Careers Education, Information and Guidance
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.
Providers Access Statement 2023-2027
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:
| Miss Jennie Edwards, Assistant Headteacher – Careers lead, overseeing all areas of CEIAG at SHS. |
| Mr Chris Hirst, Head of EE and Mrs Philippa Latham , Assistant Head of EE – KS3 Careers programme and Year 11 College applications. |
| Mr Mark Richardson, Head of Year 11 and Ms Allison Barwell, Assistant Head of Year 11- College applications. |
| Mrs Beth Ramsden, Head of Year 10 and Mr David Heaton, Assistant Head of Year 10 – Year 10 Work experience week. |
| Mrs Lupe Pulido Casas – Careers Coordinator – Supporting various aspects of CEIAG at SHS with responsibility for Careers encounters and Compass+. |
| Mr Pete Lovatt – Trafford Connexions careers advisor – Mr Lovatt meets with all Year 11 students to ensure that they are well informed about their post 16 opportunities and supported in their next steps. He will also be available for students and parents/carers to meet at KS4 parent evenings, Year 9 option meetings and on results day. Read more about Connexions here. |
| Mrs Rowena Kidd, Deputy Headteacher and the data team, Trafford Council – Destination data. |
| Mploy solutions – Work experience, Mock interview Day, Careers Fair. Read more about Mploy solutions here . |
- https://www.unifrog.org/ Unifrog is the complete destination platform that helps students to compare every opportunity. The careers library, subjects library and LMI information allows pupils to build a current view of careers. This comprehensive resource is available to all students at Stretford High School..
- https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/getting-a-job/how-to-choose-a-career provides a guide on how to choose a career.
- https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/ provides careers information, advice and guidance. It helps pupils to make decisions about future learning, training and work at all stages in their career.
- https://www.informedchoices.ac.uk/ helps to understand which subjects can lead to different degrees, particularly at Russell Group universities.
- https://futurelearncareers.com/ is a search database of specific careers and skills that are required.
- https://targetcareers.co.uk/ outlines options for careers, university or apprenticeships.
- https://www.ucas.com/ focuses on Further Education and other post 16 options.
- https://amazingapprenticeships.com/ looks specifically at post 16 apprenticeships and T-levels information.
- https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship gives access to an apprenticeship database.
Destination Data
| % of Students who are in education, employment or training | % / Number of Students |
| % of Students who are in education, employment or training as of November 2023 | 98.4% (184 students) |
| % of SEND Students who are in education, employment or training as of November 2023 | 1 |
| % of FSM Students who are in education, employment or training as of November 2023 | 1 |
| % of Students who are not in education, employment or training as of November 2023 | 1.6% (3 students) |
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 Philippa Latham.
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.
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.
Year 11 Guidance and Post 16 support:
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 Year 11 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. You can also find guidance on Post 16 planning HERE.
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:
- You’ll enter the World of Work
- You’ll learn if you like a career or not
- You can develop your skills
- You’ll also learn new skills
- You’ll begin to understand the world of work
- You’ll build upon your own personal network
- Your CV will start filling up
- You can identify your strengths
- You might land yourself a job
- You can gain personal satisfaction
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:
- A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
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
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.
Stretford High School is proud to have successfully achieved Stage Three of this award (November 2023).