Career Pathways - Advice and Guidance for students and parents

At Nova Hreod Academy we are committed to ensuring that all our students in years 7 to 11 have high quality impartial advice on career opportunities, and that they progress onto appropriate courses or employment on leaving the school. It is very important to us to know that all leavers have a plan for their next step.

We support our students in making well-informed decisions by providing access to differentiated, impartial and independent information and guidance about the range of options (including academic, vocational, apprenticeships and traineeships) that are most likely to help them to achieve their ambitions. We believe that giving students the best careers education and guidance is vital to improving their motivation to learn and help them to achieve.

All students will be entitled to a Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) programme that:

provides good quality independent careers advice to students which inspires them and motivates them to fulfil their potential;
provides personal advice and guidance which is in the best interests of, and meets the needs of, all students;
is based on the Gatsby Benchmarks for Good Careers Guidance;
contributes to the raising of student achievement by encouraging students to develop high aspirations and consider a broad and ambitious range of careers;
provides opportunities to work in partnership with employers, apprenticeship and training providers, local colleges. Sixth forms and others;
provides opportunities to inspire students through real-life contact with the world of work;
develops enterprise and employability skills including skills for self-employment;
supports inclusion, challenges stereotyping and promotes equality of opportunity;
encourages students to see career development as a life-long process;
develops students’ skills and knowledge of careers including career management skills and knowledge of the local labour market (LMI);
ensures students are aware of the full range of academic and technical routes available at each transition point so that students have the necessary knowledge to make successful transitions;
provides opportunities for meaningful encounters with employees, employers, further and higher education, our alumni and experience of workplaces;
supports social mobility by improving opportunities for all students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special educational needs and disabilities and
is weaved and embedded into subjects across the curriculum (including PHSE) (Gatsby benchmark 4)

Our careers programme is supported by our Senior Leadership Team with Mrs Green as the Careers Lead and Mrs Gawthorn Careers Officer, NovaCareers@novahreodacademy.org.uk 01793 549112. The programme is also supported by the Board of Governors and is reviewed bi-annually. Our careers education and guidance policy can be found here. All advice provided is impartial and in the students’ best interest. You can find our Provider Access Statement here.

Online Careers Advice and Guidance

For students

	Plan your study & work. Your choices at 14, 16 and 18, expolore different job sectors and how you can study and work at the same time - even to university level.
	icould has a range of video clips showing real peoples talking about their jobs and careers.
	LifeSkills, created with Barclays, is a free, curriculum-linked programme developed with teachers to help improve the skills and employability of young people in the U.K.
	Please click here for further information. Click here to go to United Learning College Sixth Form page >>
	The Unifrog platform helps students with the whole progression process - from exploring their interests, to recording the great things they've done, to finding education and training opportunities, to drafting their applications. Click here to go to the unifrog website https://www.unifrog.org/

For parents

	How much does it cost for my child to go to university? To find out more please click here.
	Careermag for parents
	Helping your child search and apply for Apprenticeships
	Parents Guide to Green Careers

Gatsby have produced some videos to demonstrate that you don’t need to be careers experts to get involved in your child’s career decision making. The following videos help to support you in your parental engagement activities.

Please click <<here>> to hear from Olympic champion Becky Adlington’s mum

Please click <<here>> to hear from Croydon-based mother of JLS band member JB Gill

Please click <<here>> to hear from parents of ‘Essex Barrister’ Alexandra Wilson

Please click <<here>> for an overview video from parents of people at the top of their field highlighting to parents, carers and guardians the influence they can have by regularly talking to their teenagers about their future

Gatsby Benchmarks

The 8 benchmarks are a framework for good career guidance and developed to support secondary schools and colleges in providing students with the best possible careers education, information, advice and guidance.

Where do people go after leaving Nova?

Destination Data for Year 11 Leavers 2023/24

%	Apprenticeships	FE College	UCSF	Other 6th Form	Employment or Training	Other	NEET

All leavers July 2024	4.80%	85.00%	3.00%	4.20%	1.20%	1.80*%
Girls	1.10%	93.40%	1.10%	2.20%	0.00%	2.20%
Boys	9.20%	75%	5.30%	6.60%	2.60%	1.30%
For comparison:-
All leavers July 2022	3.50%	75.50%	9.10%	5.60%	4.90%	1.40%
All leavers July 2021	0.70%	84.60%	1.30%	8.80%	2.00%	1.30%	1.30%

Partners and Support Organisations

The following partners support our CEIAG programme events:-

Arval, SSE plc, BMW Group, Study Higher, Bath and Reading Universities, NHS, Ask Apprenticeships, RAU, Education Business Partnership, the Police, Army and RAF.

We also have well established links with local FE colleges and training providers and work closely with the local Careers and Enterprise Company Careers Hub.

To see our STEM Partners page please click here.

Careers Curriculum Pathway (please click to open).

Parents/Carers

At Nova Hreod Academy, we work closely with parents and carers to support their children to make informed career choices. Parents and carers are encouraged to attend the careers events and curriculum electives and options evenings, and we always ensure that we provide communications via letter, EPraise etc for these events. Using our website, newsletters, EPraise, our Post 16 choices booklet etc we promote events, work experience, apprenticeship and other career related opportunities and information to students, parents and carers relating to a wide range of subjects, including local labour market information.

Parents and carers are always welcome to contact the Careers Team, NovaCareers@novahreodacademy.org.uk to seek advice and ask any questions they might have regarding careers pathways. You can also ring 01793 549112 between 9 am and 1 pm.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Nova Hreod Academy develop, monitor and evaluate CEAIG across the school on a regular basis.

Nova Hreod Academy’s progress towards achieving the Gatsby Benchmarks is evaluated using the online Compass tool (as recommended in Careers guidance and access for education and training providers Jan 2018). This will be carried out on an annual basis by the Senior Leadership Team. The CEIAG development plan is based upon the outcomes of the Compass audit.

Provision is also monitored through regular feedback from students, parents/carers, staff, governors and our partners. This feedback is collected through questionnaires, forms, verbal feedback etc. This is analysed by the Headteacher with actions fed back to staff. Key action points are also included in the annual school improvement plan.

External provision is monitored and evaluated through the school’s quality assurance procedures including observations, student/staff/parents & carers feedback at the end of each event. This is analysed by the Careers Team and Headteacher with actions fed back to staff and other relevant personnel. Key action points are also included in the school improvement plan.

The effectiveness of our careers guidance will be reflected in the higher numbers of students progressing to positive destinations such as apprenticeships, technical routes, sixth form colleges, further education colleges, 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. This is analysed by the Senior Leadership Team with key trends and actions fed back to Governors

The CEIAG policy is ratified by the Headteacher and Governors and reviewed bi-annually.