Welcome to Our Lady and St Chad Catholic Academy Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) website. At Our Lady and St Chad Catholic Academy, we are fully committed to doing all we can to ensure that all of our students are fully aware of the possibilities open to them in every sector of employment, and the huge variety of careers on offer to them. As well as providing students with the academic foundations to succeed, we pride ourselves on the wide range of opportunities we provide, from Year 7 through to Year 13, for students to explore future pathways and receive quality advice and guidance so that they are able to make the right choices, whether that be Further Education, Higher Education, an apprenticeship or employment.

Our Aims

Our CEIAG programme aims to inspire students to make informed and appropriate choices and plans for their future career choices, for Further and Higher Education, and ultimately for the world of work.

The Academy mission statement (‘Together we will emulate the love of Christ and become the people God created us to be’) is very much reflected in the aims of our careers programme. We aim to help students become the people God created them to be and to follow true vocations.

Our CEIAG programme aims to raise student aspirations - our students are capable of achieving anything they set their minds to.

In line with the new DfE statutory guidance Our Lady and St Chad Catholic Academy is committed to achieving the highest levels in all 8 Gatsby benchmark recommendations. 

Gatsby Benchmarks

The eight benchmarks are a framework for good career guidance developed to support secondary schools and colleges in providing students with the best possible careers education, information, advice, and guidance.

The eight benchmarks:

For more information on each of the Gatsby Benchmarks visit:

https://www.goodcareerguidance.org.uk/

CEIAG Evaluation and Review

Progress towards achieving the Gatsby Benchmarks is evaluated using the online tool Compass Plus. This is carried out on a termly basis by the Careers Leader supported by our Careers Enterprise Co-Ordinator. The CEIAG development plan is based upon the outcomes of the Compass evaluation.

All CEIAG events are evaluated by students and staff.  Feedback is collected through questionnaires, student voice and interviews after each event.  Results also feed into the CEIAG development plan.

The effectiveness of careers guidance is reflected in students' destinations such as apprenticeships, sixth form and further education colleges, universities or employment. Destination data is used to assess how successfully students make the transition into the next stage of education or training, or into employment and to inform future CEIAG provision.

A link governor has responsibility for overseeing the quality of careers guidance. The Careers Leader reports to the link governor and the Governing body on a regular basis. The CEIAG policy is reviewed annually by the Careers Leader, and ratified by Governors.

Careers Guidance

The programme starts at Year 7 and goes right through to Year 13, guiding our students through those all important decisions for their future. We pride ourselves on giving students a well-rounded education and as part of their learning, we have developed a broad and extensive careers programme. This enables students to develop their personal insight, careers knowledge, and career planning and employability skills by offering advice that is personalised, comprehensive and impartial. All students at all key stages have a weekly careers focused lesson as part of the Academy Well-being programme.

UNIFROG

UNIFROG is a one stop shop for careers, which addresses the needs of students, all the way through their secondary educational journey. All students are able to access UNIFROG using their personalised account, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Students have access to the fantastic UNIFROG resource which offers comprehensive information about colleges, undergraduate university courses in the UK and overseas and apprenticeship schemes in the UK. Furthermore, the UNIFROG resources are used within our fantastic careers focused lessons as part of the Academy Well-being programme.

What is the Baker Clause?

Introduced as an amendment to the Technical and Further Education Act 2017, the Baker Clause stipulates that schools must allow colleges and training providers access to every student in years 8- 13 to discuss non-academic routes that are available to them.

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.”- Steve Jobs

It is the view of the academy that IAG (Information Advice and Guidance) must:

  • Empower young people to plan and manage their future career pathways
  • Respond to the needs of the learner
  • Provide appropriate and practical information and advice
  • Raise aspirations
  • Actively promote equality of opportunity and challenges of stereotypes
  • Provide effective LMI (Labour Market Information) to aid decisions

Careers Leader

Mr C Durkin
[email protected]
01902 558250

Schools Independent Careers Advisor

Lorraine Newton
[email protected]
Office: 01902 554499
Mobile: 07584175410

The Careers advisor is in school every Tuesday and all students in year 11 and post 16 college will have an interview. All other students can drop in during break and lunch on a Tuesday to arrange an interview on request. Parents can contact Lorraine Newton for independent advice and career guidance on the email above.

External Speakers

Students experience a range of talks in all year groups from external employers about their careers and sectors of employment. These talks are enjoyed by all and really help students to gain a deeper insight into the world of work.

If you are an employers or employee and would like to come in and give a talk then please follow the information in the Our Lady and St Chad Catholic Academy Access for External Providers Policy.

External speakers this year include:

Professor Michael Coleman
Professor of Toxicology
Sir Richard Lambeth
Chair of the British Museum / Former Head of the CBI
David Wilding
Director of Planning, Twitter UK
Matt Chorley
Editor, The Red Box - The Times
David Evans
TV and Film Director
Chris Hale
Chair Emeritus, Travers Smith LLP
John Perry
Former Board Member of HSBC