Rationale
Southend High School for Girls is an academically selective school that prepares its students to compete for world class opportunities based on their abilities, interests and personal career aspirations.
It is our goal that each individual student is able to actively engage in setting their careers goals, having been provided with relevant and current careers information and guidance. We pride ourselves in recognising that a personalised and tailored approach is needed to ensure that each individual can realise their career goals.
It is essential that the careers, education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) is part of the ethos and fabric of all aspects of a students journey at SHSG and is embedded into all aspects of the curriculum. Our CEIAG guidance equips our students with the tools they need to make informed choices about their future.
External agencies
At SHSG, careers education is underpinned by the Unifrog careers platform. This is used throughout Year 7-13 in the PSHE curriculum, registration activities and subject lessons. Alongside Unifrog, SHSG has strong links with Connexions, Make Happen, the Local Authority, post 18 providers and employers all of whom support our students in realising their career goals.
In addition, SHSG has strong links with our alumni, who regularly visit the school to give students first hand insights into their careers journey from SHSG students to their current career.
Monitoring and tracking
The school measures and assesses the impact of the programme by collecting and analysing feedback (both formal and informal) from students, parents/carers, teachers, employers and other external contributors to the programme such as our Enterprise Advisor, Connexions, Make Happen and Higher Education providers. Destination information of students is also collected at the end of GCSE and A level courses and analysed to inform the planning of the programme. Alongside this, the school utilises the analysis features of Unifrog to monitor and track student engagement and participation in careers related activities.
The careers coordinators and senior leadership team lead track the school’s progress against all Gatsby benchmarks each term, including using data provided from Heads of department. Our careers offer is monitored externally on a termly basis and assessed against the Gatsby benchmarks by the Local Authority via the Compass tool.
At SHSG we aim to follow the the eight Gatsby benchmarks of Good Career Guidance which are:
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
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance
If you are a training or education provider or prospective employer/alumni who would like to offer support, work experience or mock interviews for our students please contact us ‘here’.