Careers and Higher Education Policy

Careers Education Information and Advice Policy

For Banbury Road Campus

St. Clare’s is committed to providing outstanding Careers Education, Information Advice and Guidance through a coherent programme of activities that inform, inspire and motivate our students whilst preparing them both to make the transition at the end of their programme and to manage their future career decisions and transitions.

Objective

To enable all students to proactively engage with the concept of ‘career’ and their journey of career development whilst at St. Clare’s in order to make an initial positive transition and develop lifelong career management skills.

Aims

1. For all students to progress and be aware of their own progression in the areas of:

• Self-Awareness and Self-Development.
• Career Exploration and Research.
• Career Management Skills and Employability Skills.

2. To provide a coherent Careers and Higher Education Programme including:

Careers Education: A planned and progressive programme of activities within primarily PSHE but including elements across the curriculum which helps students to develop the knowledge and skills to understand themselves, research the opportunities available, make decisions and move successfully on to the next stage and through future career decisions and transitions. This is detailed in the Careers Education Plan.

Careers Information: Enabling students to critically engage with information on the full range of options available in Higher Education, training and work, and the progression opportunities that follow those options through a variety of media including those accessible remotely.

Careers Advice and Guidance: Individual advice and guidance delivered by a qualified practitioner available to all students and empowering students to make use of this service in a proactive way at a suitable time for them.

3. For all activities to be differentiated as appropriate and for the diverse range of learning needs to be accommodated with additional 1-2-1 support and small group sessions as appropriate.

4. To actively encourage and provide the skills to enable students to find and take advantage of opportunities for work related learning (experiential learning) as part of the CAS programme and within the college holidays.

5. To maintain communication with parents and provide relevant, up to date and accessible information to enable them to best support their son/daughter with their career journey.

6. To communicate with tutors, teachers, boarding staff, activities team and other appropriate staff in order to embed Careers Education within the college ethos and ensure that students are able to take advantage of all opportunities to learn about careers and the world of work.

Entitlement

All St. Clare’s students are required to engage with the compulsory elements of the Careers Education Provision through PSHE and across the curriculum. All students are entitled to access additional Information, Advice and Guidance whilst attending the college and as an alumni.

This includes:

Careers Education (Compulsory):

• The Careers Modules within the PSHE programme as detailed in the PSHE Scheme of work.
• The CAS Programme
• The Higher Education Fair and Seminar Programme
• The Higher Education Preparation Day (Launch Day). (IB 1 Only)

Careers Education (Non-Compulsory):

• Additional Programme of Support for Oxbridge, Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Science Potential Applicants.
• Additional Programme of Support for USA applicants including additional SAT tuition outside lesson times.
• Career Research Workshops.
• Sector Specific Career Workshops e.g. Law. Creative Subjects.

Careers Information:

All information should be relevant, up to date and maintained. Students should be able to access information through the following channels:

• Careers Team Spaces
• Student Careers Notebook
• Careers Portal Pages
• Careers Blog (WordPress – accessible to ex-students and parents).
• Careers Newsletter, produced weekly (also available to parents).
• Careers Twitter Feed
• Careers Noticeboard
• Verbal information given during student meetings where appropriate
• Outside speakers including Universities, Employers and relevant organisation
• Directly from the Careers Staff

Careers Advice and Guidance:

All students should be able to access 1-2-1 advice and guidance in person or virtually through the following channels whilst at St. Clare’s:

• With the Head of Careers or Careers and/or Higher Education Adviser at daily drop in sessions advertised on the portal and on the careers noticeboard or by booking an appointment on the portal or via their Team Space.
• With Personal Tutors who discuss progress, self-evaluation and goals.
• With the Vice Principal Academic or the Assistant Principal Academic who discusses subject choices with regard to career aspirations and ability.
• With the Vice Principal Pastoral or the Assistant Principal Pastoral who discusses motivation, progress and outcomes.
• With boarding staff who are ‘in loco parentis’ and discuss all related issues.

Support for University Applications

All students should be able to access support for the University Applications Process including:

• Advice and guidance from a qualified practitioner to support students to make the most competitive applications possible in terms of University Choices, Course Choices and ensuring that the student has a realistic range of Reach, Match and Safe choices.
• Support and feedback to enable students to produce Personal Statements, Motivational Letters, CV’s and College Essays that support their applications to the best of their own ability.
• Provision of supporting factual documentation such as Transcripts, Predicted Grades and Attendance Certificates directly to institutions, or if appropriate to the student. For the protection of our students, we are unable to send official documents to 3rd parties or agents.
• Provision of references, letters of recommendation and any other qualitative documentation required by universities as per the requirements of the relevant application system or individual institution.

o Recommendations and References will be submitted directly to the institution where possible, only if this is not possible will they be given directly to a student and only if this complies with the institution’s procedures. We are unable to send recommendations to 3rd party agents.
o All students applying via UCAS for UK institutions will be required to check their reference and predicted grades prior to their application being submitted to Universities. They will be given the opportunity to change any factual inaccuracies, they are not able to ask for the professional judgement of their teachers to be changed. This must be done by students reading their reference on the UCAS reference screen with the Head of Careers or Careers and Higher Education Adviser.
o All students applying through the Common App System for the USA will only be able to read teacher recommendations and/or the Counsellors recommendation if they indicate on their Common App that they do not wish to waive their right. If they do not waive their right and wish to check it they must do so by reading their recommendations with the Head of Careers or Careers and Higher Education Adviser. They will be given the opportunity to change any factual inaccuracies, they are not able to ask for the professional judgement of their teachers to be changed.
o For all other countries’ students will be given the opportunity to check their reference on screen before they are submitted if this complies with the university’s own procedure. Where the procedure requires these documents to be kept confidential, we will ensure this is adhered to.

• Support throughout the year to make decisions on confirmation of offers, enrolments and withdrawals as appropriate to the countries / systems they are applying through.

• Support to provide any documentation required by universities post results to ensure confirmation of places.

Management, Planning and Delivery

Management

1. The Careers Programme is managed by the Head of Careers (HoC) (139 Banbury Road) and is supported by the Careers and Higher Education Adviser and the Careers Administrator.

2. The Head of Careers also manages the Oxbridge and Medic Tutors (OMT) to provide the non – compulsory additional support for students aspiring to apply for these courses.

Planning

1. The Head of Careers works with the Assistant Principal Pastoral to ensure the delivery of all compulsory elements of careers education within the PSHE Programme. This is detailed in the Careers Education Plan and PSHE Scheme of Work.

2. Alongside the Careers Policy there is a Careers Development Plan, incorporating the service standards which is reviewed twice annually and a Careers Education Plan.

Delivery

As well as the HoC, OMT’s and CHEA a variety of staff across the college play a part in delivering the Careers Programme to students including:

• Tutors – When conducting their weekly 1-2-1’s with students.
• Boarding Staff – When discussing any related topic with students.
• Library Staff – Liaison with the CHEA with regard the Careers Library.
• Teachers – When delivering PSHE sessions with Careers Education Content.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Review and Development

Monitoring

1. The HoC and CHEA to keep detailed records of all 1-2-1 student interactions.
2. The HoC/CHEA/CA to keep a record of student engagement with extra-curricular careers activities.
3. The HoC and CHEA to communicate student activities to tutors through the Careers Notes on the UnitE student profile, enabling tutors to have continuing discussions with students.
4. The HoC to ensure that the Careers Education Plan and Schemes of Work are delivered.

Evaluation

Regular evaluation of the Careers and Higher Education service is to be undertaken throughout the year by the HoC and utilised in the Review and Development Process. Methods of evaluation could include as appropriate:

• Student feedback questionnaires.
• Student Focus Groups.
• Discussion at Personal Tutor Meetings.
• Discussion at Teachers Meetings.
• Discussion at ASG.
• Statistical analysis of destinations.

Review and Development

The Careers and HE Policy is to be reviewed by the HoC annually each August alongside the following documents:

• The Careers Education Plan
• The Careers Scheme of Work
• The Careers Development Plan

This review is to be done in consultation with the Vice Principal Academic and the Vice Principal Pastoral.

The careers programme at St. Clare’s will make use of a model of continuous improvement with evaluation information feeding into the Careers Development Plan.

Record of Review

Reviewed September 2015 by MM, HoC Banbury Road.
Reviewed August 2016 by MM, HoC Banbury Road
Reviewed August 2017 by MM, HoC Banbury Road
Reviewed August 2018 by MM, HoC St. Clare’s
Reviewed August 2019 by MM, HoC St. Clare’s
Reviewed July 2020 by MM, HoC St. Clare’s