Here at Kickstart Academy we look to create excitement and a buzz around our young people when looking at their future career paths. Our aim is to help them outline and execute a plan early in their time with us to ensure they have the opportunity to gain all of the qualifications needed as well as providing access to all the necessary guidance and information needed to achieve their goals. We also place a high level of importance on gaining work experience and look to increase the engagement of our young people’s support team outside of school in order to create a positive environment for them to grow.
At Kickstart Academy we value the importance of a thorough careers programme. We work closely with the local authority services to ensure that we provide the best opportunity for our young people to experience work and develop the skills in which to further themselves in the future with further study and employment. As a school we work towards the Gatsby Benchmarks and the appropriate level of careers programme that is applicable for our young people. If you require any further information about the careers programme please contact Kaylie-Marie Law the Careers Lead on kaylie-marie.law@telfordcollege.ac.uk
This policy statement sets out Kickstart Academy’s arrangements for managing the access of post-16 providers to all year groups, to enable students to make fully informed rational education and career pathway decisions.
We believe in building strong relationships with local schools with a sixth form, further education and sixth form colleges, apprenticeship providers, universities and employers. Our careers programme includes a large number of opportunities for external providers to talk to and interact with students and their parents, ensuring they are aware of vocational and technical pathways and opportunities as well as academic ones.
Continuing Professional Development is used to ensure careers advisers, tutors and other members of the pastoral team are up to date in their knowledge of the full range of post-16 opportunities available to students.
Provider Access Requests
Providers wishing to request access should contact Kaylie-Marie Law our Careers Leader.
Telephone: 01952 642402 or email kaylie-marie.law@telfordcollege.ac.uk
Opportunities for Access:
All providers are welcome to contact us to discuss how they would like to support and contribute to careers provision for our students. They may like to get involved in activities and events, such as: careers fairs, assemblies, careers information evenings, ‘I Love My Job’ talks, employer speed networking and mock interviews (this is a non exhausted list).
Please email kaylie-marie.law@telfordcollege.ac.uk to access our full careers programme, that identifies all careers events, activities and learning opportunities for each year group.
Any provider taking part in an existing careers event/activity or a new one will be supported by our teaching staff throughout their visit and not left unattended. We will discuss space requirements with providers and make available appropriate IT and other resources to support presentations.
Providers are welcome to leave copies of their prospectus or course literature and we will distribute them to appropriate students and make them available in our Careers Library. We can promote and distribute details of careers and apprenticeship literature and vacancies to all relevant students and parents through direct email, parent-mail or promotion in our weekly newsletter.
At Kickstart Academy we believe it is very important to assess the impact of our careers programme on our students. We do this in a number a of ways.
First, we identify and analyse the destinations of our Year 11 students taking into account their prior attainment. For Year 11 students, we record pathways including:
We consider analysis of sector based outcomes to ensure our advice is relevant to the jobs available and to ensure that we promote equality of opportunity.
The proportion of students going onto Level 1/2/3 courses or apprenticeships is tracked over time, taking into account changes in the attainment level of year groups at the end of Key Stage 2.
Second, we track students for three years from the end of Year 11, identifying and reviewing where students leave or change courses/apprenticeships.
Third, we are very keen to get the views of students on the Careers, Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) they received during their time at Kickstart Academy. We ask all Year 11 to complete an on-line survey to find out their views on individual elements of the CEIAG programme and their overall assessment of the programme. In addition, our local employers meet representative groups of Year 11 students to find out more about what they liked and disliked about the careers programme and ways they believe it can be improved.
Fourth, we value the views of parents on how well we have helped them to support their child or children make rational informed career decisions. This is done using an on-line survey and parents are invited to take part in an annual focus group meeting.
Fifth, business volunteers are asked for their feedback on each individual careers events that they take part in, such as ‘I Love My Job’ talks, a speed networking session or mock interviews. In addition, the school’s Careers Advisers evaluate the careers programme from a business viewpoint and collate the views of other business volunteers.
Please click on the following links to access the website for the training providers we use at Kickstart Academy.
Nova Training
Telford College
Future Focus
Landau
Prince’s Trust
Kickstart Academy: Provider Access Policy Statement (MARCH 2023)
Rationale
High quality careers education and guidance in school or college is critical to young people’s futures. It helps to prepare them for the workplace by providing a clear understanding of the world of work including the routes to jobs and careers that they might find engaging and rewarding. It supports them to acquire the self-development and career management skills they need to achieve positive employment destinations. This helps students to choose their pathways, improve their life opportunities and contribute to a productive and successful economy.
As the number of apprenticeships rises every year, it becomes increasingly important that all young people have a full understanding of all the options available to them post-16 and post-18 including wider technical education options such as T-Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications.
Commitment
Kickstart Academy is committed to ensuring there is an opportunity for a range of education and training providers to access students, for the purpose of informing them about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships. Kickstart Academy is fully aware of the responsibility to set students on the path that will secure the best outcome which will enable them to progress in education and work and give employers the highly skilled people they need. That means acting impartially, in line with the statutory duty, and not showing bias towards any route, be that academic or technical.
Kickstart Academy endeavours to ensure that all students are aware of all routes to higher skills and are able to access information on technical options and apprenticeships (The Department of Education, July 2021: “Baker Clause”: supporting students to understand the full range of education and training options, and the Provider Access Legislation, January 2023).
Aims
Kickstart Academy policy for Access to other education and training providers has the following aims:
Student Entitlement
Kickstart 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 put on at least 2 encounters with providers at Key Stage 4 of approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships. This will be done in assemblies in National Apprenticeship Week and National Careers Week, in addition to providers attending careers events at school or at each Trust school.
Development
This policy has been developed and is reviewed annually by the Careers Leader, Kaylie-Marie Law and Headteacher Mrs Rennie-Gibbons 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, Child Protection, 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. The Careers leader and Headteacher are 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 Kaylie-Marie Law, Careers Leader. Kaylie-Marie Law may be contacted by telephone or email.
Tel: 01952 642402
Email: Kaylie-marie.law@telfordcollege.ac.uk
Grounds for granting requests for access
Access will be given for providers to attend during school assemblies, timetabled Careers or Life lessons, and Careers or Raising Aspirations events that Kickstart Academy is arranging. Students may also travel to visit another provider as part of the trip to be organised in partnership with Kickstart Academy.
Details of premises or facilities to be provided to a person who is given access
Kickstart Academy will provide an appropriate room or assembly to be agreed. All rooms have computers, projectors and screens provided. Computer rooms can also be arranged. The Careers Leader or Careers Adviser will organise this, working closely with the provider to ensure the facilities are appropriate to the audience. Appropriate safeguarding checks will be carried out. Providers will be met and supervised by a member of the Careers Team who will facilitate.
Live/Virtual encounters
Kickstart Academy will consider live online encounters with providers where requested, and these may be broadcast into classrooms or the school assembly. 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 the Headteacher, Mrs Rennie-Gibbons.
Email: emma.rennie-gibbons@telfordcollege.ac.uk
Mrs Rennie-Gibbons will raise the complaint to Rachael Wilson, Vice Principal Telford College.
Monitoring review and evaluation
The Policy is monitored and evaluated annually the school’s leadership team.
Policy Coordinator: Kaylie-Marie Law
Policy Reviewed Date: March 2024
Appendix
Providers who have been invited into Kickstart Academy to date include:
Future Focus Telford
Telford College
Destinations of previous pupils from Kickstart Academy include:
Telford College
Nova Training
Landau Training
Stafford College
Shrewsbury
Your Future Focus career advisor is:
Karen Oldham
Future Focus Office Number: 01952 388988
Mobile: 07528969437
Email: Karen.Oldham@telford.gov.uk
Karen Oldham attends Kickstart Academy every Thursday to offer the students careers appointments, support in applying for college placements, apprenticeships or training providers.
As a student you can ask any member of staff in school and they will arrange for you to see me. You are also welcomed to drop me an email or give me a call.
Coming soon.
Take this quiz to find a suited job
Learn about 350 jobs in the NHS
Learn about job trends in the UK
How to get into different careers
Leading University information
List of all qualifications and levels
Personal statement writing guide
NEW INSPIRATION: You could be providing the single inspirational moment that changes the direction of a student’s life.
MOTIVATION: Students see that subjects are relevant to the real world and therefore why it’s important to study them.
There are a variety of educational routes available to students when they leave Kickstart Academy.
Currently being reviewed.
Students who have a vision of where they want to be in the future may find it easier to plan their next steps more easily. To help students and parents to get an idea of what types of jobs are out there we would suggest looking at a number of these websites:
At Kickstart Academy we are busy growing your employees of the future. We need your help to raise their career aspirations, develop their employability skills and learn more about the exciting industries in Telford & Wrekin.
Being part of our business support network will provide you moments of great satisfaction but striving to make a difference can also be an exciting challenge! Having employers like you helping to inspire young minds and transform attitudes through a range of activities and opportunities is the foundation of an excellent careers programme as set out by the Gatsby Foundation’s eight Benchmarks of good practice and the Careers and Enterprise Company.
By getting involved you will not only be supporting future workforce development and helping to broaden the minds of the young people but you will also be developing new skills for your staff,
forging community links and building a positive profile for your company.
We will support you throughout your visit to us to ensure we maximise the use of your valuable time. Our Careers Lead is Kaylie-Marie Law (kaylie-marie.law@telfordcollege.ac.uk) and they will:
With your permission add you to our network and keep you up to date with future activities.