At St Mary’s Catholic High School we are committed to providing all our students in Years 7 to 11 with a comprehensive programme of careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) and work related learning (WRL).

All students take part in a careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) programme that:

• Aims to inspire as well as inform and guide students
• Is centred around the student and their needs
• Is integrated into the students’ experience of the whole curriculum
• Encourages all students to consider their career throughout Key Stage 3 and 4
• Encourages all students to develop decision making skills
• Provides each student with high quality, impartial advice
• Raises aspirations and promotes equality and diversity

Good career guidance is critical if young people are to raise their aspirations and capitalise on the opportunities available to them. We are commited to deliver a programme which is based on the 'Good Career Guidance Benchmarks' (Gatsby Benchmarks). The benchmarks define world-class career guidance and were developed on behalf of Gatsby by Sir John Holman as part of an international study.

The Gatsby Benchmark statement is:

Every young person needs high-quality career guidance to make informed decisions about their future. Good career guidance is a necessity for delivering technical education reforms and is a vehicle for social justice: those young people without social capital or home support suffer most from poor career guidance. Yet, despite its importance, career guidance in English schools has often been criticised for being inadequate and patchy.

We therfore aim to deliver:

1. 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 (at least 5)
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance

Careers Programme