Reviewed October 2024

Review Date October 2025

Careers Leader: Rebecca Lawley

Email: rlawley@kgalordwilson.uk

Telephone: 01489 582684

At King’s Academy Lord Wilson, we’re passionate about helping students discover their potential and chart a path towards a fulfilling career. As a leading SEMH specialist school, we understand the unique challenges that are faced by young people with EHCPs in the world of work and we have a dedicated team to help you overcome these.

Here’s how we support students in their career journey:

Targeted Curriculum:

Our curriculum goes beyond core academics. Teachers deliver the nationally recognised Unifrog careers programme from Year 7 which promotes the Career Development Institute (CDI) learning areas of:

  • Grow throughout life
  • Explore possibilities
  • Manage career
  • Create opportunities
  • Balance work and life
  • See the big picture

We refer to these at Lord Wilson as our Horizon Skills, and they are championed every lesson.

The Unifrog careers programme can be seen below.

Careers_learning_journey_11-16Download

Personalised Pathways:

We offer various learning pathways to suit individual needs, including:

  • Work Experience: In Years 10 and 11, students can gain valuable hands-on experience through work placements with local businesses.
  • Alternative Provision: Students can gain practical skills relevant to a trade or industry or interest through partnerships with approved alternative providers. We have established links with Military Mentors, NXT, Oarsome Chance and Plan B.
  • College Programs: Local colleges offer accredited trade or industry specific courses (e.g. motor vehicle, sports, animal care) which may be suitable for some students. This can help ease transition into further education with dedicated support programs tailored for SEMH students. We have established links with colleges across the county including Totton, Eastleigh and HSDC.

All personalised pathways are regularly reviewed and monitored to ensure EHCP needs can be met and that the placement remains suitable and appropriate.

Personalised Careers Guidance:

Our experienced careers advisors work closely with students on a 1-1 basis to:

  • Understand individual needs: Identifying unique challenges and strengths while providing realistic guidance aligned with students aspirations and the current job market. Sensitive guidance is given to support students in identifying appropriate pathways if they are unsure which direction to take.
  • Set goals: Defining achievable goals that match student skill set and interests with aspirations in mind.
  • Signposting to further information and support: This enables students, parents/carers and other professionals to understand the journey required to the intended destination.

Preparing for Your Future: How We Integrate Your Experiences

We believe that alternative provision, work experience, and careers guidance are essential parts of the journey towards a fulfilling future. To ensure success post-16, we integrate information relating to student engagement in career learning opportunities  into the annual review. This valuable information is carefully incorporated into the annual review and helps inform planning based on current trajectory and aspirations.

This integrated and often multi-agency approach ensures that every step taken outside the traditional classroom contributes to overall success!

PROVIDER ACCESS STATEMENT

This policy statement sets out the arrangements for managing the access of providers to students at Lord Wilson School, for the purpose of giving 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 and the updated Provider Access Legislation which came into force in January 2023.

All students in Years 7 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 options available at each transition point
  • to hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships
  • to understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.

For students of compulsory school age, we will offer two encounters during Years 8 and 9 and two encounters during Years 10 and 11. We recognise that all of our students have their own identified SEND and we will strive to adapt sessions and encounters to ensure that all students who wish to access will be able to do so.

These provider encounters will be scheduled during school hours, by 28 February if taking place in Years 9 or 11, and the provider will be given a reasonable amount of time to: 

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

Lord Wilson School uses the Gatsby Benchmarks, a framework of best practice, to plan the Careers programme. As part of our commitment to informing students about the full range of learning and training pathways available, we welcome access requests from Sixth Form and Further Education Colleges, University Training Colleges, Institutes of Technology, apprenticeship providers, independent training providers, universities and employers. 

By hearing directly from providers, every student is able to build a broad picture of the options available and consider how the opportunity to study or train in different ways, and in different environments, may suit their skills, interests and aptitudes.

Opportunities for providers to speak with students may include school assemblies, employer and provider engagement events or activities to support GCSE, Post-16 choices. However, we recognise that our students may respond best on a bespoke and 1-1 basis and will work with providers to accommodate this.

We are committed to providing meaningful encounters to all students in-person or online; an encounter is defined as one meeting or session between students and a provider. Previously, a number of providers were available to speak to students about technical education and apprenticeships including  BAE, PETA, City of Portsmouth College, Red Penguin Marine, Royal Navy.

Destinations

Draft data for the 2022-23 academic year indicates our Year 11 students moved on to a range of destinations after school including St Vincent College, Sparsholt College, HSDC, Highbury  to study Sports, eSports & Business:

62% (5 students) of Year 11s from Lord Wilson in 2023 moved on to participating situations that meet the DfE defined ‘Raising the Age of Participation’ (RPA). Of those:

  • 60% went onto study at sixth form
  • 40% went on to study at FE college

Draft data for the 2022-23 academic year indicates that 38% (3 students) of our Year 11 students are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET).

Procedure

We are committed to ensuring our students understand the full range of options available to them and welcome opportunities to learn about technical and vocational pathways. In the first instance, requests by providers should be sent to the school’s Careers Leader, Rebecca Lawley, at rlawley@kgalordwilson.uk with a minimum of 6 weeks’ request time. All requests will be considered on the basis of staff availability to support the activity, any clashes with other planned activity, trips or visits, interruption to the preparation for examinations or rooming and space availability to host the activity. Providers should refer to the schools Safeguarding Policy.

We will make a suitable space and equipment available for interactions between providers and students, appropriate to the activity; this will be discussed and agreed in advance of the visit with the Careers Leader or a member of the Careers Team. Providers are very welcome to leave prospectuses and relevant literature at main Reception marked for the attention of the Careers Team. 

Our Careers Provision is monitored for quality and impact by the Senior Leadership and Governance Teams and a review of access and opportunities to engage with technical, vocational and training providers forms part of this process; this policy statement is reviewed annually by the Careers Leader and agreed by the Board of Trustees.

Reviewing our Careers Provision

We regularly complete the Compass for special schools assessments, which uses the Gatsby Benchmarks to help track our progress towards achieving the eight Gatsby Benchmarks. The Gatsby Benchmarks have been designed to support institutions to deliver a high-quality careers provision that supports every young person find their best next step. Compass assessments help us to identify our strengths and celebrate success, as well as identifying areas of future focus in order to improve our provision. In addition to Compass assessment data, we use Year 11 destinations data and parent/carer feedback to inform next steps.

This information is reviewed annually by the Careers Leader and the Senior Leadership Team.