Parent Area

80.75% of students say their parents help them to make key careers decisions

Being a parent is a juggling act and knowing everything about careers on top of everything else? Don’t panic, there’s some great websites out there that provide all of the answers.

A careers conversation with your child can make a big difference and sharing your own story can help. You possibly have some contacts who could offer a work experience, or provide some feedback on a CV for example. Use the resources at your fingertips to get started and contact your school Careers Leader for more information.

Careers Programme

We have an inspiring Careers programme designed to develop student's employability, career management and learning skills.  Our students have benefitted greatly from the support of excellent links with post-16 providers and employers.  

Tutors guide their students through the post-14 preference process and follow up conversations and interviews take place with senior teachers.  In year 10, following our careers and post-16 opportunities review, we host progression interviews with senior staff.

One to one guidance interviews are conducted by our independent Careers Adviser Julie Hickman (Diploma in Career Guidance, Level 6) from Island Futures  –https://www.iow.gov.uk/schools-and-education/island-futures/ 

Every student is treated individually and students are supported with their decisions and the application process.  Students are prepared for each transition point and the choices they make during assembles, options evenings, small group sessions and 1-1 interviews.

Students in years 10 and 11 will have at least one impartial career guidance interview with Julie Hickman as well as consistent support from the Careers Department.  Parents and carers will be notified of their child’s careers appointment in advance and will receive a summary of the discussion.

We do like students to be really prepared by the start of year 11 and ready for the Autumn term of further education visits, applications and interviews.  For this reason, the majority of school ‘input’ is undertaken before year 11 to allow students the time to focus on their academic study.  However, further progression interviews take place and our students continue to be supported by Island Futures.

Click on the links below to view a copy of our Careers Programme for Years 6-11.

Pixl Edge

We are a Pixl EDGE School. This is a national innovative scheme that is intended, over time, to develop a number of key life skills and attributes which will assist students in succeeding once they leave school.

The scheme has been developed in conjunction with a number of companies and employers who have expressed the core skills students need to be able to succeed in a workplace, in addition to their academic qualifications. These skills have been broken down into five core areas: Leadership, Organisation, Resilience, Initiative and Communication, or LORIC for short.

Students have to complete a total of ten activities, two in each category.  There are examples of what these activities may involve below, or you can go to the Pixl website for more information.

Once a student has successfully completed all ten tasks, they will have ‘The EDGE’ which will be represented in the form of a qualification recognised by schools and colleges and, increasingly, employers as well. We host a large celebration event in July, with special guests from the world of business, and a presentation of awards to our successful candidates.

Types of Jobs 

If you want to talk to someone about your choices our Learning resource and Careers coordinator is Mrs R Earle-Payne. If you have any queries about careers, higher education or work experience please contact her on 01983 409119.