Careers

Careers

Careers Provision at Merit

Merit recognises its statutory duty to provide impartial and confidential careers education to all our students in Years 7 to 11 and to give students access to careers information, advice and guidance.

We aim to broaden horizons, raise aspirations and help students to make the most of a range of opportunities on offer during their time at Merit.

Working alongside a visiting Local Authority Careers Officer, we aim to help students to:

Develop knowledge about the changing nature of the world of work and the jobs market
Understand the range of Post-16 learning opportunities locally and nationally
Recognise individual strengths and interests
Develop their career management and employability skills

Students are entitled to:

Access to qualified professionals and careers software
Business mentors
Guidance on interview techniques
Targeted interventions to meet individual needs
External visits to Further and Higher Education and Apprenticeship establishments to raise awareness and build confidence.

At Merit, the careers education programme begins in Key stage 3 and continues to the end of Year 11 when there is a high level of guidance to enable smooth transition to the students’ chosen Post 16 destination.

Key Stage 3 Provision

Depending on when students join Merit, students will:

Understand why leaving school with qualifications is important
Know the differences between A Levels, BTECs and Apprenticeships
Investigate possible career routes
Be able to match skills and qualities with suitable occupations
Know the local Post 16 opportunities available to them
Understand how to create their own CV

Year 10 Provision

Students will:

Have access to a work experience placement and, if appropriate, have first- hand experience of the world of work
Engage in enrichment days, assemblies and workshops that specifically focus on employability skills such as interview techniques, creating CVs and meeting employers from a range of disciplines or businesses
Visit a range of local Post-16 providers and Universities to inspire and motivate students to consider higher education
Have an inital one to one meeting with a fully qualified Careers Advisor

Year 11 Provision

Students will:

Meet with external providers at Parents’ Consultation days, allowing them to speak with a range of professionals and enabling them to make informed choices
Have at least 2 intensive 1:1 meetings with a qualified Careers Advisor to consider various post 16 options available to them; more appointments will be put in place for students with medical or SEND needs
Attend careers conventions wherever available
Be informed of local college Open Evenings/Days and be supported by Merit staff where required
Access bespoke assemblies/enrichment sessions and presentations with outside speakers

Our key aim is to ensure that careers education is impartial, promotes equality of opportunity, diversity and inclusion and is differentiated to meet the specific needs of each individual student. The guidance aims to provide current and relevant information to promote self-awareness, personal development and aims to provide our young people with the tools to make informed choices about their future. Students work with a fully qualified Careers Advisor during their time at Merit.

Who to Contact for information about careers:

Careers Leads

Contact Details

Mrs M James (Lead)

Mjames1@meritpru-stoke.org.uk

(01782 928983)

Mrs J Stephen

Mrs J Warrington

(Senior TA)

Jstephen1@meritpru-stoke.org.uk

Jwarrington@meritpru-stoke.org.uk

(01782 928980)

Engaging parents/guardians in working with their children to explore careers planning:

Parents please use the ebook link : Parents Guide Ebook

Assessing and measuring the impact of our careers provision:

We use the GATSBY Benchmarking system to ensure that our careers provision steadily grows and improves year on year. We also aim to assess impact through regular evaluations such as questionnaires of student and parent voice. We work closely, every term, with the Local Authority (Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire Careers and Enterprise Company). We currently review our careers provision every term.

The date of our next review is June, 2020.

Useful careers links

Resources for Employers

Youth Employment

181008 schools statutory guidance final

Careers strategy

State of the nation 2019 summary

case studies digital

Choosing a career path

Resources for parents and teachers

BP556 CDI Framework web

CV Templates - a range of different free CV templates and guidance on the application process

Target Careers for parents and teachers

CEGNET Supporting Careers Education

I Could STEM resources

I Could Teaching Resources

careers in the curriculum report what works

UCAS

Why work experience is important

NSGC Newcastle College

Virtual Open Event

Our first open event of the year takes place this Saturday 23^rd January 2021 10am-12noon.

The open event will have all subject staff available to chat to, subject videos, principals talk and a 360 virtual tour.

Pre-registration is required via the sign up link: https://nscg.ac.uk/events/newcastle-openevent-january

National Apprenticeship Week- (8^th-12^th February)

Our Apprenticeships Team are putting together a great programme of live and pre-recorded workshops that they would like to offer out to schools including; CV workshop, interview hints & tips and Apprenticeships explained.

The team are available to deliver these live, ideally in a 30 minute session (longer/shorter on request) during school hours. There will be lots of videos, live workshops and Q & As on our social media channels throughout the week. Therefore if you are interested in Apprenticeships now would be a great time to follow NSCG on Facebook.

If you would like to book the team for a workshop/ Q & A or just a short overview during Apprenticeships week, please email: apprenticeships@nscg.ac.uk

If you are interested in apprenticeships please watch the following presentation from NSCG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSfLtMhVHdg

Sixth Form College

Upcoming Open Event - Tuesday 2nd February 2021

Due to the national lockdown 3.0, our next open event taking place on Tuesday 2nd February will be 100% virtual. All prospective students who registered to attend the onsite event have been emailed and automatically allocated a place on the virtual event.

The timings of the event are:
Virtual: 5-7pm

Students and their parents MUST pre-register to attend the Open Events. The link to pre-register can be found on the College's website and via the link below.

http://www.stokesfc.ac.uk/open-event-pre-register/