Careers Curriculum
The Careers Curriculum at Riverston School
Our in-house careers advisors are:
Miss Needham – nneedham@riverstonsachool.co.uk Year 7 to 10 Careers Advisor
Mr Raj – nrajaratnam@riverstonschool.co.uk Year 11 and Riverston College Careers Advisor
A young person’s career is the progress they make in learning and work. All young people need a planned programme of activities to help them choose 14-19 pathways that are right for them and to be able to manage their careers, learning and sustain employability throughout their lives.
Careers Education and Guidance (CEG) is an important component of the curriculum and at Riverston School, we fully support the statutory requirement for a programme of careers education from Years 7 – 14.
It is part of Riverston’s vision to provide pupils with a comprehensive programme of careers education, information, advice and guidance and to exceed its statutory duty to provide CEIAG from year 7 upwards. Taking into account the 2015 Ofsted report “The Wasted Years” this will enable pupils to develop the skills they will need to make well informed, realistic decisions and will empower pupils to access the high quality careers information and impartial guidance available from an in house guidance teacher as well as signposting towards the National Careers Service, and supporting to external events such as local authority careers and Skills UK.
For all Key Stage 3, 4 and 5 pupils, careers as a topic is delivered weekly as part of the Academic Skills section of the form time programme (on a half-termly rotation with Citizenship) and as dedicated weekly lessons for students in Year 9, 10, 11 and Riverston College. Pupils explore detailed and differentiated topics such as; ‘Who am I?’, ‘What kind of person am I?’, ‘My bright future’ etc. These topics are all taken from the highly comprehensive programme entitled ‘My Career and Personal Development’.
Below is an overview of the principle topics and goals per year group. At every level lessons are built around both personal and team work activities and are supported with visual step-by-step resources, differentiated according to needs and levels.
Year 7
Building self-awareness, establishing personal values, skills and learning styles, reflecting on personal role models. With this year group the primary goal is to begin to build reflective skills and establish interests and personal strengths as a foundation for future careers development, to ensure that they are ready for the more specific questions in Years 8 and 9.
Year 8
Investigating labour market information (LMI), understanding different aspects of job satisfaction, understanding common job roles and further investigation of personal values.
Year 9
Valuing equality and diversity, learning about safe working practices, understanding how to get the most out of careers information advice and guidance, developing employability skills, developing personal financial capability, applications and interviews, understanding the law in work, understanding the limits of stereotyping in the workplace and interview skills.
KS4 and Riverston College
Identify how to use personal networks and how it can help with their career search, Web based careers research skills, developing employability skills, developing team work skills, understanding customer awareness, identify enterprise skills, explore creative thinking, how to build different types of CV and cover letters, preparing for common interview questions.
Work experience and links with Further and Higher Education providers are established. For example, liaising with Hadlow College to support vocational training in animal management as well as the ASC inclusive specialist service Care Trade.
Careers Education and guidance (CEG) is an important component of the 14-19 Curriculum and at Riverston School, we fully support the statutory requirement for a programme of careers education in Years 7 – 14.
Pupils in Key Stage 5 also have the opportunity to gain qualifications in accredited courses preparing them for their chosen careers. We offer two such courses; the BTEC ‘Skills for Independence and Work’ course and ASDAN ‘Towards Independence’.
Barclays Life Skills and the National Autistic Society:
We use the Barclays Life Skills programme within our careers curriculum as it offers fantastic opportunities for careers support and cross-curricular lessons, where relevant content can be covered in PSHE, Citizenship, Literacy, Numeracy and ICT lessons. As an NAS accredited school, we are using the Barclays Life Skills programme as it is made in partnership with the NAS and offers a wide range of Autistic friendly, differentiated and adapted resources and opportunities. We have been particularly excited to implement their ‘virtual work experience’ programme with many of our pupils.
Morrisby Careers:
We have subscribed to this excellent virtual careers programme, creating lifetime accounts for every one of our pupils, in order to help them each chart their progress towards their future careers. The resources and ‘careers tracking’ facility forms a large part of our careers provision, in both form time sessions and 1:1 careers support discussions.
Careers Advice and Provision for Pupils at Riverston School:
Weekly Careers education sessions (on a half-termly rotation with Citizenship), within the Form Time programme. Years 9-14 also have dedicated, weekly Careers lessons as part of their timetable. Key Stage 5 also have the option to join a weekly ‘University Skills’ Enrichment club as part of our Enrichment programme.
Careers guidance activities.
Information and presentation activities from a range of external speakers.
Support to make contact with local employers.
An ongoing relationship with a local care home, Leah Lodge, which has provided work experience opportunities as well as a variety of industry contacts.
Speech and Language support to build communication and life skills through activities such as role play and social stories.
Mock interview activities.
Visits to post 16 providers, including but not limited to apprenticeship schemes and autism specific support services.
Guidance and information given at 16 plus and Year 9 pathways meetings for parents and carers.
Wider life skills support through the curriculum and in form time.
A post 16 Careers and Options Open Evening for parents and pupils to discuss employment, further/higher education options and receive relevant information related to apprenticeships, personal statements and the UCAS process.
A dedicated ‘Careers Week’ in the spring term.
Work experience, including the opportunity for our most anxious pupils to complete a virtual work experience placement.
