Careers and Transition Planning

At Two Bridges Academy we believe that every pupil can be supported over time to develop knowledge and skills that will support their journey towards adult life and eventually their next steps into an educational, employment or a community placement.

We are committed to ensuring that students are supported to make informed realistic decisions and to choose pathways that suit their interests and abilities.

We aim to raise aspirations, challenge stereotypes and encourage learners to consider a wide range of careers. Through carefully planned careers education and guidance and a clear and structured employability pathway, it is hoped that learners will be encouraged to go on to further learning, supported internships, apprenticeships or into employment.

We recognise that each learner will have different learning needs and preferences, so we personalise our approach to match these.

Pupils in Early Years, Primary and following the Explorers Pathways

Pupils in Y7 –Y11

Pupils in Y12-Y14

For our younger pupils and those at early stages of cognitive development, the Careers offer is about self-awareness and reflection, developing practical skills, and gaining an insight into the world of work.

The work is embedded into the curriculum through:

· A vocational learning theme linked to the termly curriculum theme. Please see vocational themes overview below.

· The ‘Self-Care and Independence’ aspect of the whole school curriculum

From Y7 to Y11 the careers offer will expand to include careers information, advice and guidance (CIAG), which will be embedded into our wider curriculum.

The self-care and independence curriculum will also continue, and together these will form a basis that prepares our pupils for adult life.

Pupils will be equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to ensure they are able to keep themselves safe, begin to understand the options available to them, and are empowered to make choices about their own next steps.

From Y9 they will receive personal guidance once a year and their EHCP annual reviews will include transitions outcomes.

Pupils in Post 16 will follow our Preparation for Adulthood (PFA) curriculum, which has an even greater focus on preparation, planning and support for next steps beyond Two Bridges Academy.

Please refer to Page 31 to view the Post 16 careers by Year Group overview.

Primary and Secondary Vocational Themes Overview

The Careers offer at Two Bridges Academy is linked to the Gatsby Benchmarks, as follows:

Gatsby Benchmark

How we meet this at Two Bridges Academy

A stable careers

programme

Our Careers overview can be viewed on Page 29

Our Careers Lead is: James Herald james.herald@twobridgesacademy.org.uk

Learning from career and labour market information

A qualified Careers advisor is available for students and their parents/carers at any point during their time at Two Bridges Academy. Emma Critchley can be contacted at: Emma.Critchley1@enabletrust.org.uk

Students have regular opportunities to find out about, and meet different employers from Year 7, through group and individual visits, virtual employability sessions and visiting speakers which are underpinned by careers learning outcomes. All pupils attending Two Bridges participate in 3x careers week activities or employer encounters over the academic year. They also have access to the Job Education database (JED) to find out about jobs and career pathways.

We hold an annual Enable Trust ‘Preparation for Adulthood & Transitions’ event where a wide range of support agencies and potential future providers are available to meet students and their parents/carers. The careers programme in communicated in different formats including availability on the school website, presentation during careers events and individual careers guidance throughout parental consultations.

Two Bridges’ careers programme constantly evolves through compass self-evaluation and the feedback of a range of group including pupils, leavers, families/carers and industry.

All pupils have access to clear careers and Beyond 19 pathway information from Key Stage 3 onwards. Individual careers guidance meetings begin in year 9 and increase in regularity during Key Stage 5. Learners, parents and carers are supported to use careers information to develop achievable yet aspirational transition goals over Key Stages 3 to 5.

All staff, including teachers and additional support staff receive regular updates and CPD regarding Two Bridges Careers offer, including access to up-to-date information about transition pathways, study options, and labour market opportunities. Staff use this knowledge to set PFA outcomes in ECHP reviews from year 9 onwards.

Addressing the needs of each pupil

At Two Bridges Academy we understand the individual journeys our students take, both whilst they are with us, and when they move on from us. We ensure that all learning is contextualised to the individual needs of the student and review learning targets regularly to ensure they are appropriate and meaningful.

All students and their families have access to Enable Trust’s Careers team who can support them with advice and information/guidance, visits to potential providers, access and signposting to support agencies and raising pupil and family aspirations for the future, in addition to that already provided throughout the Preparation for Adulthood programme. This support is bespoke and tailored to those students and families who most need it, to ensure all our families are equally enabled to explore and identify suitable longer-term provision.

Student’s participation in our careers programme is actively tracked and used to inform careers guidance and inform and scaffold successful transitions into an individual’s next step. Data is collected to compare learners aspirations with their immediate, sustained and long-term destinations to inform personalised, effective guidance for current pupils.

Linking curriculum learning to careers

Throughout learning at Two Bridges Academy, we focus on different vocational themes and how they can be contextualised and related to real world experiences. Pupils from Early Years to Key Stage 4 participate in specific Careers Week activities linked to their curriculum theme, in addition to consistent internal vocational responsibilities tracked against our Careers Curriculum document, which aligns with the existing Self-Care and Independence document and Personalised Learning Goals.

Post-16 focus on the functional application of skills across the four Preparing for Adulthood domains in the adult world to ensure our students are learning life skills that are relevant and appropriate to them and their aspirations as young adults. The curriculum structure follows the principles of Equalex Careers framework, providing a wide breadth of experiences and encounters before supporting learners to identify their own key skills and what next steps would be appropriate to them. Every term has an identified experiential Industry theme which is used to ensure all learning is includes consideration of careers and anchor the learning into a real world context.

Encounters with employers and employees

Learners Key Stage 3 and above participate in at least three employer encounters across the academic year in addition to Careers weeks activities. Learners in Key Stage 5 are encouraged to use feedback from employers to inform their Careers Guidance meetings, using feedback to identify next steps and areas of development.

We encourage employers and training providers to regularly visit our school and attend events such as our Trust Transitions/Preparation for Adulthood events. Employers run workshops and virtual/in person experience sessions for learners from Key Stage 3 and above. We are supported by the West of England Hub’s Employment Adviser who supports us to ensure we consolidate links to the local labour market and source on-going employability experiences for our students.

Experiences of workplaces

We offer a range of internal work experience opportunities for our students such as office work, recycling, gardening, deliveries, valeting etc. Experiences are underpinned by learning objectives and measured using the Self Care and Independence PLGs.

We ensure students have opportunities to access external work experiences for at least two weeks over Key Stage 5, appropriate to their stage of development and pathway, for example at local cafes, nurseries, animal parks, shops and garden centres. Where external experiences may be inappropriate due to need, internal enrichment opportunities linked to the individuals interests and aspirations. .

Encounters with further and higher education

Throughout Key Stage 5 pupils experience a range of local supported and specialist education settings, work and training providers and social and community placements, across education and social care.

Students are supported to visit and explore appropriate local Further and Higher Education providers as part of core careers offer. All students are supported to visit local colleges and to understand the various courses and qualifications available at each, appropriate to each individual’s stage of development. All learners, but particularly those on the Towards Education & Employment pathway are actively supported to identify barriers to their attendance of Further Education and work towards overcoming them.

All students in years 7-14 will have at least six experiences of Technical Education across Key Sage 3-5, as set out in the Provider Access Legislation. Students are consistently experience a range of education and training providers to access students, for the purposes of delivering information about the providers’ education or training offer, including approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

Personal guidance

During Key Stage 4, all students have the chance to meet a qualified Careers and Transitions Adviser who records to the student voice and provides guidance, advice and information to the student and their families at least one instance per academic year. This is tracked to identify trends, new learning and inconsistencies across their careers journey and presented to families in an action planning template. Personal guidance meetings are carefully planned around key transition points and deadlines and are used to inform the wider planning of the PfA curriculum and the advisor contributes to the PfA outcomes within a student’s EHCP annual review.

During Key Stage 5, all students meet a qualified Careers and Transitions Adviser at least 3 times across an academic year as they approach the transition to adulthood. This ensures that the Careers Advisor and Leader are aware of current strengths and gaps in knowledge, and are able to regularly guide pupils towards an aspirational yet achievable short to medium term careers goal. Bespoke work experience and careers education opportunities can be implemented to support the individual towards a positive destination outcome.

Looked After Children (LAC) & Previously Looked After Children (PLAC) receive enhanced personal guidance with close collaboration between the Designated Teacher for LAC, Careers Leader and Careers Advisor. Throughout Key Stage 3, pupils who are LAC / PLAC participate in one session with the Careers Advisor, and throughout Key Stage 4 and 5 these pupils participate in three meetings across an academic year. In preparation for each of these, students have the opportunity for pre-PEP guidance with their Designated Teacher for LAC. At Two Bridges our Designated Teacher for LAC is Alice Maggs alice.maggs@twobridgesacademy.org.uk. The Pre-PEP meetings follow a templated discussion to support learners understanding of the Personal guidance meeting and their position on their individual careers journey. If a students requests for the Designated Teacher, Careers Leader or other trusted adult to support them when meeting the Careers Advisor this will be facilitated whilst ensuring the meeting is supportive of individualised, pupil-led careers guidance.

Careers Overview

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