Careers Information, Advice and Guidance
Our Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance programme aims to be inclusive of all Stratford School Academy pupils; helping our young people to gain the knowledge, understanding, skills, and attitude required to make informed choices.
At Stratford School Academy, we value the importance of students gaining insight into different careers sectors. Students from Year 7 – 11 all have access to the Morrisby Careers platform to explore and understand their skills and interests and the transferability to specific careers.
We encourage our students to consider the skills that they are developing throughout their education, and extra- curricular activities. This is partly achieved through our PSHCE curriculum, from Year 7 students are encouraged to reflect on their skills and interests. We believe this awareness is crucial tool for making choices about further education, apprenticeships, and later career choices.
We support all students in making good decisions by providing access to information and guidance about the range of careers options that are most likely to help students to achieve their goals. We believe that giving students the best careers education and guidance is key to helping them to achieve and be successful in life beyond school. We measure our programme against the Gatsby Benchmarks which provide a framework of effective whole school career provision:
1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each student
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experience of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance
Mentoring
Future Frontiers
Stratford School Academy has formed a succesful partnership with the educational charity Future Frontiers since September 2021.
Future Frontiers provides selected Year 10 students with further careers support through 1-1 mentoring with professionals in central London. Students participating in the programme also visit workplaces and have the opportunity to meet with other industry professionals to form a Post-16 action plan. In Year 11, students continue to meet with their mentor and are supported through their Post-16 transition.
1MM
We are committed to providing access for our students to have opportunities to receive mentoring from internal staff, and external employees. We have partners with 1MillionMentors to provide ongoing mentoring support to our Year 10 Students who have signed up to the programme.
Macfarlanes
This academic year, we have exclusive mentoring at Macfarlanes law firm. Fifteen Year 10 Students have the opportunity to receive mentoring from legal professionals over four sessions.
Partnerships
Our Careers Lead and adviser is connected to the Local London Careers Hub to support the school with achieving the Gatsby Benchmarks and delivering a high-quality careers programme. The Hub has connected the school with an Enterprise Adviser from Macquarie Group to facilitate trips to the investment firm and to support with employer encounters.
Through the London Partnership Programme, we are connected to KPMG who work with us to facilitate trips and visitors to the schools.
Our partnership with Future Frontiers, has supported our students to visit businesses across London and widened the opportunities for the year group by having guest speakers from Marex to deliver aspiration career talks to our students.
Future First support our careers activities through managing and maintaining our alumni network. This allows us the chance to inspire our students through them hearing from previous students who are now in their career and receive advice about developing essential skills for the workplace. We have a well- established network but are always looking for more supporters or alumni to join. Please do register through the following link - https://www.futurefirsthub.org.uk/register/stratfordschool
Careers Guidance and Leader
Our academy Careers Leader is Ms Courtney Green. Courtney is a Level 6 qualified Careers Adviser, registered with the Careers Development Institution (CDI) and follows the CDI code of ethics to ensure she is impartial in her careers practice. Ms Green has had experience working as a careers adviser across several schools in East London.
For any questions about our careers programme or to request a careers meeting with your child, please email c.green@stratfordschoolacademy.org
During Year 10 – Year 11, all students will have a one-to-one session with a careers adviser to discuss their aspirations and options as they come to the end of KS4. Post interview feedback is collected to quality assure the careers guidance that students receive.
Newham's Sixth Forms and Colleges
Newham Sixth Form and College List
Careers Progression Framework
Work Experience
Virtual work experience offers students the opportunity to explore career paths, develop essential skills, and enhance their employability in an increasingly digital and competitive world. There are a lot of benefits to explore a wide range of career opportunities, and the virtual and on-demand nature of experiences for young people, means that you can take part in diverse opportunities.
Students are encouraged to find their own in person work experience opportunities during the school holidays.
Virtual Work Experience Platforms
Please register for Springpod and Speakers for School for access to many different virtual work experience opportunities.
In addition, there are many different career challenges, that are live and can be completed in your own time. These can be found on ‘Dig Data’ Virtual Work Experience - https://digdata.online/bt-career-challenge/
The opportunities listed below are available publicly and not vetted by the school.
Barclays Life Skills offer many valuable resources, including a virtual work experience simulator and programme. All you need to do is create a free online account - https://barclayslifeskills.com/i-want-virtual-work-experience/school/virtual-work-experience/
There are many on demand work experiences to be found on - https://leeds.startprofile.com/page/develop-vwex
Medic Mentor offer a free work experience programme, aimed at students in Years 10 and above.
An Australian simulation programme which has been creted with aim to support students who are thinking of working cybersecurity. The Cyber@ANZ virtual experience program
Goldman Sachs offer an engineering programme virtually. Engineering Virtual Program
Careers Map
At SSA we have created a 5-year careers map.
16-18 Courses in Newham
London Borough of Newham updates their Post 16 learning annually. Visit London Borough of Newham: Post 16 Learning to view your progression options as a student in Newham.
Post-16 Progression Fair
The annual Post-16 Progression Fair is a fantastic event that has been hosted successfully for the
past few years at Stratford School Academy. Many local higher education/ college/ apprenticeship providers offer their guidance and speak to our pupils about the exciting opportunities made available at their institutions.
This is a motivational event and a rare chance for our pupils to meet numerous education and work providers all under one roof.
Former SSA pupils also attend this event, now representing their educational institutions and are able to advise
and inspire current pupils on their personal experiences regarding the application processes, life at their chosen destination and general top tips for achievement.
We trust that this event has offered and will continue to offer pupils the opportunity to make some informed choices about post-16 careers and education routes.
Useful Links for Career Guidance
UCAS
UCAS – Support with different options, career planning and writing personal statements for college.
Career pilot & Post 16 options
My World of Work
My World of Work enables users to complete a self-assessment to get a picture of how you as an individual like to approach things. They match your assessment results to jobs which may suit you.
Gov.uk Apprenticeships
Find apprenticeships with gov.uk in diverse career sectors and industries as well as details about apprenticeships in general.
National Careers Service
The National Careers Service allows users to register their details if they are considering apprenticeships. Users can find lots of apprenticeships on this site.
National Careers ServiceThis is the government’s careers website, with tools and descriptions of jobs and income levels. On this website you can do a skills assessment and explore different careers
Prospects
Prospects is a graduate careers website, with detailed job descriptions, as well as pathways for different careers.
Labour Market Information
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.
