Providing the highest quality careers information, education, advice, and guidance is central to our vision at Oakwood Academy. We are dedicated to ensuring that every student is equipped with the skills, knowledge, and qualifications needed to pursue a fulfilling career.
Our careers programme begins in Key Stage 3, where we start exploring options and raising aspirations in partnership with a wide range of post-16 and post-18 providers, as well as careers educators. Aligned with the Gatsby Benchmarks, our approach ensures that students receive high-quality guidance and real-world experiences to support their journey.
All young people are required by law to continue in education or training until they are 18, and we are committed to helping them progress to the most suitable post-16 pathway—whether that’s sixth form, further education college, an apprenticeship, or a traineeship.
Careers education is embedded within the curriculum to help students develop essential employability skills and prepare for their future. In Key Stage 3, students work towards the ASDAN Personal Development qualification, which builds confidence, independence, and resilience. In Key Stage 4, students engage in the ASDAN Experiencing Careers in the Workplace programme, which provides valuable insights into different industries and career pathways.
We offer a carefully tailored careers programme for every year group, incorporating careers education in lessons, visits to colleges, employer engagement days, and careers fairs. Our strategy is designed to develop core employability skills, including problem-solving, communication, and enterprise, ensuring students are well-prepared for the future.
At Oakwood Academy, we take great pride in supporting students post-16, ensuring they move on to the right destination and succeed in their chosen pathways.
This year we have expanded our Senior Leadership to support the development and offering of Careers at Oakwood, with Miss Mannion taking the lead on this. As part of our offering she has brought in a specialist Careers advisor through Career Connect. Lee Ashton comes in every Monday to meet with pupils on a 1:1 and small group basis. Together we are passionate about providing students with meaningful experiences that inspire ambition and confidence. Together we are supporting our pupils to Achieve, Believe and Succeed.
Every young person needs high quality careers guidance to make informed decisions about their future. Oakwood Academy strive to raise the aspirations of our students and take advantage of the opportunities available to them.
All students in Oakwood Academy will access a robust careers education programme that follows the Gatsby Benchmarks – a national standard of good practice - which was graded Outstanding by Ofsted in November 2017. The benchmarks are:
Career education is also taught through our Personal Development Curriculum. More information about what pupils study in each Year group can be found on our Personal Development Curriculum Map.
We aim to bring in employers and partners that support careers education with an annual Careers Convention for students and parents and Careers Enrichment activities throughout the year.
We aim to prepare all of our students to make a positive contribution to their community through paid work or long term, sustainable volunteering. Every student who attends Oakwood 6th Form will access work experience, with support if necessary, and many students will access their own independent weekly work placement while attending 6th Form. We have a large database of employers in childcare, administration, retail, sport, animal care, hospitality and leisure industries to support our students.
The Baker Clause stipulates that schools must allow colleges and training providers access to every student in Years 8 to 13 to inform them about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships. At Oakwood Academy, we actively encourage this and are fully compliant with the Statutory guidance for schools set by the Department for Education (DfE).
Students in their third year in 6th Form will have the option of moving on to our Supported Internship programme. They access work placements related to their career aims for 3 or 4 days per week with the aim to move in to paid employment at the end of their Internship.
If you would like more information regarding the school careers education programme, please email Miss Mannion at smannion@oakwoodacademy.co.uk or Mr D O'Sullivan at dosullivan@oakwoodacademy.co.uk
The careers and employability programme here at Oakwood Academy consists of a range of activities in the following areas:
Careers Education: Planned programmes in the curriculum giving students knowledge and skills to help them to plan and manage their own career.
Career Information: Including qualifications, skills, occupations, labour market information (LMI), pathways and progression routes.
Careers Advice and Guidance: Independent and impartial careers advice and guidance provided by qualified careers advisors.
Work Related Learning: Experiences within and outside the curriculum to help students learn about specific careers and work place behaviours.
The programme ensures coverage of the Gatsby Benchmarks and the CDI framework.
| Benchmark |
Requirement |
| A stable Careers Programme | Every school and college should have an embedded programme of career education and guidance that is known and understood by students, parents, teachers, governors and employers |
| Learning from career and labour market information | Every student, and their parents, should have access to good quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities. They will need the support of an informed adviser to make best use of available information. |
| Addressing the needs of each pupil. | Students have different career guidance needs at different stages. Opportunities for advice and support need to be tailored to the needs of each pupil. A school’s careers programme should embed equality and diversity considerations throughout. |
| Linking curriculum to careers | All teachers should link curriculum learning with careers. STEM subject teachers should highlight the relevance of STEM subjects for a wide range of future career paths |
| Encounters with employers and employees | Every pupil should have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace. This can be through a range of enrichment activities including visiting speakers, mentoring and enterprise schemes. |
| Experience of work places | Every pupil should have first-hand experiences of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing and/or work experience to help their exploration of career opportunities, and expand their networks. |
| Encounters of further and higher education | All pupils should understand the full range of learning opportunities that are available to them. This includes both academic and vocational routes and learning in schools, colleges, universities and in the workplace |
| Personal guidance | Every pupil should have opportunities for guidance interviews with a career adviser, who could be internal (a member of school staff) or external, provided they are trained to an appropriate level. These should be available whenever significant study or career choices are being made. They should be expected for all pupils but should be timed to meet their individual needs. |
