Aspirations & Careers

Details of Our Careers Programme

• Gatsby Benchmarks

  The Gatsby Career Benchmarks are the result of an international study to find the best practice in Career Guidance worldwide. The eight benchmarks underpin the Careers Information and Guidance programme that we offer at Little Lever School and we are committed to the fulfilment of the eight benchmarks:

  1. A stable careers programme
  2. Learning from career and labour market information
  3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
  4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
  5. Encounters with employers and employees
  6. Experiences of workplaces
  7. Encounters with further and higher education
  8. Personal guidance
• How do we measure the impact of our careers provision?
  • 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. 

  • 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 and Parent Voice activities are carried out to evaluate impact and inform future practice, including year 9 post-options process and to year 11 leavers.

   

• Destination Data

  All students are supported and their intended post-16 destination 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 available whilst students complete their post 16 application. We also work closely with the careers service to ensure that our vulnerable students are supported throughout the summer before they enrol with their post-16 provider.

  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. In 2023, year 11 leavers went on to study at sixteen different post-16 providers.

  Headline data from the most recent local authority Activity Surveys can be found below:

  

• Provider Access Legislation

  Schools are required to ensure that there is an opportunity for a range of education and training providers to access students in years 8 to 11 for the purposes of informing them about approved technical education, qualifications or apprenticeships.

  We are committed to ensuring all providers have access to our students. Our Provider Access Legislation statement explains how providers of technical education, such as alternative 14-16 providers, Further Education colleges and apprenticeship providers can apply for access to speak with our students in Years 7-11 about the various education and training options available to them, including details of suitable access points within our school calendar and the lead contact at the school who can help to facilitate this.

   

• Industry Partners

  We work with partners from employment, industry, further education and higher education to ensure students have access to opportunities to develop their knowledge of the local and national labour market. Industry partners include:

  • Advania
  • Bolton at Home
  • Bolton Council
  • Bolton Hospice
  • Cabinet Office
  • DWP
  • Ernst and Young Foundation
  • GMCA
  • LeaHough
  • NWAS
  • PWC
  • RAF
  • Robertson Construction
  • Siemens

  Please contact our Careers Leader Ms M Moore if you would like to discuss opportunities to work in partnership: info@little-lever.bolton.sch.uk, tel. 01204 333300

• Raising the Participation Age

  The Government has increased the age to which all young people in England must continue in education or training. It’s called raising the participation age or RPA. Students must continue in education or training until they are 18. One option is to study full-time at school, college or with a training provider. There has been a trend in recent years for many more young people to continue their studies. This further study has become important to get into further or higher education and the workforce, where higher skills are increasingly required.

  The second option is full-time employment or volunteering (full-time is counted as more than 20 hours a week) but it must be combined with part-time study or training. 

  The third option is an apprenticeship. Numbers of apprenticeships are increasing all the time.

  You may think that apprenticeships are in traditional areas, like engineering or catering. But there are many new apprenticeships at different levels, some leading to degree level study such as the higher apprenticeship in legal services, finance, business, engineering and the media.

• Post-16 Providers

  Bolton College

  The Sixth Form Bolton 

  Bury College

  Canon Slade School 

  Holy Cross College

  Myerscough College

  Runshaw College 

  Salford City College 

  Thornleigh Salesian College 

  Turton Sixth Form

  Wigan & Leigh College

  Winstanley College

• Parents Advice & Information

  If you are a parent and would like to find out more about the careers-related support and activities available for your child, then please get in touch: email: info@little-lever.bolton.sch.uk, or tel: 01204 333300.

  Learning more about post-16 options, career pathways and the job market is not just for students – we are available at parent’s evenings over the course of the year to speak with parents about their child’s career interests and aspirations or please contact us. Please also use the links below to find out more about the opportunities available.

  Parents advice and resources | Skills for Careers

  Further and Higher Education Career Tips for Parents – Talking Futures

  T Levels | The Next Level Qualification

  Careermag for Parents | Careermap

  LifeSkills | Developing work and life skills

• Making Applications

  How to Write a CV | Writing a CV | UCAS

  How to Prepare for an Interview | Interview Questions | UCAS

  How to write a personal statement for further education | 16-18 Choices | UCAS