Aspirations & Careers

Little Lever School is committed to ensuring that our CEIAG programme continuously improves and it delivers the necessary impacts for our young people. This is achieved through:

A designated Leader of Careers, Mr M Welch and a designated Senior Careers Leader, Ms M. Moore. Mr Welch can contacted through the main school email info@little-lever.bolton.sch.uk or by telephone 01204 333 300.

An independent Careers Advisor who is dedicated to providing impartial careers information, advice and guidance to students on all the options available to them.

Reporting to SLT and Governors.

A dedicated online platform providing a broad range of up-to-date information and online resources on key post-16 opportunities.

Attendance and active engagement at the Bolton CEIAG Hub.

Establishing and developing links with FE Colleges, apprenticeship providers, University Technical Colleges and universities.

Establishing and developing links with employers.

Opportunities provided by NCOP in relation to Higher Education and the world of work.

Building a network of alumni who can help with the careers guidance and Life Chances plan.

Liaison and support from the Enterprise Coordinator

Monitoring of the eight Gatsby benchmarks through the Compass evaluation tool.

Tracking and evaluation of retention and destination data and analysing the data to provide our students with the latest trends and labour market information.

Evaluation through and accreditation by the Quality in Careers Standard Award.

All students are supported and tracked during their time at Little Lever School. Interventions are put into place to support and ensure all students have a September guarantee.  This is closely monitored by the CEIAG team so every leaver is engaged in some form of education, employment or training.

Students with additional needs are supported within school though additional careers meetings with our careers service, personalised visits to post 16 establishments are arranged and extra support is given to them whilst the students complete their post 16 application. We also work closely with the careers service to ensure that vulnerable students are supported throughout the summer before they enrol with their destination.

The school continues to offer support to leavers once the enrolments have taken place. Tracking is continued and support is offered to those who haven’t been able to secure an appropriate place at a post 16 destination.

A discreet programme of CEIAG lessons delivered through the Life Chances curriculum (Years 7 to 11) in addition to a range of cross curricular opportunities, visits and experiences.

Year 7

Autumn Term: Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, START platform

Spring Term: Life Chances: Discovery, Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, START platform

Summer Term: Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, START platform.

Year 8

Autumn Term: Life Chances: Pathways and Choices, Subject option taster sessions, Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, Option Information Evening, START platform

Spring Term: Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, START platform

Summer Term: Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, START platform.

Year 9

Autumn Term: Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, START platform, National Apprenticeship Show (17th November 2021)

Spring Term: Life Chances: Pathways and challenging stereotypes, Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, START platform

Summer Term: Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, Careers Fair, START platform.

Year 10

Autumn Term: Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, START platform, National Apprenticeship Show (17th November 2021)

Spring Term: Life Chances: Pathways and Preparation, Assemblies, Skills NorthWest (25 April 2021), Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, START platform, Workplace Safari

Summer Term: Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, Careers Fair, START platform, Workplace Safari

Year 11

Autumn Term: Life Chances: Pathways and Application, Assemblies from range of post-16 providers, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, One to one guidance interviews (Connexions), Mock Interview Day, START platform, National Apprenticeship Show (17th November 2021)

Spring Term: Life Chances Lesson presentations, Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas., START platform, Introduction to the National Citizenship Service

Summer Term: Assemblies, Careers Weeks in individual curriculum areas, START platform, National Citizenship Service, Post-16 transition support and guidance.

Throughout the academic year we also provide:

Identification of each student’s career aspiration to support personalisation of careers guidance.

Access to an independent Careers Advisor; students from all years are directed as required and may also request an appointment at any time.

A range of assemblies that focus on raising aspirations and future choices.

A comprehensive career education programme at key transition points, delivered by Edge tutors, Leader of Careers, Careers Advisor and SLT:

– Options process (dedicated CEIAG lessons, options assembly, options evening with an opportunity to speak with every subject area, ‘taster’ GCSE lessons, interview preparation, referral to Careers Advisor, one-to-one interview (parents and carers invited to attend) with feedback, parent/carer feedback/evaluation of process).

– Post-16 transition (‘How to help your child succeed’ evening, support for post-16 applications, presentations from a range of post-16 providers, post-16 evening with representatives from over 12 regional providers including sixth form colleges, apprenticeship providers, National Citizenship Service, Armed Forces and Connexions, college visits, individual college visits for SEND and vulnerable students).

Student completion of START programme; an online tool designed to support students in years 7 to 11 to make informed decisions about future study and careers options.

Work Experience placements

We want to ensure that our Year 11 students are effectively supported as they transition from Key Stage 4 into Key Stage 5 or employment with training. The resources found in the page below aim to help students, parents and carers with this transition.

https://www.little-lever.bolton.sch.uk/learning-zone/?subject-37=life-after-little-lever

• The school, in conjunction with its Enterprise Coordinator from GMCA, completes the Compass self-evaluation tool to support us to gain a greater understanding of how our provision of career education and guidance compares to the model of good practice set out in Gatsby’s Good Career Guidance benchmarks.
• The school tracks every student’s engagement in CEIAG and other enrichment activities. This informs each student’s Life Chances report which supplements their academic report.
• The aspiration of every student is recorded, revisited and tracked over their lifetime at Little Lever School. Not only does this support us in developing a more personalised approach to CEIAG, it also allows us to track developments in our students’ aspirations as a result of the guidance, opportunities and information that they receive.
• The school takes part in the annual GMCA Life Readiness survey. We use this data, in comparison to GM trends, to evaluate the impact of our practice and identify opportunities for development.
• The intended post-16 destination of every year 11 student is tracked, from application to enrolment, to ensure every student is fully supported and has secured appropriate post-16 education or training.
• Destination data is used to evaluate the impact of our careers programme, for example, the range of post-16 establishments that our students go on to attend.
• Student Voice activities are carried out to evaluate impact and inform future practice, including year 8 post-options process and to year 11 leavers.

Introduction

This policy statement sets out the school’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to the school for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the school’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.

Pupil entitlement

All pupils in years 8 to 13 are entitled:

• to find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point;
• to hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options events, assemblies and group discussions and taster events;
• to understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.

For pupils of compulsory school age these encounters are mandatory and there will be a minimum of two encounters for pupils during the ‘first key phase’ (year 8 to 9) and two encounters for pupils during the ‘second key phase’ (year 10 to 11).

These provider encounters will be scheduled during the main school hours and the provider will be given a reasonable amount of time to, as a minimum:

• share information about both the provider and the approved technical education qualification and apprenticeships that the provider offers
• explain what career routes those options could lead to
• provide insights into what it might be like to learn or train with that provider (including the opportunity to meet staff and pupils from the provider)
• answer questions from pupils.

Meaningful provider encounters

One encounter is defined as one meeting/session between pupils and one provider. We are committed to providing meaningful encounters to all pupils using the Making it meaningful checklist.

Meaningful online engagement is also an option, and we are open to providers that are able to provide live online engagement with our pupils.

Previous providers

In previous terms/years we have invited the following providers from the local area to speak to our pupils:

• Alliance Learning
• Bolton Sixth Form College
• Bolton College
• Bury College
• Holy Cross College
• Myerscough College
• Salford College
• Wigan and Leigh College

Destinations of our pupils

Last year our year 11 pupils moved to range of providers in the local area, and beyond, after school:

• Bolton College
• Bolton 6th Form
• Bury College
• Holy Cross College
• Salford College
• The Manchester College
• Wigan and Leigh College
• Coleg Cambria
• Access Creative College, Manchester
• Liverpool Institute for Performig Arts
• Blackpool Le Fylde College
• St. Helen’s College
• Blackburn College

Management of provider access requests

Procedure

A provider wishing to request access should contact Michelle Moore, Assistant Principal via email info@little-lever.bolton.sch.uk

Opportunities for access

The school offers the four provider encounters required by law (marked in bold text) and a number of additional events, integrated into the school careers programme. We will offer providers an opportunity to come into school to speak to pupils or their parents or carers.

Please speak to our Careers Leader to identify the most suitable opportunity for you.

Premises and facilities

The school will make the main hall, classrooms or private meeting rooms available for discussions between the provider and pupils, as appropriate to the activity. The school will also make available AV and other specialist equipment to support provider presentations. This will all be discussed and agreed in advance of the visit with the Careers Leader or a member of their team.

Meaningful online engagement is also an option and we are open to providers that are able to provide live online engagement with our pupils.

Providers are welcome to leave a copy of their prospectus or other relevant course literature for inclusion in the careers resource area of the school library, which is managed by the school librarian. The library is available to all pupils at lunch times and after school.

Complaints

Any complaints with regards to provider access can be raised following the school complaints procedure or directly with The Careers & Enterprise Company via provideraccess@careersandenterprise.co.uk