Introduction
It is essential that students consider how the choices that they make in school will affect their future career opportunities. This is why Rougemont’s Careers Education and Guidance (CEG) programme is designed to enable each individual student to have a clear understanding of the academic qualifications and personal qualities required to pursue their chosen career paths.
Careers education begins in Year 7 and continues through to Year 13. CEG is coordinated by the Careers Advisor Mr Hardwick and is delivered by a combination of Form Tutors, Senior Tutors and External Speakers. Staff are committed to providing detailed guidance on subject choices at GCSE and A level as well as giving comprehensive support during the application process to university.
Staff Responsible for CEG
Head of Careers Julian Hardwick
Higher Education Advisor Kathryn Benson-Dugdale
Head of Sixth Form Lesley Thickins
Careers Librarian Anna Clason-Thomas
Form Tutors
Careers Guidance by Year
KS3
Year 7
Careers Education and Guidance begins in Year 7 with an introductory talk to all students explaining the outline of the CEG programme at Rougemont in broad terms.
Students complete the first unit of ‘The Real Game’, a CEG resource which is carried out with form tutors during PSE lessons as a basic introduction to careers and the world of work. During the programme students find out about different careers and the attributes required for them, consider life choices and the consequences of the choices that they make, discuss how to budget and balance their finances, and consider their aspirations for life. All these are studied using different scenarios and activities.
Year 8
Students complete the second unit of ‘The Real Game’ to further develop their understanding of life after school. Topics include producing a budget based on a typical salary for their chosen career, planning trips and holidays based around destinations that the student would like to visit, producing business cards for a chosen career, discussing gender issues in the workplace and designing their first CV.
Students in Year 8 are also given an introduction to the Careers Library and its resources.
Year 9
The main aim of CEG in Year 9 is to enable pupils to choose the most suitable options for GCSE. This culminates in the Year 9 Conference which parents and pupils attend. Here subject teachers discuss GCSE option choices with individual pupils.
Early on in academic year students register with Careers Wales, the national careers information service which offers advice and guidance for all ages – linking education and business. This allows them to build their own Progress File online and access a huge amount of information on possible choices of careers.
Another event for Year 9 and 10 students in the spring term is the Dynamo Role Model Presentations. These are provided by locally based entrepreneurs who have built up their own companies and are keen to pass on their knowledge and experiences to the would-be entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
February 2013 saw the second annual Careers Fair, an event for Year 9 students in which representatives from various companies, former pupils and CEG advisors were in attendance to offer advice to students on a wide range of career options.
KS4
Year 10
During PSE lessons in Year 10, students register at the Cascaid web site (www.cascaid.co.uk) and use the Kudos program to develop ideas about their future careers and produce their own action plan. This involves a detailed questionnaire which gives students ideas about the sorts of careers to which they may be most suited. They can then research their chosen careers using the Careerscape program.
Students also continue to use the Careers Wales website to build a Learning Pathway which they can regularly update throughout the year. There are various sections to complete including Personal Details and Interests, Skills, Goals, Qualifications, Work Experience and an e-Portfolio, which together form a detailed record of their achievements and aspirations.
In addition to the careers help and advice given to all pupils in Years 10 and 11, there are lectures in which external speakers from a wide range of professions and backgrounds give information and advice to pupils.
Year 11
At the beginning of Year 11, pupils are given the opportunity to become members of the Independent Schools Careers Organisation (ISCO). One of the benefits of membership is the Futurewise Profiling process in which students firstly fill in an interest questionnaire and then undergo a series of psychometric tests to help determine their most suitable choices of careers. After these have been processed, a careers guidance report is given to each pupil followed by an interview with the ISCO (South West) Director Mr Jonathan Hardwick. During this interview, the most appropriate A level and degree choices or other career paths are discussed.
During the Autumn Term all students are given individual interviews by the Head of Careers to help with future choices and plans. Students also continue to use the Careers Wales and Kudos websites throughout the year.
The main aim of CEG in Year 11 is to allow students to make the best choices post-GCSE. This may involve A levels, other qualifications or employment. The Year 11 Conference evening, which both parents and pupils attend, is held in March. Here subject teachers discuss GCSE option choices with individual pupils, and careers guidance is provided by Messrs J Hardwick – the Rougemont Careers Advisor and the ISCO (South West) Director.
All Year 11 students are given the opportunity to participate in work experience for 1 or 2 weeks in the period following their GCSE examinations. Work experience is a valuable introduction to the world of work and gives students an opportunity to explore life whilst working in a chosen career. As well as giving a useful insight, it can be of great benefit to future college and job applications. Students choose placements in the area of work in which they are interested from the many employers listed in the Careers Wales database. Finding the right placement, completing the application and carrying out Health and Safety checks (which are done by Careers Wales) is a lengthy process and so students are asked to start the process as early as possible during the academic year.
KS5
Year 12
During Learning For Life (LFL) sessions in Year 12, students attend a series of career talks by guest speakers. The aim is to identify a range of potential career opportunities for our students and provide them with contacts that may allow them to access additional work experience.
In the Spring Term all students attend the Universities Admissions Conference in UWIC following an introductory presentation on the UCAS process. Preparation for the university application process continues in the Summer Term when all students attend a university Open Day and a workshop on the application process led by a UCAS representative. With the aim of ensuring that our students are well ahead of the application deadlines we devote a day to the registration process before the end of the Summer Term.
In addition, all our students are encouraged to attend Information sessions at Universities of their choice. This year, for example, a group of potential medics attended the MedLink course at Nottingham University and a course on Careers in Medicine at Cardiff University. Those students who were interested in applying for courses at Oxford and Cambridge also attended a conference at the end of the Spring Term. Whilst potential engineers get the opportunity to work with a local engineering company in conjunction with the Engineering Education Scheme in Wales, this allows them to get experience of various branches of the industry over a six month period.
During LFL sessions, students are also taken through a series of mock interviews following presentations from form tutors on interview techniques. Students are encouraged to observe each other as part of the process.
Year 13
The focus in Year 13 is university choices. Specific UCAS sessions are timetabled for all students, during which they are advised on their choice of courses with a view to accessing their chosen career paths. Students are supported in this process by the Higher Education Advisor and the Head of Sixth Form. This is a lengthy and complicated process that is not completed until all students have been guided into making their final acceptance of places at the end of the Spring Term in Year 13.
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