (with their families support) to source their own work experience placement. To manage the administration of self -placements, we are using the Unifrog Placements Tool to collect information from the employer about their Risk Assessment and Health & Safety policy; as well as getting agreement from Parents/Carers for the placement to go ahead. Unifrog is a comprehensive careers platform that we subscribe to as a school and students will be given the opportunity to subscribe to this platform during the Summer 2023 Term.
The deadline for all self-placements is 17th July. If a student is unable to find their own placement, we will work with Elevate, one of our work experience partners, to support finding a placement for them. Please be aware that there is no guarantee this will be in your child’s preferred job sector. for further information, please see the resources below.
If you have any questions, please contact Mrs Hall, our Careers Advisor for further details and support.
Quality of Careers Award
We’re delighted that Notre Dame Catholic College is, once again, nationally
accredited by the Quality In Careers Standard as fully meeting all the accreditation
criteria incorporating the Gatsby Benchmarks.
This award reaffirms that our Careers Provision is an integral part of our school’s
commitment to open doors for all students by raising aspirations,
providing opportunity and access to information and guidance
from the moment they join us in Year 7 to Sixth Form and beyond.

Quality Award for Careers Education, Advice and Guidance Provision Assessor Report

Online careers platforms portals available to students and parents.
As a school we are currently subscribed to a range of online career planning tools to support students and their parents/carers. Joining instructions for these sites are sent via Class Charts.
If you or your child have issues logging on to these sites please contact me at [email protected]