CEIAG and PSHE at St Wilfrid’s RC College
CEIAG is an integral part of the curriculum within St. Wilfrid’s RC College as students are timetabled one period per week throughout the academic year. CEIAG is predominantly delivered within our PSHE programme and is designed to give students the ‘tools’ to develop their personal career ambitions independently, working on the principle of ‘making informed decisions’.
Within our PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) education programme, years 7 – 11 receive modules focussing on ‘work related learning’ equipping students with the knowledge to help them make informed decisions later in their life. Sixth form students have a wide range of CEIAG integrated at key times during the year, again to help them to make informed decisions about their future.
Year 11 and Year 12 students receive a 1:1 careers guidance interview from a qualified independent and impartial careers adviser; Careerwave is our current provider. This service is available to all students and is timetabled over the period of Year 11. At the end of the interview each student is given a personal careers action plan. Students can request further interviews / email contact and can update their plan. From the point of issuing the plan, students then take ownership of this. Students with an EHCP receive further guidance from their case worker.
Careers guidance interviews are monitored through regular meetings, student feedback and the quality of the personal career action plans. CEIAG, including destination data, is evaluated and reported to the Senior Leadership Team and the governors of the school. Areas for development are highlighted in action planning throughout the year.
At the beginning of Year 11, each student receives information on ‘Open Evenings’ and events of Post 16 providers within Tyne & Wear. Throughout the year, information about events such as Apprenticeships or other career related opportunities are advertised on year specific Google Classroom streams and displayed on the Careers notice board. Where possible we will also display information on our Facebook page, St Wilfrid’s R.C College, and our twitter feed, @stwilfridsrccol. During Open Evenings such as Sixth Form, we will endeavour to provide information on Further and Higher Education by inviting the local universities to join us.
St Wilfrid’s will invite companies and agencies into school to highlight opportunities to students post 16 and 18 years of age.
Further guidance for Sixth Form students from Job Centre Plus / Department for Work and Pensions on topics such as CV writing, skills identification and development, interview techniques and mock interviews take place within their PSHE sessions. Sixth Form students also gain regular access to Universities through external visits and talks within school. Students also have the opportunity to apply to a number of mentoring programmes such as Teach First’s ‘Futures Programme’, Brilliant Club, Social Mobility Foundation and the local universities supported progression programmes.
Key Stage 4 and 5 students (Year 10 and Year 12) also undergo a one week’s ‘work experience’ allowing them direct access to ‘the world of work’ as well as developing a range of employability skills. Students are requested to find their own placement with the help from the school. The school will ensure that each placement is appropriate; ‘Futureworks’ is a company which carry out Health and Safety Checks on placements.
The school is also working with ‘North East Ambition’; this is committed to providing good careers guidance by using the Gatsby Benchmarks. Within this, St Wilfrid’s is engaging with an Enterprise Advisor, through the North East Local Enterprise Partnership. This partnership has developed our opportunities for ‘direct access to employers’ and we have implemented strategies within PSHE. This is evaluated and future planning is in place to enhance students’ experiences further.
Further information can also be found by following the links below.
- 10 ways to achieve careers education at home
- Start Careers Search
- UCAS
- Apprenticeships information on GOV.UK
- St Wilfrid’s Careers Overview
Short online courses – Choose from hundreds of online courses from top universities and specialist organisations: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses
Further Information
For further information about any of the items shown in this section, please contact the school’s Career Leader, Mr P. Given, on: pgiven@st-wilfrids.org or telephone 0191 456 9121.
