Wilson's School

Careers Education

Leaders have ensured that there is a comprehensive careers programme throughout school and this becomes very personalised to individual students’ needs in the sixth form.

— Ofsted, 2020

Careers Education is a planned activity that uses the context of work to develop knowledge, skills and understanding useful in work, including learning through the experience of work, learning about work and working practices and learning the skills for work.

We aim to provide a comprehensive programme of careers information, advice and guidance. This involves giving impartial information, advice, guidance and support to students which will allow them to reach well-informed, reasoned decisions about their future education and careers.

Access to Providers (Baker Clause)
Each year a number of key events take place. The aim is to give students meaningful encounters with employers and information about the different pathways that are available from Years 7 to 13. Colleges and training providers wishing to gain access to the school should read our policy statement below.

Our policy statement on provider access is available here.

At Wilson’s we believe that the best thing we do to prepare students for the work place is to help ensure that they attain first rate examination results, both at GCSE and A level. We are conscious that almost all of our students go on to study at university and that the quality of their examination results will determine their university choices and hence their future employment prospects.

However, we also understand the importance of developing employability skills (teamwork, effective presentations, time management, written and spoken communication, languages, computing, decision making and problem solving) and preparing the students for the workplace. One of our key aims is to ensure that when students leave us they are well equipped with a variety of skills that they will need to be successful in life. Our careers provision is delivered as follows.

Careers Leaders

Careers Lead: Mr McLaughlin, Director of Sixth Form
Sixth Form: Mr Lawton, Templeton Head of Higher Education
Trustee Link: Mr Nicholson, Chair of Trustees

They can be contacted via office@wilsonsschool.sutton.sch.uk or by phone 020 8773 2931. Our next review of the careers information on this page will be in July 2024.

Lessons
Apart from making links to the workplace when appropriate as part of the taught curriculum (in some departments it is part of their GCSEplus provision) teachers plan their lessons using our teaching and learning excellence criteria. These include a focus on student collaboration, 100% participation, student autonomy, resilience and outstanding behaviour, all of which are important employability skills.

Co-curricular Activity
Lots of activities e.g. debating, CCF etc. all help to provide students with skills that are useful in the work place. There are also lots of one off events and challenges such as the Year 10 Stock Market Competition, Bebras Computing Challenge and the Be The Future Challenge that students are encouraged to take part in. In Year 12 students participate in the Sport Creativity & Service Award including the Outreach Project and Jacobean programme. The website, announcements pages, weekly newsletter and weekly Head of Year emails to parents continue to advertise and promote other opportunities.

Enrichment
Two of the units delivered in lessons focus on developing public speaking and ICT skills. This is about the personal development of our students and preparing them with the skills to succeed in the workplace.

The Elizabethan
This aims to improve the ‘cultural capital’ and public speaking skills of Year 9 as a distinctive element of our GCSEplus programme. This is about the personal development of our students and its impact may only be fully realised years later.

The Futures Programme

All Year 11s have timetabled Futures sessions which aim to:

  • Strengthen students’ study skills in preparation for their GCSE examinations and advanced level study 
  • Consolidate our Work Related Learning programme to inform students’ post-16 choices and prepare for work experience 
  • Review and build upon elements of the Elizabethan and PSHE programmes, to prepare them for Sixth Form life and beyond 

Departments’ Preparation for Higher Education
All departments have extensive programmes that help prepare students for Higher Education. These programmes often involve visits to universities and the completion of supercurricular work, including all students taking part in a department-led University Preparation Programme. The Templeton Scholarship Project allows students to explore an area of their academic interest and to produce an EPQ-style project, with an academic viva (with a subject specialist) used to assess this. Peer triad sessions support oracy of the highest academic level and students receive support in any required admissions test preparation.

PSHE

Sessions are delivered by form tutors and PSHE teachers and make links to the workplace and help prepare students for the options process & adult life. Work related learning and careers specific focus in the PSHE curriculum include:

  • Year 8: Future aspirations and careers
  • Year 9: Digital literacy
  • Year 11: Money, debt, stress & resilience
  • Year 12: Transition to A-Level working (e.g. study habits) and employability skills
  • Year 13: Life skills and preparation for adult life, including budgeting, conflict resolution and small talk 

Assemblies
Every year there are always links to careers events and the world outside of Wilson’s in year and whole school assemblies. This helps the students to make informed options decisions. In Year 12 and 13 Mr Lawton leads briefings on above-and-beyond work and the Next Steps Programme (including UCAS, Oxbridge, apprenticeships and post-school options including gap years and transition to employment). Students are routinely given opportunities for follow-up questions and feedback.

Options Meeting
Parents and students are invited to an evening event in Year 8 and Year 11 to help them understand the options process. The decision making is assisted by the options booklet which is issued at the start of the process. These events also provide an opportunity alongside parent’s evenings to talk to staff. Students are also encouraged to visit other schools so that they are aware of a full range of options. This is supported by visiting speakers who explain some of the different pathways such as BTECS, technical qualifications and apprenticeships.

Speed Careers
An event for students in Year 8 where they get to talk to current GCSE students about the subjects they are considering opting for.

SLT Interviews
Students in Years 8 and 11 have an interview with a senior member of staff about their options choices. This is another opportunity for impartial advice and guidance. Students are expected to be able to explain their choices.

Careers Interviews
Compulsory for every student in Year 11, these individual appointments run from September to February. Appointments take the form of a 30-minute meeting with an independent careers advisor, with students having had an opportunity to prepare questions and thinking, in advance. In Spring, all of Year 12 also receive careers interviews before anyone in Years 8-13 can also then contact Mr McLaughlin, or their Head of Year, if they would also like to arrange a careers interview. Year 7 can attend a drop-in session for careers advice, taking place in the Summer term.  
The National Careers Service also provides free, impartial careers information, advice and guidance to students, parents and teachers through a website, web chat service and telephone helpline.

Degree and Occupational Talks 
In the Autumn of Year 12, all students must attend at least two degree-information talks, to help them make their post-school decisions in an informed manner. These are led by school staff. In the spring term Dr Hubbard runs an Intro to Medicine session for students in Years 11 and 12 who are interested in careers in Medicine or Dentistry. This leads into weekly Medical Society sessions that run throughout the year. 

Work Experience 
Every Year 11 student undertakes at least one placement lasting for a minimum of one week. In reality many complete two or three placements lasting a number of weeks. Form tutors help prepare boys by delivering a session during a tutor period and the Futures programme consolidates this preparation. In the Sixth Form students gain additional work experience, which is further supported by the SCS programme dedicating time to volunteering. In all cases, students are encouraged, and supported, to identify placements relevant to their needs and given advice on how to access these. Placements are reviewed in feedback from employers that covers a range of areas, including punctuality, personability, professionalism and engagement. Students in Years 7-9 get experience of the workplace through the National Enterprise Challenge and careers talks. 

Contact with Employers 
We try to provide regular opportunities for students to hear from employers. Employers are welcomed to the school, as per our Provider Access Legislation, and interact with students in assemblies, other timetabled periods and SCS sessions. Students are informed of these sessions in advance and encouraged to consider how they can best access and utilise the sessions, as well as given time afterwards to reflect on the sessions. Students are encouraged to attend external careers events, with opportunities regularly posted on Satchel One. Beyond direct employers, every year different speakers come into the school and talk to students about the world or work, e.g. National Enterprise Challenge, Apprenticeships Talk, Speak Out Challenge, Inspiring Engineers Scheme and Young Enterprise Scheme. 

Information and Parents' Evenings
Information Evenings are used to highlight key careers events due to take place during this academic year. Parents’ Evenings are excellent opportunities for discussions with staff about next steps. There are separate evenings for students wishing to apply to Higher Education, Universities in the US, Oxbridge and for Medicine, and an optional meeting for students interested in applying to study in the US.

Resources
Students have access to a vast range of information to help them make decisions about careers. Information is regularly shared with students (and parents) via the school newsletter, website and notice boards (outside reprographics). There is a dedicated careers room in the Library. All students have the opportunity to have a careers interview and a wide range of visiting speakers are used to introduce students to various professions and career options, e.g. Higher Education Fair in Year 12.

External Impartial Guidance
The school is assisted by Prospects that provide assistance for many of the activities mentioned and also conduct the careers interviews. We also work closely with the South London Careers Hub, with the Careers Lead having termly meetings with their link officer.

UCAS Preparation
Students in Year 12 have the opportunity to hear from representatives of a number of top universities at the Higher Education Fair. Every student receives one to one feedback on their personal statement from a member of staff during the first week of Year 13. Every Early Applicant receives at least two practice interviews to help to prepare them for interviews, and the school’s interview preparation Peer Triads supports the highest levels of academic oracy amongst students. All Non-Early Applicants have one interview from an external, subject-specialist interviewer. Medicine and Dentistry applicants receive Multiple-Mini-Interview practice in school and attend an MMI session delivered by medical alumni.

Alternatives to A Levels and University
We understand that (albeit rarely) for good reasons some students decide not to go to university after their A levels. We aim to support these students as rigorously as those that do and given that they are few in number, we are able to respond to their needs on a case by case basis. The raising of the participation age clearly has implications for students who do not want to pursue full time education after their GCSEs and this is part of the reason why we insist on all Year 11 and 12 students having a careers interview - so that we can identify those students for whom the school has to tailor its support individually. All Year 11 students receive guidance on pathways other than A Levels (including T Levels, BTECs, diplomas, apprenticeships and work/study hybrids) and all Year 13s hear about the opportunities of apprenticeships, Gap Years and full-time work. Information evenings are used to provide key careers messages for the year ahead. Parents can play a pivotal role in the careers education of their sons. Information evenings are used to provide key careers messages for the year ahead. Higher Education Evening covers post-school options including UCAS, Oxbridge and apprenticeships. Parents can play a pivotal role in the careers education of their sons. In order to help, we have listed a number of websites that parents may find useful here.

Evaluation of the Careers Programme
The school assesses the impact of the careers programme in the following ways:

We use the Compass Plus careers tool to evaluate our programme against the eight benchmarks of best practice (known as the Gatsby Benchmarks). 
The school’s Careers Lead has a half-termly meeting with our link advisor from South London Careers Hub to review our provision and consider adaptations. 
Following careers interviews, students are sent a questionnaire as to enable Pupil Voice to feed into our evaluations. The outcomes of this questionnaire are used to review the quality of the impartial guidance the students receive. 
School leaders use options patterns (GCSE and A Level) and destinations (Sixth Form and university) to determine the extent to which our advice and guidance enables students to successfully move on to the next stage of their education. 

A termly report is submitted to the Chair of Trustees which is reported to the school’s Performance Committee.

Further links:

Careers Education