Careers
‘An unswerving focus on destinations’
At King’s Oak we strive to offer every student exceptional careers and employability guidance in support of them becoming active participants within our wider community. As part of their careers provision, we aim to provide the students, parents and carers with the guidance, advice, and information to ensure that all students are prepared for the next stage of their lives and develop the necessary skills and attributes needed for a successful working life, and one of continued learning and development.
We believe it is vitally important for all students to feel confident that they are getting the best careers education, information, advice, and guidance (CEIAG) to allow them to understand and negotiate the opportunities presented to them and to allow them to carve the specific pathway required for their next steps in life.
To ensure we are doing all we can to support our students, here at King’s Oak, our CEIAG resources and activities are aligned with the eight Gatsby Benchmarks. The Gatsby Benchmarks are an external validation of career guidance. In 2013, Gatsby commissioned Sir John Holman to set out what career guidance in England would be like if it were good by international standards, resulting in the Good Career Guidance Report. The eight Gatsby Benchmarks defined in the report serve as a framework for national careers provision and have been adopted as part of the Government’s Careers Strategy, statutory guidance for schools.
- A stable careers programme
- Learning from career and labour market information
- Addressing the needs of each pupil
- Linking curriculum learning to careers
- Encounters with employers and employees
- Experiences of workplaces
- Encounters with further and higher education
- Personal guidance
Further information can be found here
At King’s Oak, Mrs Larkin provides impartial, objective advice and information to our students, and their parents, about the different pathways open to young people as they progress through their school time.
By the end of KS4, every student will have been offered a careers guidance interview. These are held on a 1:1 basis, lasting around 30 minutes with follow-ups scheduled as required. The aim of these interviews is to give the students time to think about and reflect on their aspirations and to receive advice and guidance on the different options and pathways available for them upon leaving school.
Careers throughout King’s Oak Academy
As an all-though academy we have an exciting opportunity to support students in planning, preparing, and accessing their individual pathways from an early age, right through to them leaving after KS4. Our careers strategy is clear; build on the experiences gained from outside exposure whilst supporting in lifting confidence, self belief and academic outcomes to support their personalised destination pathway.
| SCHOOL | YEAR GROUP | AREA OF COVERAGE |
| LOWER School | Year 1 – Year 4 |
|
| MIDDLE School | Year 5 – Year 8 |
|
| UPPER School | Year 9 – Year 11 |
|
Work Experience
As part of our Careers Programme, each Spring we offer our Year 10 students the chance to participate in a Work Experience placement of their choice. Experience of a ‘real life’ workplace is enormously important for our young people as it gives them an insight into what they can expect from future employment once they leave education. It will also show them how the things they are learning at school can be applied to a work environment, and how key skills like punctuality, presentation and reliability will help them to find work as an adult.
In 2024 our work experience dates are: Monday 22 April – Friday 26 April.
There are a series of checks the school must make to ensure each placement is safe and appropriate for our students. The four forms which must be fully completed and submitted to the school by the deadline of Friday 1 March 2024 can be found below, along with a copy of the letter and guidance document sent out to parents:
Work experience – Information letter for parents and carers 2023-2024
Work experience Agreement and Placement Details 2023
Work experience – Letter of Understanding 2023
Work experience – Health Declaration Form 2023
Work experience – H&S Questionnaire 2023
King’s Oak Academy Careers Staff
To find our more, please contact us.
Mrs Larkin
Careers Guidance Advisor
[email protected]
Ext:1647
Mr Marshall-Aherne
Assistant Principal – SLT Link for Careers and Employability
[email protected]
Tel: 01179 927137
External Providers
At King’s Oak we value to depth and breadth of experience that outside agencies, companies, business, and education providers can give to our students, as well as the invaluable links to real life experiences and training.
As such, we warmly welcome all requests from businesses, employers, higher education, Further education, and training providers to meet with our students for the purposes of:
- inspiring students to believe in themselves.
- supporting students to achieve outstanding results.
- advising students on how to become successful members of the local, national, and international community.
Examples of meaningful opportunities for students might include, but are not restricted to:
- Assemblies.
- Guest speakers who are industry specialists.
- Careers and Employability lessons.
- Drop down days.
- Attendance of local Post 16 providers at key parents’/support evenings.
- “Pop up shops” (informal lunchtime information and advice stands).
- Employability fairs.
- Mentoring/Coaching.
- Extra-Curricular activities.
- Staff professional development.
- All staff INSET/Conference Day workshops.
King’s Oak Academy is an all-through academy where a traditional curriculum is carefully balanced with bespoke pathways to support all learners in accessing every opportunity possible to support and ensure all students in achieving well in all subjects allowing many more doors to be opened in their future.
Provider Access Legislation
The provider access legislation is a new law that came into force in January 2023.
The updated provider access legislation (PAL) specifies schools must provide at least six encounters for all their students:
- Two encounters for pupils during the ‘first key phase’ (year 8 or 9) that are mandatory for all pupils to attend.
- Two encounters for pupils during the ‘second key phase’ (year 10 or 11) that are mandatory for all pupils to attend.
- Two encounters for pupils during the ‘third key phase’ (year 12 or 13) that are mandatory for the school to put on but optional for pupils to attend.
The new legislation will become a key mechanism to further help learners understand and take-up, not just apprenticeships, but wider technical education options such as T-Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications.
If your organisation is keen to be involved, please contact us at [email protected] .
We look forward to hearing from you.
