Wilson's School

Careers Education

Outstanding academic outcomes give our pupils exceptional opportunities, but preparation for adult life in the workplace requires considerably more. Through careers education, enrichment, leadership, service and the wider curriculum, pupils develop the knowledge, judgement, communication skills and personal qualities needed to make ambitious and well-informed choices about future life. 

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: Policies & Inspection Reports.

Developing employability skills (e.g. teamwork, effective presentations, time management, written and spoken communication, languages, digital literacy, decision making and problem solving) is part of our wider curriculum, entitlement, ensuring that all courses support the enhancement of these skills, preparing the students for the workplace. 

Careers Leaders

  • Careers Lead: Mr McLaughlin, Assistant Head (Post-16 and Work-Related Learning)
  • Sixth Form: Dr Christine Welby, Templeton Head of Higher Education
  • Trustee Link: Mr Nicholson, Chair of Trustees

The Careers Lead can be contacted via office@wilsonsschool.sutton.sch.uk or by phone 020 8773 2931.

The information on this page was reviewed and refreshed in September 2026.

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 and supplement those listed above. All subjects are clear on the subject-specific skills that their curriculum and teaching aim to develop in students, so to enhance their employability.

Co-curricular Activity

Our extensive co-curricular offer is accessed by all students. Activities (e.g. debating, CCF, robotics club or Duke of Edinburgh) all help to provide students with skills that are useful in the workplace and encourage transferability of skills. 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 Civitas programme, including the Outreach Project, which necessitates volunteering both inside and outside of the school community. The website, announcements pages, and weekly Head of Year emails to parents continue to advertise and promote other opportunities.

Enrichment

A number of the units delivered in lessons across all year groups support our Speech programme to develop public speaking, further ICT skills and digital literacy and give experience of interview scenarios. Information on the Enrichment programme can be found on our Enrichment page of the website here.

Speech

The development of pupil's speech is central to our curriculum. Pupils’ ability to communicate effectively is fundamental to academic success, leadership and active participation in society. Every pupil leaves Wilson’s as an articulate, confident and thoughtful communicator, able to present ideas with clarity and engage critically with others as a result of our carefully planned and integrated provision. Information on our extensive work to develop a student’s speech, across all year groups, can be found on our Speech page of the website hereThe 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. Information on the Elizbethan programme can be found on our Enrichment page of the website here 

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 Further and Higher Education. These programmes often involve visits to workplaces, including universities, and the completion of focussed supercurricular work, including all students taking part in a department-led University Preparation Programme, completion of the Templeton Scholarship Project, curated reading lists, peer triads and viva-style experiences and aptitude test preparation sessionsThe 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.

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 7: Digital literacy and wellbeing
  • Year 8: Future aspirations, post-14 options preparation, managing workload and stress
  • 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, mortgages, student finance and small talk 

In Year 10, assemblies are used as the predominant mode of delivery for careers preparation.

Assemblies

Every year there are always links to careers events and the world outside of Wilson’s in year and whole school assemblies.  All year groups receive assemblies from members of the community on their careers journeys, the typicality of their work and advice on pathways. Speakers include parents, alumni and staff.  All key stages have assemblies from providers, including local FE colleges and ITPs, so to inform their understanding of different post-14, post-16 and post-18 pathways, again benefitting students to make informed decisions. The Education Development Trust provide a number of speakers to us each year. 

In Year 12 and 13 Dr Welby leads briefings on super-curricular work and the Next Steps Programme (including UCAS, Oxbridge, apprenticeships and post-18 options including gap years and direct transition to employment), as well as running twice-weekly drop-in sessionsStudents 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 and the post-14 and post-16 pathways. The decision making is assisted by the options booklet which is issued at the start of the process for Year 8 and the Sixth Form prospectus for Year 11s 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.

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.

Careers Fair

All Year 9 pupils attend, and students from all year groups have the opportunity to attend and speak directly to employers and training providers, as well as alumni and staff from other local schools. 

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 and are given formative feedback on their conversational skills as part of this

Careers Interviews

Students receive impartial advice from an independent careers advisor, who quality-assured by the school. These are compulsory for every student in Years 9, 11 and 12 so to support students in the years when they are more closely forming their post-16 and post-18 careers decisions.  Students have an opportunity to prepare questions and thinking, in advance. Once these year groups have received their support, other students in Years 8-13 are then invited to arrange a careers interview via Mr McLaughlin. Students with vulnerabilties are prioritised for appointmentsYear 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, Dentistry or Veterinary Science. Weekly Medical Society sessions that run throughout the year, with visits from external speakers including alumni and practitioners

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. Futures sessions, assembly presentations from the Careers Lead and form tutors help prepare boys and parents are invited to an online briefing to support too.

Across the Sixth Form all students complete meaningful work experience that’s linked to their developing future aspirations, which is further supported by the Civitas programme dedicating time to volunteering and youth social work. 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, courtesy and engagement.

All students in Year 7-9 experience at least one week of work experience activities, including visits to workplaces as part of our planned trips and visits, conversations with employers and employees and visits from companies. These are supplemented by activities such as the Year 7 enterprise challenge day, the careers fair for Year 9 and Elizabethan visits. 

Contact with Employers

We 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 Civitas 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. They are encouraged to attend external careers events, both in person and online, 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 talks, Speak Out Challenge, Inspiring Engineers Scheme and Young Enterprise Scheme. 

Established links with local employers and educational institutions, for example Mott MacDonald, Imperial College London, University College London, Subsea7, the School of Journalism, Croydon University Hospital, HSBC and the British Heart Foundation, ensure that we can give students meaningful experiences of workplaces and enhance their ability to secure the important work experience placements that they need to genuinely understand the realities of whatever workplaces to which they aspire. 

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 and our online sessions for parents, which are the best-attended of any school in teh borough, include careers information There are separate evenings for students wishing to apply to Higher Education, Universities in the US, Oxbridge and for Medicine.

Pupil Voice

All students from Year 7-13 use the Future Skills Questionnaire to contribute their feelings on career-readiness, understanding of pathways, employability skills, future aspirations and to give feedback on the school’s careers provision. This information is used to evaluate school provision and determine areas for development. Of the very large number of schools linked to the South London Careers Hub, ours is a major contributor of feedback via meaningful pupil voice. 

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, through our online homework platform, via email and particularly through the Unifrog platform.  

Unifrog is an online careers and destinations platform used by schools to help students aged 4 to 18 explore careers, universities, and training pathways. It brings all post-14, post-16 and post-18 options, including UK and international degrees, apprenticeships, and Further Education—into one impartial search space, along with resources and personalised pathways to develop student understanding. 
There is a dedicated careers room in the Wellbeing Centre.

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. The Careers Lead also works with local careers leads to share good practice and ideas. 

UCAS Preparation

Students in Year 12 who are interested in university study 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

Whilst most of our students determine that university is the post-18 pathway for them, every year we have students take up places on compeitive apprenticeships, take planned Gap Years and those who transition directly into the workplace. We aim to support these students as rigorously as those that do and given that they are fewer 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 will do about incoming V levels) 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. 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 updated 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. 
  • All students use the Future Skill Questionnaire to indicate their understanding of future pathways, the skills and qualifications required to access these pathways, their interests and views on the school’s careers education.
  • The Careers Lead meets with other careers leads from local schools to review our provisions, complete peer review and share good practice.
  •  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. 
  • Alumni events include opportunities for alumni to reflect on their careers education and how appropriately it prepared them for their next steps, as well as giving opportunities for suggested developments.
  • Our independent careers advisor gives feedback to the Careers Lead on her meetings with students and a selection of her meetings are observed every year, as part of quality assurance.
  • The Careers Lead collects feedback from local employers and work experience providers on the skills that they are looking for in employees and in how well Wilson’s students demonstrate these during encounters.
  • The Careers Lead meets each term with the link Trustee to review provision.
  • A termly report is submitted to the Chair of Trustees which is reported to the school’sPerformance Committee.

Further Links

Careers Education