Careers & Talking Futures
At West Exe School, we aim to empower all students with ambition. Students will engage in a wide range of opportunities as part of our Careers Programme and this supports them to develop confidence ‘talking futures’ and making informed decisions about their best next steps.
Bringing Careers and the possibilities available to students to life is a huge community effort. We work closely with Exeter College and other education providers, local businesses and other agencies to develop the best possible offer for our students.
Careers provision at West Exe is embedded across the curriculum. We have now secured 100% on all of the Gatsby Benchmarks, a framework supporting schools to deliver quality careers education, information, advice and guidance. Our key aims and objectives for each year group throughout our Programme are summarised in the table below;
|
Aims and Objectives |
|
|
Year 7 |
Inspire students to develop aspirations and self-belief to pursue the career of their dreams. |
|
Year 8 |
Prepare students to make informed curriculum choices by providing information about specific career pathways linked to options. |
|
Year 9 |
Develop students’ employability and career management skills. Students are gaining an understanding of how their education journey and the autonomy they will have to make decisions. |
|
Year 10 |
Identifying the pathways available to them empowers students to explore the direction they would like to take their future in. |
|
Year 11 |
Apply - students are supported to make informed post-16 option choices grounded in the knowledge of post-18 pathways and the world of work. |
1 -1 Careers Guidance Interviews
Students all have a 1-1 Careers Guidance Interview during school
time with either Maria Masters (Independent Registered Careers Adviser) or Thea Backhouse (Exeter College Adviser).
Disadvantaged students are provided with at least 2 career appointments and their applications are supported and prioritised. This is also the case with SEND students who receive 3 appointments and the same support. If you think your son or daughter may find the transition to post 16 more difficult, then please contact Maria as she can offer additional support.
For more information and signposting to additional resources, please read on.
Information for students
Your time in education will propel you into your future. This can seem daunting at times, but we are not suggesting you need to know the exact pathway you want to take. The Talking Futures Programme will provide you with opportunities to explore what options and careers are out there and support you to develop some all-important employability skills.
There are 8 key employability skills. As you can see all of these employability skills link perfectly with our student attributes. By working hard to embody those attributes you will become someone who employers want to snap up.
To explore up to date information about the labour market, complete personalised quizzes and to explore the range of courses and jobs available in the future log on to CareerPilot.
Information for parents
Supporting your child to think about their future is an exciting prospect. They have so many doors open to them and the huge range of possibilities can feel overwhelming at times.
We will share resources with you at timely points to offer support on how to support your child at key times and also to provide important information.
Here are some useful websites you may which to take a look at;
And here are some useful documents which may be useful at different points;
https://www.westexe.devon.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=189&type=pdf
https://www.westexe.devon.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=175&type=pdf
https://www.westexe.devon.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=202&type=pdf
https://www.westexe.devon.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=212&type=pdf
For more information about the events and opportunities your child will experience during their time with us, take a look at our policy here (https://www.westexe.devon.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=216&type=pdf).
Information for employers and local businesses
To help students see the exciting range of possible jobs available to them, the range of employers working locally and nationally and to cultivate their ambition, we need your help.
As a local business or organisation there are a number of ways you can get involved in inspiring young people and we are open to new ideas and suggestions. By sharing your experiences, knowledge and advice through one or more of our careers activities you will offer invaluable insight into your role, business and industry. We can tailor the session type and activities to suit your availability and preferences.
Current opportunities for involvement are detailed below:
- Developing a meaningful link with a specific department to form a curriculum link. These activities offer our students a snapshot of jobs directly linked to the skills or content they are currently learning about in their lessons. This could be in the form of a written job profile or a short pre-recorded video that can be used in lessons to encourage discussion about your role or industry, and the skills or attributes that are required to be successful.
- Employer Encounter Sessions - Our employer encounter sessions offer our students a more in depth look at what it’s like to work in a particular role or industry. These longer sessions provide the opportunity for students to learn about multiple jobs in a business or sector through short talks or videos or participate in a Q&A session investigating one particular role in more detail.
- Work Experience - In Year 10 our students get the opportunity to head out into the world of work and join businesses and organisations for a week. They can ‘test drive’ a potential job by engaging with the activities and responsibilities within their placement organisation.
- The Talking Futures Fayre – In the summer term each year we host a Fayre that students rotate through over the course of a morning. At the fayre we aim to have employers from a wide range of sectors represented and your involvement would help strengthen that further.
If you are keen to get involved and would like a further conversation about collaboration please email; [email protected]
Information for other education providers
We are keen to work with as many varied education providers as possible. We have a number of providers who join us regularly at a range of events throughout the year from parents’ events and the Talking Futures Fayre to presenting one-off assemblies.
If you would like more information about any upcoming dates or a further conversation about how we can collaborate, please email; [email protected]
To view our full Provider Access Policy, please take a look at our policy here (https://www.westexe.devon.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=216&type=pdf).
Useful Contacts
Maria Masters (Independent Registered Careers Adviser)
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01392 660100
Thea Harvey Backhouse (Exeter College Adviser)
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01392 400600
Ben Lias (Careers Lead)
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01392 660100