Careers

Key Staff

Careers Guidance and Development Lead: Mrs V McCormack

Assistant Associate Principal with Responsibiltiy for Careers: Ms F Rose

 

More information regarding Yr11 and post-16 choices can be found here.

 

Cambourne Village College is committed to providing the best possible Careers Education, Information and Guidance (CEIG) to all our students, provided fairly and equitably. We aim to do everything we can to inspire, encourage and equip each one of them to realise their talents and potential, and have fulfilled and successful working lives. Encouraging a growth mindset is an important part of this. We understand the importance of this work in the context of the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The elements of CEIG provision are as follows:

• Careers Education, including dedicated careers lessons, subject lessons linking curriculum learning to careers, work related learning (work experience and careers events etc).
• Career Information, on all education and employment routes, provided through various channels and media, including the Careers Library and online resources.
• Career Guidance, both impartial and independent, offered with open access to a careers professional, teaching and other staff, as well as external sources such as employers and professional bodies.

We benchmark our provision against best practice nationally, monitor our provision and student destinations, and we develop our provision using feedback from students, staff and others. Students provide feedback to our CEIG provision through our annual survey and through conversations with our staff. We evaluate the success of our provision not just through the quantitative measures of destinations and outcomes but also through this qualitative feedback we receive. 

Careers Programme

Year 7

Intent: To introduce pupils to employability and life skills and apply them in a specific project within a school environment To encourage pupils to start thinking about what jobs and/or sector of work would suit them To give pupils an understanding of what subjects are needed to follow specific pathways To give pupils the opportunity to have a fun initial contact with employers and learn about various industries

Pupils have access to a 1:1 careers meeting with a Careers Advisor/ Senior Leadership Team member.

PSHE lessons:

Pupils consider who they are:

Key traits they have and unique pathways.

Key skills they have or are developing and how these relate to careers.

Pupils start to think about what careers there are in the world around them.

Careers event – guest speakers from various companies.

 

Year 8

Intent: To give pupils the opportunity to apply their newly acquired employability skills to a specific project in a classroom environment To give pupils an understanding of today’s work environment through contact with various employers To give pupils the opportunity to participate in a range of career centred activities and projects relevant to their identified career sector/s

Pupils have access to a 1:1 careers meeting with a Careers Advisor/ Senior Leadership Team member.

PSHE lessons:

Work and labour market information including challenging stereotypes.

Entrepreneurship introduction.

Challenging discrimination in the workplace.

Careers event – guest speakers from various companies.

 

Year 9

Intent: To provide each pupil with up to date relevant information about option choices and the implication of those choices on their future To expand the range of career centred activities and opportunities offered to students to suit their needs To expand students’ knowledge of today’s work environment

Pupils have access to a 1:1 careers meeting with a Careers Advisor/ Senior Leadership Team member.

PSHE lessons:

Exploring careers pathways.

Review their skills and values to help identify possible career pathways.

Goals for the future.

Preparing for GCSE courses and post-16 options.

Careers event - enterprise day. 

 

Year 10

Intent: To encourage students to use their employability skills to find a work experience placement To provide students with multiple opportunities to learn from/talk to employers about work, employment, the skills valued in the workplace and today’s labour market. To give students first-hand experience of the workplace through 2 weeks work experience placement/s

Pupils have access to a 1:1 careers meeting with a Careers Advisor/ Senior Leadership Team member.  Pupils receive group or individual advice sessions focused on finding a work experience placement.

PSHE lessons:

Online presence.

Applying for jobs.

Work experience.

Pupils undertake work experience in a local business or organisation at the end of July.

 

Year 11

Intent: To give students access to impartial, high-quality information about post-16 study options, providers and the labour market To lead students to understand the full range of learning opportunities available to them: academic or vocational, in school, college, university and/or the workplace To give students a high-quality impartial individual focussed guidance meeting lead by an informed advisor to help them decide on post-16 choices.

Pupils have access to a 1:1 careers meeting with a Careers Advisor/ Senior Leadership Team member.

PSHE lessons:

Writing a personal statement.

Options and careers.

Post-16 applications.

 

Local Employers

We value collaboration with local employers, and are keen to work with local businesses, charities and organisations to enhance our students career education and experience of the world of work. If you are a local employer and would like to collaborate with us, we would love to hear from you!

There are lots of ways to get involved, this could be talking to our students about the industry that you work in and your career journey so far, hosting a workplace visit, leading/participating in a career focused classroom activity or sharing/developing resources regarding employability skills and local labour market information.  

Please contact Mrs V McCormack if you would like to get involved.

 

Post-16 destination data for Cambourne VC Pupils

 

General post 16 destination % comparison
Year	2016-21	2017-22	2018-23
%Staying in education	97	95	93
%Moving into apprenticeships	2	0	3
%Moving into employment	0	0	0
%NEET	1	1	0
%Destination unknown	0	2	4
%Left UK	0	0	0
%Joined the forces	0	0	0

 

Date of Last Review of the Year 11 process: January 2024

 

Useful online resources and links for pupils, parents and teachers:

You can find lots more information on careers, including access to information about the labour market, future study options and career paths on the careers page of the CATalogue.

 

Personal development

Buzz Quiz: Personality quiz which helps you to consider your strengths and what jobs you might enjoy: Click here

16 Personalities: In-depth personality test based on Myers and Brigg personality indicator which looks at different personality types and their strengths, development areas and what careers may suit these: Click here

Prospects Planner: Matches your skills, motivations and desires to a range of careers: Click here. 

Barclays Life Skills: Interactive tools and resources to reflect on your skills and develop new ones, stay safe online, write your CV and prepare for interviews: Click here.

 

Exploring the World of Work

BBC Bitesize Careers: Inspiring videos and articles that explain the world of work, with advice from people who've found the right path for them. Includes job profiles, application and interview tips and enterprise insight: Click here.

Careers Box: Careers film library, a free careers resource showing hundreds of real people doing real jobs: Click here.

National Careers Service: Information on a range of different jobs including roles and responsibilities, routes in, skills needed, salary etc: Click here. 

Prospects: Information on graduate jobs, postgraduate study, advice about work experience, internship opportunities and graduate careers: Click here. 

iCould: Career videos and job profiles including information on different roles and responsibilities, routes in, skills needed, salary etc: Click here

Careerometer: A tool to compare jobs, use the Careerometer to compare different jobs — salary, working hours, etc: Click here

My World of Work: Subject choice tool can help you explore where your subject choices can take you: Click here. 

Prospects – what can I do with my degree? Explore your career options and see where your degree could take you: Click here

Nesta Skills Map: A tool which provides a Skills Map for a range of different jobs based on millions of UK job adverts: Click here

 

Post-16

My Choice @ 16: The online prospectus and application system used by CamVC and other local schools for applying for post-16 education: Click here

Pearson Choices after Year 11: An overview of options for after Year 11: Click here

Career Pilot: Information and tools to help support post-16 and post-18 decision-making: Click here

Find an apprenticeship: Use this search to browse which apprenticeships are available in the UK based on your interests: Click here

Not going to Uni: Use this search to browse apprenticeships, work experience, internships and jobs in the UK: Click here

Rate my Apprenticehip: Use this search to browse which apprenticeships are available in the UK: Click here

Amazing Apprenticeships: Information and resources on apprenticeships, traineeships and T-Levels for both students and parents/carers: Click here

CPCA Your Futures: Information on pathways young people can enter with no formal or minimal qualifications including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND): Click here

 

Finding Employment

Springpod: Online training and work experience: Click here

Speakers for Schools: Inspirational talks about different careers and work experience opportunities: Click here

Prospects – Getting a job: Guidance on how to go about looking for a job, how to work with recruitment agencies, social media and job hunting, how to get a job with no experience, making a career change, the skills that employers look for and more: Click here

Indeed: Search millions of jobs online to find the next step in your career. Use tools for job search, CVs, company reviews and more: Click here

Glassdoor: Search millions of jobs and get the inside scoop on companies with employee reviews on the best places to work, personalised salary tools, and more: Click here

CV Library: Search live job vacancies from all industries nationwide. Register your CV to start applying. Use their simple search tools to create instant job matches delivered to your inbox: Click here

Total Jobs: Search full time and part-time jobs and find jobs with instant job matches, alerts and more: Click here

Cambridge Network: Find new job vacancies and hiring opportunities in Cambridge UK: Click here

Guardian Jobs: Search and apply for vacancies at top employers on this job site. Add your CV today and apply for open roles throughout the UK. Find a job where you can be you: Click here

Adzuna: Search Over 1 Million Jobs on a single website. Evaluate and improve your CV. Every job. Everywhere. Real time employment data: Click here

Kameo Recruitment: Search for permanent and fixed term positions within the Sales, Marketing, HR, Finance, Commercial/Office and Technical sectors. Kameo Recruitment recruit across East Anglia, but specifically focus on Cambridgeshire and the surrounds: Click here

Target Careers: An apprenticeships and school leaver job search for a full range of flexible search options, including by career sector, region, salary and entry requirement: Click here

 

Preparing for Employment:

Prospects – CVs and covering letters: Discover how to write a CV and Covering Letter, mistakes to avoid and a variety of examples to help you target your application to the company: Click here

Prospects – Interview Tips: Advice on the best ways to prepare for an interview, example interview questions, tips on interview technique, practice psychometric tests, and help with phone and video interviews: Click here