At Ridgeway Secondary School we endeavour to provide the very best impartial careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) for our pupils. We believe that this involves engaging the students in careers education from Y7, with a more intensive approach from Y8 upwards, when they need to make important decisions concerning options and progression routes.
We work hard to support these aims, whilst working towards the government recommended Gatsby Benchmarks to ensure that all students are suitably advised and prepared for life after School.
The impact of our careers programme on our pupils, is measured and assessed by reporting to the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership and also using reporting tools supplied by UniFrog, which is our complete destinations platform for students across KS3 and KS4 regardless of their interests or academic ability.
Parents or guardians are welcome to attend the interviews held in school with your child concerning career choices.
Please contact:
Mrs R Dixon
[email protected]
01527 892 867
Please find a copy of our latest Careers Guidance Booklet here
Open Days and Evenings 2024-25
Further Education (or FE for short) is education which takes place after secondary education. Courses are usually more vocational and can be studied at levels 1 to 3. Colleges also offer a range of BTEC qualifications which are the equivalent to 3 A levels. They can also lead to university and higher apprenticeships.
Post 16 Open Evenings and Events
Some useful websites for more information:
https://www.howcollege.ac.uk
https://www.cadcol.ac.uk
https://www.kidderminster.ac.uk
https://www.sccb.ac.uk
https://www.halesowen.ac.uk
https://www.wcg.ac.uk
http://www.stratford.ac.uk
https://www.solihull.ac.uk
Higher Education (or HE for short) is a continuation of study post the age of 18. Students might start thinking about whether or not they want to go to university as early as the beginning of secondary school. Our students are given some guidance on university through 1:1 meeting, Unifrog, SPE day and University talks. This takes place from year 8-11. Some useful websites for more information:
https://www.ucas.com/what-are-my-options
https://university.which.co.uk/courses
https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk
https://unistats.ac.uk/ (useful to compare and contrast courses)
https://www.ucas.com/ucas/undergraduate/undergraduate-student-finance-and-support
Looking ahead at what jobs could be in demand is useful too. Here is a great guide on potential future jobs Top Jobs of the Future | Careers Writers Association (parentalguidance.org.uk).
Every student and their parent should have access to good quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities. We encourage students and parents alike to access and use the most recent information from The National Careers Service https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk which provides free impartial careers advice and guidance to anyone over the age of 13, including further education choices, in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Careers Guidance.
Local Labour Market Information (LMI) can be used to support young people in making informed choices about their future study options, changing labour market opportunities, raising aspirations and promoting social mobility.
Our students have access to Unifrog, this is a leading destinations platform. Within this pupil can search different jobs and are signposted to the routes they need to take. LMI information is also available for all the jobs on the platform. Another useful website which is government funded “LMI for All” https://www.lmiforall.org.uk an online data portal, which connects and standardises existing sources of high quality, reliable labour market information (LMI) with the aim of informing careers decisions.
Looking ahead at what jobs could be in demand is useful too. Here is a great guide on potential future jobs Top Jobs of the Future | Careers Writers Association (parentalguidance.org.uk).
Useful Websites
www.skills4Worcestershire.co.uk
www.nationalcareers.service.gov.uk
Useful Documents
All students have access to the wonderful online careers platform, Unifrog, where they can take personality quizzes, explore potential subject and career profiles that interest them and record careers activities. Students have their own individual logins with their student email as their username. Start exploring here!
At Ridgeway Secondary School all Year 10 students will be offered the opportunity to complete a work experience week in the summer term. A key aspect of our CIAG offer students will be fully supported throughout the whole process by our careers advisor, Mrs Dixon.
Work experience gives students the chance to learn about what type of job they might enjoy, develop new skills and experience to add to post 16 application forms. We know it can be one of the most transformational experiences young people have during their education.
After the initial meeting in the Autumn term, students will then meet regularly with Mrs Dixon, who through Unifrog, will support students from the application process to work experience visits and completing a review of the week.
Students (and their families) should source their own work experience placements. We appreciate that some students may find this a daunting task and therefore we will assist them as much as we possibly can.
As mentioned previously, we are using Unifrog (www.unifrog.org) to manage the administration of the work experience programme — for example collecting information from the employer about their Risk Assessment and Health & Safety policy, as well as getting agreement from yourselves for the placement to go ahead.
Some important logistics:
1.Students need to agree the placement with the employer first, and then students will get the ball rolling by adding the placement to their Unifrog account (they’ll find the Placements tool on their Unifrog homepage).
2.The Unifrog system will then email the employer, the parent / guardian, and the school, to collect the necessary information and permissions. For the process to work, it’s essential that students add the initial information about the placement accurately.
Finding out more:
Unifrog have created a set of guides about placements which you and your son/daughter can access via your Unifrog homepage.
To start with we recommend you watch the short ‘how to use the placements tool video (it includes a short animation of how the whole process works).
Next, we recommend looking at the ‘A guide to placements/work experience video’
44 students successfully completed WEX last year!
For those who remained in school, they had a full week of careers activities, spent time shadowing staff and supporting teachers in the lower year groups.
Students went to a range of employers across a wide range of industry sectors.
The aim of the week was to give all pupils an understanding of the workplace.
The overwhelming majority of pupils have found that their placement has helped to shape their post 16 choices.
Feedback from Employers:
‘She was enthusiastic and by far the best placement we have ever had!’
‘The group of pupils are really engaged with the tasks and are the best work experience pupils we have ever had.’
‘It was great to see his confidence grow during the week, he has so much to offer and should continue to develop this.’
