Careers Education

Our impartial Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) commitment to our students

In keeping with our commitment to provide students with outstanding careers guidance and tailored support when choosing their next step after school, we will now be using Unifrog; an award-winning, online careers platform. All students in Years 7 through to Year 13 now have access to this excellent website.

Unifrog

The Unifrog platform is designed to support learners in making the most informed decisions about their futures and has a range of tools that are suitable for all year groups. Each student has their own personal account that provides a wide range of information related to their interests and aspirations. Key features of the platform include:

Exploring Pathways – personality quizzes, career and subject profiles, challenges called MOOCs and webinars
Recording – self-reflection about extracurricular activities and key employability skills
Opportunities – search tools showing live vacancies/courses/placements for apprenticeships, universities (in the UK and abroad), FE, virtual work experience and much more
Applications – tools to help students build applications for a range of pathways (e.g., CVs, Personal Statements, Common App Essays)

Students access the platform for the first time using a sign-up code which is unique to their year group. They login to Unifrog using their college email address and password and they can do so from any computer, tablet or smartphone. We would encourage you to use the platform with your child so you can support them through the process of deciding their next step.

We will then communicate special careers activities and events to students through Unifrog. These could include access to a virtual tour or access to a careers fayre, amongst many others.

The College also uses the services of a specialist education company called MPLOY to support us with our careers provision. They supply an independent careers advisor each week to have 1-1 careers interviews with our students, as well as supporting us with our work experience programmes.

We also have strong links with the Macc Pledge. Linked to the local Chamber of Commerce, the pledge works alongside local schools across Cheshire to ensure students do not leave school not in education, employment, or training (NEET). The Macc Pledge have helped us with visits to real businesses as well as organising careers fairs for our students. Our Year 10 visit the Macclesfield Careers Fayre annually in October with the last visit on 18 October 2023.

The Macc Pledge will help us deliver a KS3 Careers Event this year where our younger students will get the chance to meet real employers. They will also deliver their annual assembly to Year 10 students on alternatives to A'Levels, such as T'Levels and Apprenticeships.

LearnLive Careers Fayre

The Provider Access Policy for our college can be found on the link below:

Provider Access Policy

Baker Clause Policy Statement

As part of our commitment to informing our students 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 students. All Hallows Catholic College also proactively seeks to build relationships with these partners as we plan our Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) programme activity throughout the College year to ensure that providers have multiple opportunities to speak to students and their parents across Years 7-13.

The purpose of these relationships are to offer information on vocational, technical and apprenticeship qualifications and pathways. All Hallows Catholic College ensures that staff involved in personnel guidance and pastoral support are up to date on their knowledge of these post 16 and post 18 pathways, through a programme of Continuing Professional Development.

Opportunities for providers to speak with students may include assemblies, employer and provider engagement events or opportunities to speak with students and parents on a one-to-one basis supporting GCSE, post 16 or post 18 option choices. All Hallows Catholic College’s CEIAG programme is monitored for quality and impact by the College’s Senior Leadership Team and the Governing Body and monitoring of access to and opportunities to engage with, technical, vocational and training providers will form part of this process. This review will be held annually in October.

In the first instance, requests by providers should be sent to the College's member of the Senior Leadership Team with oversight of CEIAG (Mr M Blades, Assistant Principal) with a minimum of 6 weeks’ lead time. All requests will be considered on the basis of; staffing availability to support the activity, clashes with other planned activity, trips or visits to the College, interruption to preparation for examinations or rooming and space availability to host the activity. For questions on this or All Hallows Catholic College's wider CEIAG programme, please contact Mr M Blades at m.blades@allhallows.org.uk

This explains the entitlement of our students across all key stages regards CEIAG.

Please contact Mr Blades (KS3/4) and Mr Howells (KS5) for any more information.

The Link Governor for CEIAG at All Hallows Catholic College is Dr D Roberts.

Careers at All Hallows Catholic College

We aim to ensure the best possible outcomes for all of our students. We work proactively with Macclesfield Pledge, Unifrog, MPLOY Solutions, the Careers and Enterprise Company and others to build a careers program that empowers our young people to develop skills and confidence in their future, and informs them about relevant careers and pathways that work for them.

Our careers program is monitored termly against the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks (shown below). It is evaluated annually and updated using feedback from students, parents/carers, staff, and employers and our destinations data. We also gain feedback after specific events to ensure they have met our aims and to monitor impact.

The 8 Gatsby Benchmarks:

1. A stable careers programme

2. Learning from careers and labour market information

3. Addressing the needs of each student

4. Linking curriculum learning to careers

5. Encounters with employers and employees

6. Experiences of workplaces

7. Encounters with further and higher education

8. Personal guidance

Special Educational Needs

All students with an EHCP will receive additional support with accessing careers information and guidance. For more information about support your child is receiving, please contact our SENCO, Mr B Mercer at b.mercer@allhallows.org.uk

Provider Access

All Hallows Catholic College believes in giving Further Education Colleges, Sixth Forms, Higher Education and apprentice training providers the opportunity to talk to students at the school. In line with the Baker Clause, we will provide opportunities for students to meet with different providers at each key stage of their education. If you click on the Provider Access Policy link above it will outline examples of activities that will be done with students as they progress throughout the school.

Destinations Data

At All Hallows Catholic College we use the destinations of our students after they leave us to evaluate the effectiveness of our careers program. Destinations are frequently publicised on our website and includes universities, apprenticeships, and other local colleges. We identify students at risk of being NEET (not in employment, education and training) before they leave us and refer to experts at Cheshire East for their support with these students before and after they leave us.

Useful Links and Resources

Job Centre Support

National Apprenticeship Week - held each year in February

Find an apprenticeship - Find an apprenticeship - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

National Careers Service – Careers advice - job profiles, information and resources | National Careers Service - a comprehensive careers website with job profiles, outlining: the skills required, main tasks, pay levels and career prospects for hundreds of different jobs. In addition, it gives valuable guidance on the different stages involved in getting a job.

Cheshire and Warrington Job Opportunities Portal – Cheshire & Warrington Opportunities (candwopportunities.co.uk) - a portal with a range of information on local labour market information, including jobs, apprenticeships, and training providers

My Path Careers HOME | MYPATH Careers Resources (mypathcareersuk.com) - Information about a wide variety of interesting careers with job profiles and videos

Post 16 Pathways Post 16 options | National Careers Service

UCAS – UCAS | At the heart of connecting people to higher education - a very helpful website for students thinking of applying to higher education. Also contains valuable information on different options, including apprenticeships

Ask Apprenticeships - The ASK programme (apprenticeships.gov.uk) - Information about different types of apprenticeships in a variety of sectors.

Higher Horizons Home - Higher Horizons - Part of the Uni Connect program, offers information about higher education and how to access it

Reaseheath College - leading land-based college

Macclesfield College - Empowerment Through Learning

Home - Cheshire College South & West (ccsw.ac.uk)

Cheshire East Volunteering Hub We are Cheshire East Volunteers - We are Cheshire East - Information on volunteering opportunities in the local area

Speakers for Schools Speakers for Schools – To open-up access to the very top for young people - Free virtual online work experience