Careers and Aspirations
Welcome to the AGFS 'Careers and Aspirations' page. The following information is designed to help you and your child understand the journey each scholar will follow during their time here at AGFS.
Our Career & Aspirations journey details our intent, implementation and impact that the careers programme at AGFS has on our scholars, along with how we use Labour Market Information to ensure scholars make informed decisions regarding their career pathway.
Parents, carers and scholars can also find additional information, support and resources pertaining to careers in the Resources Section within this page.
Additional information, specific to each year group, can be found by selecting one of the appropriate tiles below.
Intent
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 the pathway that is right for them. Our careers programme should enable pupils to:
- Be more self-aware of their skills, aptitudes, values, aspirations and potential
- Have a better understanding of education, training and future career opportunities both within the UK and abroad
- Make informed choices about their own continuing education, training and future career paths
- Develop career management skills of self-reliance, adaptability, flexibility, decision making and problem solving
At AGFS we are proud to provide our scholars with much more than just brilliant teaching. Our extensive co-curricular programme ensures that scholars receive a well-rounded education where life enriching opportunities are experienced and important personal skills are nurtured. The co-curricular programme provides a range of opportunities beyond the classroom including, but not exclusive to, timetabled weekly enrichment sessions, twelve full drop down days per year, sporting activities, elite dance workshops, music concerts, school shows, excursions to undertake outdoor and adventurous activities, university trips and careers events. Our extensive student leadership and community volunteering projects in local primary schools and care homes form an important aspect of this programme.
Implementation
At AGFS our Careers Education Programme is an integral part of the preparation of scholars for the opportunities and experiences of adult life. Its central concern is equipping scholars to manage the choices, changes and transitions affecting their future education, training, employment and life as adult members of an international society and to instil the notion of life-long learning. The opportunity to empower young people, regardless of socio-economic background, to grow and be successful is at the heart of everything we do at AGFS. Our values of ambition, growth, fellowship and scholarship permeate all school life.
“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it but that it is too low and we reach it.”
Ark Greenwich Free School uses the Gatsby Benchmarks as a guide to plan our Pathways and Enrichment programme. As part of our commitment to informing our scholars 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 scholars.
Ark Greenwich Free School also proactively seeks to build relationships with these partners as we plan our Pathways and Enrichment activities throughout the school year to ensure that providers have multiple opportunities to speak to scholars and their parents across Years 7-11, to offer information on vocational, technical and apprenticeship qualifications and pathways. Ark Greenwich Free School ensures that school 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 Continued Professional Development.
Opportunities for providers to speak with scholars may include school assemblies, employer and provider engagement events or opportunities to speak with scholars and parents on a one-to-one basis supporting GCSE, Post-16 or Post-18 option choices. Ark Greenwich Free School's Pathways and Enrichment programme is monitored for quality and impact by the school's Senior Leadership and Governance Teams and monitoring of access to and opportunities to engage with, technical, vocational and training providers will form part of this process.
In the first instance, requests by providers should be sent to the Academy’s Pathways Lead, Ms Reddy at sreddy@arkgreenwich.org, with a minimum of six weeks’ lead time. All requests will be considered on the basis of: staffing availability to support the activity, clashes with other planned activities, trips or visits to the school, interruption to preparation for examinations or rooming and space availability to host the activity.
For questions on this or Ark Greenwich Free School's wider Pathways and Enrichment programme, please contact the Academy’s Pathways Lead, Su Reddy.
Impact
The school is committed to providing a planned programme of careers education, information, advice and guidance for all scholars in Years 7-11 lead by our Careers Advisor. Every year we create multiple opportunities for guest speakers, trips to careers events, in-house Careers Fairs and drop down days tailored to support our scholars in planning for their career ahead. We are committed to holding 1:1 or small group interviews for every scholar from Year 9-11 to discuss and advise on their planning towards their chosen career journey.
AGFS will review the success and impact of the careers programme annually. We measure the impact of our careers offer through the annual scholar and parent stakeholder surveys (December and May) and Post-16 destinations. Throughout the year, the careers programme is reviewed through student voice panels both teacher and scholar led.
Employer Encounters
Throughout each academic year, scholars at AGFS have the fantastic opportunity to work alongside or engage with a variety of employers such as Goldsmiths University, GlaxoSmithKline, Barclays Skills for Life, 8 Billion Ideas, ICT Faraday Engineer, Imperial College London and JP Morgan to name just a few, to help broaden scholars' horizons and career aspirations. These occur during Drop Down Days, Enrichment Programme, Careers Fairs, assemblies, STEAM and organised trips. A full list of employer encounters AGFS works with can be found here.
LMI - What is Labour Market Information?
Labour Market Information, also known as LMI, can help you make a good decision when you want to change jobs or move to a new place. It can help you find out what the labour market is like for that job or that city. For example, if you are a machinist and you move to a town with no factories, you will have a hard time finding a job. Looking at labour market information before can help you make good decisions for your career aspirations.
Career and Labour Market Information (LMI) includes information on:
- skills, career pathways and progression routes in the local labour market
- job applications and interviews
- educational institutions, courses, qualifications, entry requirements and costs
- professional bodies
- employment sectors, employers, jobs, salaries and employment trends
- jobs, training and apprenticeships
- job demands and working life
- financial planning
A labour market is a mechanism that matches potential employers of people (the demand for labour) with people who are available for work (the labour supply). Labour markets operate at local, regional, national and, increasingly, at international levels, reflecting how economies operate. "It is vital, in an environment where new industries are emerging and many of the most important jobs of the future don’t yet exist, that individuals have access to high-quality labour market information and earnings data to underpin their choices." - Anne Milton, MP
Where can I find LMI information?
With so many places to find LMI information AGFS has sourced below a useful LMI tool plus some helpful websites for you to research career trends.
Use the widgets below to compare your top career interests. Just type in the job you're interested in, and see the comparisons between them.
How to get career confident
At AGFS we actively encourage our scholars to be career confident in their choices and the different pathways they could follow once they complete their educational pathway. This means they:
- have researched their career pathway
- plan what they have to do to achieve their career
- know the different qualifications they need and know if they need to continue their education post 18 at university
For further support, scholars, parents and carers you can view the information below using the links below:
Statutory Requirements and Recommendations
The careers provision at AGFS is in line with the Statutory Guidance developed by the Department for Education, which refers to Section 42A, 42B and 45A of the Education Act 1997 and Section 72 of the Education and Skills Act 2008. This states that all schools should provide independent careers guidance from Years 8 -13 and that this guidance should:
• be impartial
• include information on a range of pathways, including university options or apprenticeships
• be adapted to the needs of the scholar
In addition, the school is compliant with the careers guidance that the government set out for delivery from 5 January 2018: ‘Careers guidance and access for education and training providers’ as well as ‘Careers Guidance and Inspiration for young people in schools.’ This states that all academies must give education and training providers the opportunity to talk to scholars about approved technical qualifications and apprenticeships. The guidance details instruction that scholars from Year 7 should have an encounter with an employer.
Website Disclaimer – Scholars, parents and carers are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of Ark Greenwich Free School or the Ark Academy Trust. We have no control over the nature, content and availability of these sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply endorsement of the views expressed within them or a recommendation to sign up with them.
