CEIAG – Careers Education, Information and Guidance at SHS
Our aim:
At Stretford High School we recognise and value the importance of high-quality careers education and guidance in motivating and inspiring our young people and helping them to make informed choices about their future pathways and careers. We are extremely proud of the career education, information and guidance that our students receive at Stretford High School.
Our school vision is ‘CARE’: Community, Aspiration, Resilience and Education. This underpins the delivery of our career programme. A good careers education and guidance is an integral strand of a young person’s education and is crucial in raising aspirations, and helping pupils emerge from school as responsible citizens, determined to do their best and ready for the world of work.
We are grateful for the support from businesses and education providers for our careers programme and welcome enquiries to do so.
Careers Policy link HERE
Provider access Policy Statement link HERE
All parents/carers can receive an individual report on the careers IAG and encounters that their child has had at SHS by contacting [email protected]
The Careers Team
At Stretford high School, we have a dedicated Careers team, with several staff who have different CEIAG responsibilities, all of whom are managed by the Assistant Headteacher with responsibility for CEIAG.
Meet the team:
Read more about Connexions here
Read more about Mploy solutions here
Careers Encounters
Throughout the academic year, all students at SHS will have multiple encounters with different careers. These encounters come in many forms and include; discussions in lessons, professionals visiting the school and delivering assemblies, educational visits to the world of work, work experience, careers fairs, mock interviews, workshops and masterclasses, and one to one careers guidance.
Careers in the curriculum:
All students have a wide range of opportunities to experience meaningful careers encounters across all their curriculum subjects, both in the classroom and through educational visit opportunities. In addition, Careers lessons are delivered through the KS3 EE Curriculum by Mr Chris Hirst and Mrs Phillipa Latham.
The following link details the school’s Careers programme and KS3 Careers lessons content
The school’s Careers programme is reviewed annually at the end of each academic year.
Schools have a legal requirement to ensure education and training providers are introduced to their students during specified phases of learning, as part of an effort to help boost the numbers of students going on to further education every year.
Unifrog:
At Stretford High School, our aim is to give our students the very best career support we can, so they are well informed and have a clear idea of the different further education and career pathways available to them. We use an outstanding career platform to guide them through their career education and college application process called ‘Unifrog’ This platform is continually kept up to date with information about different colleges, apprenticeships and Universities across Britain and the wider world.
At a click of a button our students can research hundreds of different jobs within a work sector and what qualifications are needed to access this career pathway. They can watch videos and hear university students talking about what life is really like when they get to University and what they would recommend future students to do. There are also videos on apprenticeships and other vocational training pathways.
Parents and students can access this platform, we introduce our students to this outstanding resource from Year 7 and we are proud to be the second highest school user of the platform from across the country.
One pupils leave Stretford High School, they keep their Unifrog account and can continue to use it at Sixth Form or College to support them with their next steps.
Key dates:-
Year 11 Guidance:
All Year 11 students will be given at least one individual appointment to meet with our Connexions advisor, Mr Lovatt.
The aim of the appointments is to support and guide our students as they start to think and make decisions about next steps after school. Students will be able to explore the opportunities available and start to plan for future study and a career.
In order to make the most of the appointment time, students are encouraged to take some time before the appointment to think about interests and hobbies outside school, what they’d like to do in the future (work, study or both) and to make a note of any questions they want to ask. It will also be useful for them to start some general research about areas of work or study that interest them. Miss Edwards will arrange the appointments, however, if you would like to request an appointment for your child at a specific time, please email [email protected].
School arranges a number of visits to school so that Yr11 students are able to hear directly from colleges and training providers, Parental support is vitally important for students who are making key decisions about what path they will take when they leave Stretford High School. Talking with them about this informally at home will really help decision making and supporting them with visits to college open events will add real value to making a secure decision about next steps after school.
Information about College Open days will be posted in the school’s newsletter and also on our social media platforms.
Year 10 Work Experience and Mock Interview Day:
Year 10 students will take part in a 4-day work experience placement, that will run from Monday 30th June to Thursday 3rd July 2025. Students will have an assembly on work experience in September 2024 to explain how this process runs. Students are encouraged to find their own work experience placement and will need to complete this form and hand it in to their Learning Tutor.
The aim of Work Experience is to provide students with information about a job, company and industry which can help them with career decisions and future job prospects. There are a number of benefits to students of taking part in work experience:
All Year 10 students will be invited to attend a mock interview on Friday 4th July 2025. Prior to their interview, students will complete an application form so that they can be matched up with an appropriate interviewer. The interview will last 15-20 minutes and students will be given verbal and written feedback following this.
Careers Benchmarks & Awards:
In 2013, Sir John Holman was commissioned by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to set out what career guidance in England would be like if it were good by international standards, resulting in the Good Career Guidance report. The eight Gatsby Benchmarks set out in the report serve as a framework for improvement in careers provision and have been adopted as part of the Government’s Careers Strategy and statutory guidance for schools and colleges.
The eight Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance are:
Stretford High School is proud to fully meet the Benchmark criteria.
Stretford High holds the Quality in Careers Standard Award (the single national quality award for CEIAG) which has been achieved using the Inspiring IAG approach.
Inspiring IAG has been designed to provide a good practice framework and recognition of high-quality Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) for organisations that are providing support services for young people.
Inspiring IAG is a three-stage process. Organisations progress through each stage during which their provision is validated and assessed. The process helps organisations to identify areas for development as well as recognising good practice in CEIAG. Six key areas run through each stage of the award, each underpinned by the principles of equality and diversity & raising aspirations:
Stretford High School is proud to have successfully achieved Stage Three of this award (November 2023).
Labour Market Information
Our students explore LMI as part of their careers units within EE and in different subject areas. We would like to encourage you explore the Greater Manchester Labour Market Information at home, using these poster links below.
LMI provides useful insight into the local economy, in particular growth sectors – the skills that are needed and in demand and expected salaries among other points.
Poster links here:-
Accounting, Finance and Law Sector LMI
