Careers Update, December 2025
In March 2025, in our evaluation of our careers programme, 6 out of 8 of the Gatsby benchmarks were achieved with 100% success rates. Since that time, the Gatsby Benchmarks have been re-worked with additional criteria and scope being added. As a result, we are striving to re-invigorate our provision in line with the new recommendations and striving for 100% success rate in all the Gatsby benchmarks.
In order to do this, we are working in partnership with several external providers and employers, including Bath Spa University, ASK, CEC and West of England Mentoring so that our
students have access to a wide range of unbiased careers and post 16 opportunities. As a result, each student will be able to make an informed decision about their post 16 options and improve their knowledge of career pathways, ultimately removing the risk of being “not in education, employment or training” .
Each year group has careers focused PSHE lessons, where careers appear in at least one unit per year group. We are also embedding career-based learning within the curriculum, where students are able to experience a variety of encounters with employers, speakers and workplace visits related to different curriculum subjects. These experiences are underpinned by learning objectives and students are regularly given time to reflect upon their careers journey so far.
Every week, all of our students (and their parents and carers) receive our careers newsletter which is accessible through the website. This has a linked podcast to support those who might have lower literacy levels or struggle to read through a lot of information on screen. These newsletters pinpoint opportunities locally and further afield and also keep key stakeholders informed of relevant, up to date Labor market information (LMI) and also include relevant apprenticeship and Independent training providers.
More students than ever before are receiving support and guidance from a trained L6 careers advisor in school. These career guidance meetings align perfectly with key life decisions; around options at Key Stage 4 and also Post 16 transition in year 10 and 11. The school supports all students, but with a key focus on the most disadvantaged students, to achieve their “best next step” through regular careers input and specialist, targeted, pre-emptive input where required.
Next steps for the careers programme:
Going forward, we will expand and grow our career programme, in particular providing more
events for KS3 students to gain more frequent experiences of workplaces, ensuring more frequent visits to and from employers and improving the relevance of these encounters. In addition, we are reaching out to alumni of the school to develop another strand to our careers provision, drawing upon their good will and expertise to further inspire our young people.
Continuing to embed curriculum based careers learning through employer and workplace visits linked to the learning in class will become a key feature in our development over the next year.
It has been a pleasure and a great challenge to be given responsibility for the school careers programme and I am very positive about the impact of our future plans which are realistic and achievable.
N Barley
Assistant Headteacher
What are the Gatsby Benchmarks?
