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

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

We will be offering the opportunity for our Year 11 students to attend work experience during the week of 12th-16th December 2022.

The opportunity to participate in a high-quality work experience is an incredibly valuable part of preparation for life after school and provides young people with:

• increased self-awareness, maturity, independence and self-confidence.
• increased motivation to continue study and/or undertake further training.
• an understanding of the work environment and what employers expect of their workers.
• an opportunity to explore possible career options.
• a better understanding of how the school curriculum can help prepare young people for work.
• enhanced opportunities for part-time and casual employment.
• the opportunity to include the employer’s work experience evaluation in future job and course applications.
• opportunities to develop work-related competencies and acquire skills.
• the chance to ‘try out’ a workplace.

We are being supported by Elevate Education and Business Partnership, who will be aiming to provide our students with relevant work placement opportunities and ensure all the appropriate legal and health and safety checks are met.

Where possible we would strongly encourage our students to find their own placement and have requested students let us know their preffered placements in advance of the summer holidays so we can support them in finding a suitable placement they will enjoy and find valuable.

Work Experience documents:

Work Experience Preparation 2022 (Assembly Slides)

Letter to Parents May 2022

Work Experience Parent Consent Form

Work Experience Placement Choices Form

Work Experience Self Placement Form

All students should have returned the completed parent consent form (white) and choices form (grey) by Friday 6th June 2022. Even if your son or daughter is hoping to secure their own placement-this will ensure they have a back -up if they are unable to find one.

Deadline for the self-placement form (pink) is Friday 16th September and this must be fully completed by the employer, with details of their Employer’s Liability Insurance. We are unable to authorise placements without this information. All forms need to be returned to Mrs Galbraith on student services or emailed to our Careers Advisor, Mrs Hall at [email protected] .

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].

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

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 hold the Quality in Careers Standard Award and are currently working for reaccreditation July 2022.

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 12 Work Experience Programme to the evaluate how relevant placements have been in relation to the students’ careers plans and the quality of these experiences.

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.