Careers
Aim high as nothing is impossible!
The careers and guidance programme at the Holmesdale School has been designed to provide all students with the guidance, information and advice they require, in order to help them become empowered to make the right decisions for the future. It will also help them to develop the skills they need in order to be successful in an ever-changing ‘world of work’.
Future pathways are becoming ever increasingly complex and the multitude of different routes can make decision-making for Year 11 and Year 13 students stressful and complex. It is more important than ever that we prepare our students to be resilient, possess many transferable skills, be better informed of trends, labour market information and become as future pandemic proofed as possible.
There is a focus at Holmesdale on making students aware and raising aspirations through independent and impartial careers guidance support with staff who care about all student wellbeing and progression. We want all students to aim high as nothing is impossible!
We demonstrate a responsive and proactive approach to individual needs and concerns. All students at Holmesdale irrespective of background have access to independent and impartial careers guidance and support, with all year 11 and 13 students given a mandatory 121 careers guidance session with Ms Stradiotto, which all parents are also invited to attend. All students who attend a careers session will leave with an individual Action Plan with notes from the session as well as actions to complete. There is no limit on how many sessions a student can access and we offer additional sessions for our SEN students.
At Holmesdale all students due a EHCP review regardless of age will be seen for a careers session to support. We also offer smaller more targetted Careers related workshops in collaboration with partners for our SEND students throughout their time with us at Holmesdale.
In Year 10 (Spring Term) and Year 12 (Summer Term) students are offered the opportunity to complete work experience with an employer, this will need to be planned and vetted in advance. This will offer a valuable insight into the work place and an understanding of the skills and qualities that are important. There is a short work booklet to complete with feedback from the person in charge and this can be really useful when applying for work and future opportunities. We offer support for all students in accessing work experience placements and work closely with our SEN students to ensure they are comfortable and prepared for this milestone in their academic career.
Assessing the effectiveness of CEIAG is collated via student feedback (both verbal and in writing) through destination evaluation i.e. positive progression into employment, education and training (EET) and via internal reviews, using a comprehensive, integrated approach.