Gatsby Clause Statement
Ark Boulton Academy uses the Gatsby Benchmarks as a guide to plan our Pathways and Careers programme. As part of our commitment to informing our students of the full range of learning and training pathways on offer to them, we are happy to consider requests from training, apprenticeship and vocational education providers to speak to students.
Ark Boulton Academy also proactively seek to build relationships with these partners as we plan our Pathways and Careers activity throughout the school year to ensure that providers have multiple opportunities to speak to students and their parents across years 7-11, to offer information on vocational, technical and apprenticeship qualifications and pathways. Ark Boulton Academy ensures that Academy staff involved in personal guidance and pastoral support are up to date on their knowledge of these post 16 and post 18 pathways, through a programme of Continuing Professional Development.
Opportunities for providers to speak with students may include school assemblies, employer and provider engagement events or opportunities to speak with students and parents on a one-to-one basis supporting GCSE, post 16 or post 18 option choices. Ark Boulton Academy’s Pathways and Careers programme is monitored for quality and impact by the Academy’s Senior Leadership and Governance Teams.
For questions relating to Ark Boulton Academy’s wider Pathways and Careers programme, please contact the Academy’s Pathways and Enrichment Leads:
Laura Crutchley [ l.crutchley@arkboutlon.org] Assistant Principal – Wider Oppportunities
Sally Gardner [s.gardner@arkboulton.org] – Teacher of English
How we measure and assess the impact of our pathways and careers programme:
At Ark Boulton we continually measure and assess the impact of our careers programme through regular monitoring of the quality of all elements of our careers programme including using student voice and termly questionnaires to analyse the quality of the activities we engage with. We aim to engage with our parents following each key activity and welcome their feedback. We work with local careers advice providers, universities and local employers to ensure our students receive a wide and varied programme so that they can go on to make well informed decisions that will lead to successfully applying to a university or apprenticeship of their choice.
Making Informed Decisions About Your Future Career
It might be daunting thinking about your future career, at this early age. However, it is never too early to begin exploring where your passion and interests may lead you! Below are a series of widgets that have been designed to help you explore possible careers and how your skills can support you in the future.
Careerometer
The Careerometer can be used to explore and compare key information about occupations, help you learn about different occupations and identify potential careers. It provides access to a selection of UK headline data relating to pay, weekly hours of work and future employment prospects for different occupations, as well as description of the occupation. Simply type in the title of the job you are interested in and the widget provides a series of options from which you can select the most relevant to you. You can then look up another two occupations and compare. You can also select ‘display the UK average’ and compare the information with the occupation you have selected.
Skillsometer
The Skillsometer can help you discover what jobs you might like to do in the future. You will be presented with a series of statements. Select the emoji shows how you feel about each statement. You will then be given suggestions of jobs linked to what you most enjoy doing. For each job, you will be presented with some headline UK data.
Labour Market Information for Greater Birmingham and Solihull
Between 2016 and 2030, Birmingham will see the largest growth in the following sectors and will result in extensive opportunities to gain training and employment in:
- Advanced manufacturing and Engineering
- Business, Professional and Financial Services (BPFS)
- Energy and Low Carbon
- Creative Industries
- Life Sciences and Healthcare
Policies and Information
Application for Provider Access
This document sets out the school’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to pupils at the school for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the school’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.
Pupil entitlement
All pupils in years 7-13 are entitled:
to find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point;
to hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options events, assemblies and group discussions and taster events;
to understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.
Management of provider access requests
Procedure
A provider wishing to request access should contact our Careers Lead Laura Crutchley
Telephone: 0121 7738156
Email : l.crutchley@arkboulton.org
Opportunities for access
The school offers a comprehensive Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance programme and an overview of this programme can be seen in the School’s Careers Charter which can be seen on the school website.
Please speak to our Careers Leads to identify the most suitable opportunity for you.
The school will make a suitable space available for discussions between the provider and students, as appropriate to the activity. The school will also make available ICT and other specialist equipment to support provider presentations. This will all be discussed and agreed in advance of the visit with the Careers Advisor or a member of their team.
Providers are welcome to leave a copy of their prospectus or other relevant course literature with the Careers Advisor so that they can be displayed in the Careers Section of the school library.
