Careers Guidance

Careers Guidance at The Skills Hub

At the Skills Hub we are committed to providing a range of opportunities to enhance academic qualifications and help prepare our students with the skills and knowledge required for their future careers. Our aim is to guide our students in making informed choices about their next steps and to open their eyes to the world of possibilities after leaving school. We work towards preparing our students to face the world of work by encouraging them to become global thinkers and ensure they continue learning and developing at the Skills Hub and beyond.

We have our own experienced in-house careers advisor who is trained to support our students with any study or career related choices. Our careers provision is tailored to each year group, ensuring individual students receive relevant support at their stage of education. Our year 10 and year 11 students have the opportunity to gain a work experience certificate by spending five-days as an intern at a company, whereas year 11 students receive additional comprehensive support and advice on apprenticeships or further education. At the Skills Hub we pride ourselves on the continuous support we offer our past year 11 students post-graduation, which gives them access to regular one-to-one meetings with a dedicated Transitions Officer.

Our careers programme ensures that all students have equal opportunities by having regular access to a wide range of employers and training providers. We work very closely with local businesses as well as the careers team at Education Development Trust, who support the development of employability skills for our young people and help us access a range of employability workshops that are delivered at school. We regularly organise career-related activities such as CV- and interview skills workshops and welcome relevant guest speakers who share inspiring life stories.

if you would like to find out more about Careers Guidance at The Skills Hub please contact Nora Asad via email NAsad@yphub.org or by phoning The Skills Hub office on 01895 447102.

The Careers Programme is reviewed annually and the next review is due in January 2023.

Our approach to the Gatsby Benchmarks

The Gatsby Benchmarks is a framework that schools and colleges can use to develop a good careers programme. As part of the statutory careers requirements, every school should aim to meet the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks, which we at the Skills Hub strive to do. Besides our dedicated careers lead, we also receive regular continual professional development for all our staff that helps our teachers cover careers as part of their curriculum delivery.

A stable careers programme: At the Skills Hub we have an embedded programme of career education and guidance that is known and understood by students, teachers and further stakeholders.

Learning from career and labour market information: Our students and staff have access to good quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities. We ensure all our staff cover careers in the curriculum so that they can support our students in accessing relevant information.

Addressing the needs of each student: Our students receive internal- and external careers guidance throughout their time at the Skills Hub. Advice and support gets tailored to the needs of each student, ensuring we adhere to our PRIDE values of equality and diversity throughout any programme. For example, the experts we welcome every few months to work on our students’ career action plans.

Linking curriculum learning to careers: All staff at the Skills Hub receive continuous professional development sessions that help us link curriculum learning with careers. STEM subject teachers are expected to highlight the relevance of STEM subjects for a wide range of future career paths.

Encounters with employers and employees: We offer our students have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace. We achieve this through a range of activities such as guest speakers, mentoring opportunities, and work experience placements.

Experiences of workplaces: Our students receive first-hand experiences of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing opportunities and work experience to open their eyes to the world of work.

Encounters with further and higher education: We have a yearly career fair where our students have access to a range of educators and employers. We also arrange trips to open days and ensure that our students are told about the full range of learning opportunities that are available to them, which includes both academic and vocational routes and learning in schools, colleges, universities, and in the workplace.

Personal guidance: We offer opportunities for guidance interviews with a career adviser, both in school and in professional settings.  Students are supported in preparing for their chosen career area, using specific local labour market information to help them prepare for and apply for, achievable and realistic local jobs and apprenticeships.

For more information on the Gatsby benchmarks please click on the following link  www.goodcareerguidance.org.uk

Are you an employer or educational establishment interested to support us?

While we are lucky to have an extensive list of businesses who support us in achieving our career-related goals, we are keen to work in partnership with educators, apprenticeship providers and employers to continue giving our students access to high quality opportunities. Please send your expression of interest to info@theskillshub.org, who will forward it to the relevant department.

Provider Access Policy

The Skills Hub is committed to providing high quality careers guidance and advice. Our Provider Access Policy (below) gives details of how training providers can visit the school to offer eligible students information and advice about career pathways.

Provider Access Policy