Careers
At Harborne Academy, we are committed to supporting our students with their career decision making. We provide careers information, advice, and guidance to them, which is detailed in our career offer and our flexible programme meets the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks of outstanding career guidance.
If you have any questions linked to careers, please do not hesitate to contact us, either by email or telephone. We aim to respond to phone calls and emails as quickly as possible, and certainly within 48 hours.
By telephone: 0121-464 2737 (main school switchboard)
By email: Careers@harborneacademy.co.uk
The Harborne Academy Careers Programme - click here
The Provider Access Policy - click here
Information for Employers - click here
Parental Guide - click here
Year 10 Work Experience - click here
Useful Career Resources - click here
Careers Programme
The Gatsby Benchmarks
The Gatsby Benchmarks define what world class careers provision in education looks like and provide a clear framework for organising the careers provision at your school or college. The benchmarks are as follows:
- A stable career programme
- Learning from career and labour market information
- Addressing the needs of each student
- Linking curriculum learning to careers
- Encounters with employers and employees
- Experiences of workplaces
- Encounters with Further and Higher Education
- Personal Guidance
Below is an outline of how Harborne Academy meets these benchmarks.
Careerometer - 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. You can also select ‘display the UK average’ and compare the information with the occupation you have selected.
Provider Access Policy
Harborne Academy is committed to ensuring there is an opportunity for a range of education and training providers to access our students, for the purpose of informing them about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships. Harborne Academy is aware of the responsibility to set students on the path that will secure the best outcome, enabling them to progress in education and work, and give employers the highly skilled people they need. This means acting impartially, in line with its statutory duty, and not showing bias towards any route, be that academic or technical.
Aims
Harborne Academy’s Policy for Access to other education and training providers has the following aims to:
- develop the knowledge and awareness of our students of all career pathways available to them, including technical qualifications and apprenticeships.
- support young people to be able to learn more about opportunities for education and training outside of school before making crucial choices about their future options.
- reduce drop out from courses and avoid the risk of students becoming NEET (Young people not in education, employment or training).
Student Entitlement
Harborne Academy fully supports the statutory requirement for students to have direct access to other providers of further education training, technical training and apprenticeships. The school will comply with the new legal requirement to facilitate at least six encounters with providers of approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships. This will be delivered through assemblies in National Apprenticeship Week and National Careers Week, PSHE days and faculty enrichment.
Development
This policy has been developed and is reviewed annually by the Careers Leader and Assistant Headteacher, Mr Andrew Farrell and Deputy Headteacher, Mr Gregory Caines, based on current good practice guidelines by the Department for Education.
Links with Other Policies
It supports and is underpinned by key school policies including those for Careers, Safeguarding, Personal Development, Equality and Diversity, and SEND.
Equality and Diversity
Access to other providers is available and promoted to allow all students to access information about other providers of further education and apprenticeships. Harborne Academy is committed to encouraging all students to make decisions about their future based on impartial information.
Requests for Access
Requests for access should be directed to Harborne Academy’s Careers Leader, Andrew Farrell, who may be contacted by telephone or email.
Email: Careers@harborneacademy.co.uk
Tel: 0121 464 2737
Grounds for Granting Requests for Access
Access will be given for providers to attend school assemblies, PSHE days and other events that Harborne Academy is arranging. Students may also travel to providers, as part of educational visits, organised in partnership with Harborne Academy
Details of Premises and Facilities
The Harborne Academy Careers Leader will work closely with providers to ensure they are able to access appropriate facilities. Throughout the visit, providers will be met and supported by a member of Harborne Academy staff.
Live/Virtual Encounters
Harborne Academy will consider live online encounters with providers where requested, and these may be broadcast into classrooms or the school assembly hall. Technology checks in advance will be required to ensure compatibility of systems.
Parents and Carers
Parental involvement is encouraged, and parents may be invited to attend the events to meet the providers.
Management
The Careers Leader coordinates all provider requests and is responsible to his/her senior management line manager.
Complaints Procedure
Any complaints about this policy should be raised to Mr Andrew Farrell,
Email: Careers@harborneacademy.co.uk
Careers Leader, Mr Andrew Farrell will raise the complaint to the Headteacher, Mrs Sarah Ross of Harborne Academy.
Monitoring Review and Evaluation
The policy is monitored and evaluated annually via the Senior Leadership Team.
Policy Coordinator: Mrs Sarah Ross
Policy Reviewed: January 2023
Information for Employers
Harborne Academy works closely with employers, employees, apprenticeship and training providers. We welcome hearing from prospective employers who would be willing to share their experience and expertise, to help build our students’ knowledge of employability skills, the workplace, the labour market and job search skills.
There are a number of ways in which you could become involved and support our students:
- Work with teachers to deliver curriculum-based topics
- Deliver a project as part of the Harborne Academy Careers Programme
- Hold careers talks to highlight opportunities in your industry
- Participate in any of our six calendared PSHE Days
- Offer work-place visits for students
- Offer work experience to Harborne Academy students.
If you are interested in supporting our careers offer, please contact our Careers Leader at Careers@harborneacademy.co.uk
Parental Guidance
Parental support in helping your child make the right decisions is vital. Please contact the academy if you wish to discuss how you may support your child; however, the following guides may help:
Talking Futures:
Resources to help parents with discussions with your child https://www.talkingfutures.org.uk/resources/
Apprenticeships:
https://www.theparentsguideto.co.uk/free-resources
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/influencers/support-for-parents-and-guardians (new editions released each month).
To Infinity and Beyond – A Parents’ Guide:
https://viewer.joomag.com/to-infinity-choices-and-beyond-parent-guide/0656178001638270921?short&
National Careers Week:
https://nationalcareersweek.com/parents-guide-2023/
Year 10 Work Experience
At Harborne Academy, we see work experience as an essential part of a student’s preparation for adult life. Work experience will give your child the opportunity to gain an understanding of the world of work and working life.
Work experience places your child in a completely new and different situation and gives them the chance to see what the world of work is really like. At Harborne, we encourage our students to find a placement in the sector they would like to work in.
More information on how to help your child find their placement please read the following links:
- Learn to Work (Work Experience Policy)
- WEX Own Placement Form (please complete this form and hand to the main office by Friday 2nd December 2022))
- WEX Guide
- WEX Reminders
Useful Careers Resources
Careers Advice for Parents
Aims to give you an easy-to-read overview of all the essential facts on finding jobs and apprenticeships or choosing further and higher education courses which could make a real difference to your child’s future career prospects. – careersadviceforparents.org
Careers of the Future
A helpful publication to help you with researching your future careers – Careers of The Future. www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-of-the-future
Graduate Prospects
Graduate Prospects is the UK’s leading provider of information, advice and opportunities to students and graduates and provides an extensive graduate careers website. – www.prospects.ac.uk
National Careers Service
National Careers Service – National Careers Service Direct
Not Going To Uni
If you are thinking of not going to University – then the ‘notgoingtouni’ team are here to help you find the options that work for you and they can give advice, inspiration and tools to make an informed decision about your future - http://www.notgoingtouni.co.uk/
Success at School
Success at School is the place for young people to explore careers, get the lowdown on top employers, and search for the latest jobs, courses and advice. Lots of helpful advice in the advice section on employability skills, work experience, apprenticeships, university and different career paths – www.successatschool.org
Which University
To help students make more informed decisions about their higher education choices.www.apprenticeships.gov.uk – apprenticeship vacancies (updated regularly) – university.which.co.uk
Unifrog
Helping students compare every university course, every apprenticeship, and Further Education courses - then apply successfully. - Unifrog
