Personal Development | Woldgate School

The core intent and ambition of our Personal Development and Careers Programme:

Young people are faced with a complex set of demands when preparing for their future careers. Woldgate School aims to ensure that students are self-confident, skilled and career-ready. This is achieved through a comprehensive programme of carefully planned activities that enable pupils to grow and flourish as themselves as they decide, and embark on, pathways that are right for them beyond their school experience; and for them to be able to manage their careers and sustain employability throughout their lives. Our programme starts in Year 7 through Year 13, and is based on the nationally recognised Gatsby Benchmarks.

The programme follows the eight Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance which are:

A stable careers programme
Learning from career and labour market information
Addressing the needs of each pupil
Linking curriculum learning to careers
Encounters with employers and employees
Experiences of workplaces
Encounters with further and higher education
Personal guidance

We review all our activity throughout the year on Compass +, with governors, and the local LEP which supports reviews and ensures we are follow all eight of Gatsby benchmarks to the highest standard.

Personal Development permeates through every aspect of school life here at Woldgate School, including our curriculum, culture and ethos, pastoral care and enrichment.

Our aim is to ensure our curriculum, and wider work supports pupils to be confident, resilient and independent – to develop great character. We are passionate about providing high quality pastoral support and ensuring pupils are well prepared for their future lives, including how to eat healthily, how to maintain an active lifestyle, and mental wellbeing and to ensure pupils have an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships and protected characteristics.

We prepare pupils for life in modern Britain effectively, developing their understanding of the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Our school provides pupils with meaningful opportunities to understand how to be responsible, respectful, active citizens who contribute positively to society. Pupils know how to discuss and debate issues and ideas in a considered way.

We promote equality of opportunity and diversity effectively and develop appreciation and respect of differences in the world and its people, celebrating the things we share in common across cultural, religious, ethnic and socio-economic communities. We enable pupils to engage with views, beliefs and opinions that are different from their own in considered ways. They show respect for the different protected characteristics as defined in law and no forms of discrimination are tolerated.

Careers and IAG Staff

Careers Lead: Paul Barrett

careers@woldgate.net

Governor link: Patrick John

SLT link: Kyle Macdonald

Independent Careers Advisor: Suzanne Mason

SENCO: Kirsten McKie

Pupil Support with Careers

Pupils are supported in the following ways to develop their knowledge, skills and aspirations:

Skills for Life Programme
Careers curriculum in PDS
Careers links in curriculum subjects
Careers Fairs
Activities in National Apprenticeship Week, Careers Week and National Enterprise Day
Off time-table events and opportunities
Work Experience
Careers pathways
Visits to Further and Higher education establishments
Visiting speakers from industry
Links with the Careers and Enterprise Company and our link company, Rollit’s Solicitors

Parent Support with Careers

Please see below a number of ways you can support young people in their early personal development and career search:

• Attend parent’s information evenings in year 9 and 11 so that you understand the next steps and opportunities available to your child.

• Encourage them to explore the different options available at 14, 16 and 18 such as apprenticeships, college, sixth form, degree apprenticeships or university.

• Encourage your child to consider which of their subjects they enjoy, and how this might link to future careers.

• Discuss their next steps with them – guide them to make realistic and aspirational choices.

• Help dispel common misconceptions of the workplace. For example, that certain jobs are for men or women, that apprenticeships are only for practical vocations like engineering, or that students need to wait until they start looking for work before they gain experience of the wider world of work.

• Help them explore the jobs and training opportunities that are available locally, or through the ‘Find an apprenticeship’ section of the government website.

• Encourage your son or daughter to use local Labour Market Information to support their career choices. You will find a link to the LMI Humber website below.

• Encourage them to develop their skills and qualities by participating in extra-curricular activities (personal development)

• Encourage them to attend school, be punctual and wear the correct uniform – this is preparing them for the workplace

Information for Employers

We are always interested in making new connections and links with local and national employers. Here are just some of the ways you can get involved, we are a forward thinking team and always looking for new ways to strengthen our offering.

• The Careers fairs – further education, apprenticeship and job providers are welcome to participate in our events. This year we are hosting an Apprenticeship fair in November and a Careers fair in March.

• Work experience – we will always welcome work experience placement opportunities from employers so if you think that you can help.

• Assemblies or lesson talks – if you feel that you can help with our assemblies or would like to give a talk to students in lessons, please contact us and will we work in conjunction to do our best to make this a reality

• Mentoring – should you feel that you can offer regular support to some of our students, please contact us as this is a very rewarding experience for both the mentor and mentee.

Any provider wishing to contact the school should see Woldgate’s provider access policy below. If you feel your organisation can support students in planning their future careers, please contact Mr P Barrett.

Our provider access statement can be found in the useful links below.

If you think you could contribute to our Careers programme, would like to be a part of the Employer Led programme, or are interested in joining our Alumni register please contact Mr P Barrett.

Useful Links for Parents and Teachers

LMI for All
LMI Humber
Local Sector Profiles
UCAS: Parent information
Amazing Apprenticeships: Parent pack
Unistats
What are T Levels?
New National Minimum Wage Rates
A Parents’ Toolkit for Career Conversations