Careers Education

Introduction

Careers Leader: Ms Kerry Swindon
Email: kerry.swindon@excelsiornewcastle.org.uk
Telephone Number: 01912288400

At Excelsior Academy we provide all of our students with an excellent package of careers education that prepares them to achieve success in the next stage of their lives beyond our school. Beginning in our Primary School and going right through to the end of Year 13, our students access a wide range of guidance and support that ensures they are ready for the challenges of further study or the world of work. Our careers education takes many guises such as independent careers interviews, different year group whole careers days where students get to have meaningful encounters with employers, careers modules through PSHE lessons and PBL (Project Based Learning) lessons, assemblies, work experience, bespoke IAG for every pupil at curriculum transition points, visits to other post-16 education and training providers and events that take place both outside and inside school, and continue to work towards developing strong partnerships with a number of local employers.

Careers Education in Excelsior Academy Primary School

We expect that even our very youngest children in our Primary School will aspire to a range of careers and personal interests in the future. To ensure that they gain knowledge and skills across all subjects, we designed our curriculum to cover the statutory aspects of the National Curriculum and enhance this with a range of visits, visitors and first-hand experiences. We help the children to make connections between all parts of their learning and make links to real life and their own experiences. We strongly believe that giving our children the opportunity to learn about the world of work through their topics will have a positive impact on their knowledge of future prospects. As a result of this belief, we ensure every year group from Y1- Y6 have employer engagement opportunities across the academic year. We encourage Further Education and Higher Education involvement to ensure our children have high aspirations for their own educational futures.

Whether students wish to pursue a ‘traditional’ academic route of A levels, take up an apprenticeship or traineeship with a local employer or work towards achieving a vocational qualification, we will provide our students with the guidance that they need to achieve their full potential. Excelsior Academy is part of the NELEP (North East Local Enterprise Partnership) and the NELEP Careers Hub, which allows us to have a wide network of opportunities and contacts.

Our careers programme has been structured around the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance:

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

To ensure we address all of the benchmarks, Careers Education here is holistic, balanced and personalised. Our aim is to enthuse students and support them to make informed decisions about their future career pathway. Careers Education is delivered in a variety of ways across year groups and is embedded into our activities calendar so that all students have numerous opportunities to experience high quality career information, advice and guidance.