Our careers programme is designed to help young people develop the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to make successful choices and manage transitions and pathways in learning and work.
In September 2022 the Department for Education published its updated Careers guidance and access for education and training providers – Statutory guidance for governing bodies, school leaders and school staff. This guidance identifies the 8 Gatsby benchmarks that schools should meet
- A stable careers programme
- Learning from career and labour market information
- Addressing the needs of each student
- Linking curriculum to careers
- Encounters with employers and employees
- Experiences of workplaces
- Encounters with higher and further education
- Personal guidance
We are currently meeting all 8 of these benchmarks and work continuously to evaluate and adapt our provision as appropriate.
Our most recent Ofsted inspections stated
“The careers and advice provision is exceptional. The careers officer provides the necessary information and guidance to help pupils, including sixth-form students, make informed decisions about their next steps into education, training and employment. There is a strong alumni network, known as the ‘Old Latins’, who support careers education through assemblies and events reinforcing leaders’ ambitions for all.”
Overview of career provision
- All staff contribute through their roles as tutors and subject teachers
- Subject teachers link the curriculum to careers
- Displays with subject specific career reference in department areas
- All students have access to a qualified careers adviser
- Organised careers events, such as our Aspirations event held annually, bringing together a range of employers and professionals
- Careers education lessons (delivered during PSHE lessons)
- Students have access to the Careers and Aspirations google classroom where opportunities and information on apprenticeships, pathways and events are posted weekly
- Students and parents have access to ‘Unifrog’ a destinations platform including information on universities, apprenticeships, careers and labour market information at https://www.unifrog.org/
- Guidance on work experience and volunteering
- Work experience (KS4)
- Work experience (KS5)
- Mock interviews with external organisations and subject experts
- External competitions and activities, examples include. MK Magistrates’ Mock Trial (KS3/4) also Bank of England and BASE KS5, Race for the Line (GCSE computing)
- Trips to support subjects and careers in that subject, examples include theatre visits with q & a session with actors, Cern trip (Physics)
- Specific industry trips, e.g. LawFest and The Schools’ Aerospace Roadshow
- Careers, enterprise and aspirations events on enrichment days
- External careers events as appropriate (KS4 and KS5), for example the National Apprenticeship Fair and Bucks Skills Show
- Old Latins, parents and local professionals as ambassadors for their career, subject and university will be invited into school to talk to current RLS students during lessons, assemblies, Higher Education Enrichment (KS5)
- The school develops links and partnerships with employers to support students, provide opportunities and highlight pathways
- Programme of support for applying to university, including studying abroad
- Mock assessment centre for sixth form students
- Gap year advice
- Authorised absence from school to visit potential universities
- Organised trip to Oxford and Cambridge university for those students wishing to apply to competitive universities
- Support for CV writing and job applications
- Results day advice and guidance
- Latin Learning – promoting the use of softer skills in the curriculum
- Opportunities to contribute to Latin Lectures, Latin Academic and in house journals
- Programme of Lillingstone Lectures
- Careers newsletters shared with parents in the Weekly Update
- Lunchtime clubs, e.g. Robotics and CAD, Green Touch, String Orchestra
- Records will be maintained to show students’ experiences of career and enterprise activities
The school will evaluate careers provision and impact on a yearly basis to highlight areas of best practice and priorities for improvement. As we continue to review our programme other activities may be trialled and evaluated as deemed appropriate and relevant to support the above objectives
The school will measure whether students attain places at their chosen destinations
If you are a business or organisation and would like to support our careers provision for our students, please get in touch with Jane Comben (jcomben@royallatin.org). We are interested in gaining support for
- mentoring for 6th form university applicants
- our Aspirations and careers evening
- Short talks and taking questions from students for specific subjects linking the curriculum to careers (these can be via google meet)
- careers and employability talks for assemblies
- mock interview or assessment days
Provider access policy
This policy statement sets out the school’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to pupils at 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.
To read our Provider Access Policy please click here
The date of the next review of this published information:
Policy to be reviewed by governors by January 2023.
The provision is reviewed on an ongoing basis, auditing against the benchmarks.
The careers programme is being promoted through our priority ‘Aspirations’ – planning for the future to provide opportunities for students to take effective steps to prepare for the next stage of their development.
RLS careers contacts:
Jane Comben – Careers Lead – jcomben@royallatin.org
Jason Skyrme – Senior leadership member responsibility for Aspirations jskyrme@royallatin.org
Labour Market Information
Labour market information (LMI) can help students and their parents understand the job market and find out which careers different qualifications can lead to. The following links will help students and parents find out about what jobs are likely to be important nationally and regionally over the coming years.
Unifrog contains LMI in the careers library section of the platform
Bucks Skills Hub highlights job possibilities in key sectors across Buckinghamshire and shows 1000s of live jobs. It is also full of the latest resources and advice on career choices, skills development and recruitment.
LMI Future Trends has useful information on the national labour market and future trends.
Working Futures 2014-2024 is a report produced by the UK Commission of Employment and Skills on the future of work in the UK.
Target Careers has information about different careers sectors – includes useful advice and information such as salaries, the types of jobs available and what your options are with, or without, a degree.
Target Jobs has a range of graduate job descriptions showing what each job involves and the qualifications and skills that are most needed.
National Careers Service provides excellent information about a wider variety of job roles.
Careerometer
Careerometer is a tool to compare salaries and working hours of different jobs
Careerometer can be used to explore and compare key information about occupations, help you learn about different occupations and identify potential careers. It provides access to a selection of UK headline data relating to pay, weekly hours of work and future employment prospects for different occupations, as well as description of the occupation.
Simply type in the title of the job you are interested in and the widget provides a series of options from which you can select the most relevant to you. You can then look up another two occupations and compare. You can also select ‘display the UK average’ and compare the information with the occupation you have selected.
Skillsometer
Skillsometer can help you discover what jobs you might like to do in the future. You will be presented with a series of statements. Select the emoji that shows how you feel about each statement. You will be given suggestions of jobs linked to what you most enjoy doing.
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