Our careers programme

At Ark Boulton Academy, we are committed to preparing all pupils to achieve our Academy mission of ensuring that all pupils go to university, a high-level apprenticeship, or a career of their choice. Our careers programme is designed to support all students in achieving this mission. We act impartially to promote the full range of technical education and apprenticeships. Allowing colleges and training providers access to every student.

Students are taught explicitly about careers, and they are provided a diverse range of experience from year 7-11. This includes the use of our Unifrog platform, encounters with employers and employees, experiences of the workplace and encounters with further and higher education. In addition to this all year 11 students receive guidance from a qualifies careers advisor.

At Ark Boulton Academy we measure the impact of our careers provision through three main key indicators.

At the transition of our students from year 9 to year 10. We support students to make well-informed decisions on the GCSE options that they will study in years 10 and 11.

As student prepare for post 16 we prepare students to make appropriate choices based on their future aspirations and whether students have selected good or outstanding providers.

We use compass plus to monitor and adapt our careers programme to ensure it is balanced and providing pupils with diverse opportunities.

We use the Gatsby Benchmarks to regularly review our careers provision:

1. A stable careers programme 
2. Learning from career and labour market information 
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil 
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers 
5. Encounters with employers and employees 
6. Experiences of workplaces 
7. Encounters with further and higher education 
8. Personal guidance 

Birmingham careers service: https://www.birminghamcareersservice.co.uk/

Careers and enterprise company: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/

Ahead partnership: https://www.aheadpartnership.org.uk/

UniFrog: https://www.unifrog.org/

Amazing Apprenticeships: https://amazingapprenticeships.com/

Pathway CMT: https://pathwayctm.com/

All students have access to the Unifrog destinations platform, this is used in personal development lessons to support our careers programme. Alongside this student have their own individual log in so that they can explore careers information outside of the classroom. Parent can also have a login. For further information about how to use Unifrog please contact Miss L. Crutchley.

Year 11 transition to post 16 transition

All students are provided ongoing information about applying to college, this is underpinned by visits from local providers who share information about courses and training routes.

More information can be found about some of our local providers from their websites.

Joseph Chamberlain: https://www.jcc.ac.uk/

Solihull Sixth Form College: https://www.solihullsfc.ac.uk/

St Albans Sixth Form: https://arkstalbans.org/sixth-form/courses

Solihull College and University Centre: https://www.solihull.ac.uk/

Birmingham Metropolitan College: https://www.bmet.ac.uk/

Aston University Engineering Academy: https://auea.co.uk/sixth-form/courses

Supporting SEND students through the careers provision.

All SEND student are provided with early careers advice from Birmingham careers service starting in year 9 ahead of selecting their GCSE options, this continues into year 10 and 11 to ensure that they are aware of all their options and fully supported through the process of applying for college.

All careers information is updated termly and reviewed yearly. Next review September 2023.