Careers
Lichfield Cathedral School aims to give all students the values and life skills to be prepared for the many challenges of life after school. A key element of this is a commitment to providing all students with high quality Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG), which is seen as crucial in preparing students to make decisions about their futures. As a non-selective school, it is vital that we encourage individuals to consider a wide range of options and think about the best path for them as an individual.
The school is committed to ensuring that the eight Gatsby Benchmarks of good practice laid out in the Baker Clause 2017 are in place:
- A stable careers programme
- Learning from career and labour market information
- Addressing the needs of each pupil
- Linking curriculum learning to careers
- Encounters with employers and employees
- Experience of workplaces
- Encounters with further and higher education
- Personal guidance
There is a planned programme of careers education starting in Year 7 and continuing through to Year 13. Each year group covers Careers for half a term p/year as part of their Wellbeing/RSE lessons. These lessons are available through our online platform, Morrisby.
|
Year |
Topics covered |
|
7 |
Intro to careers; life aspirations; self-awareness; subjects and careers; what is work? |
|
8 |
Aspirations; employability skills; career connections; GCSE options; investigating careers |
|
9 |
Careers using core subjects; challenging workplace stereotypes; decision-making; introduction to labour market information |
|
10 |
Apprenticeships; CVs; careers for the future; interviews; options at 16; preparing for work placements |
|
11 |
Aptitudes; careers in renewables; digital careers; green careers |
|
12 |
Careers in the NHS; choosing a degree subject; creating a personal statement; job search techniques; options at 18; researching degree courses |
|
13 |
Career resilience; reviewing my priorities; successful interviews; completing apprenticeship and job applications |
Enrichment Talks
Enrichment talks are offered to Years 12-13 on Wednesday afternoons from visiting speakers. These talks are focused on Higher Education and Careers. We endeavor to represent as wide a range of careers as possible. This has included: hospitality, judiciary, agriculture, PhD research (anthropology), music performance, TV production, law and digital media communications in finance.
Morrisby
We use Morrisby to support our careers provision. It is an interactive online platform that helps students to make better decisions about subjects, courses, careers and apprenticeships.
Every student in the school will have been introduced to the system and will have taken a Careers/aspirations questionnaire, which will be repeated annually. All one-to-one interviews and curriculum-based careers provision are logged on Morrisby. Additional talks and events are also logged. Every student is able to access a Profile Report linked to their career aspirations, personality traits, work style and the Gatsby benchmarks. This Profile is designed to identify a student’s strengths, investigate the best routes to achieve their goals and encourage them to explore similar careers and courses including many they may never have considered.
Careers Fair
We run an annual Careers Fair. Our inaugural event in March 2024 had 18 stallholders and four local schools attended, with approximately 300 students accessing independent and impartial careers advice.
One to one Advice & Guidance
All Year 9 students benefit from a one-to-one careers interview.
All Year 11 students have two meetings with senior leaders when deciding their next steps for post-16 education.
All Year 12 students have a one-to-one meeting with the Head of Careers and a second follow-up meeting at the end of the year with the Careers Co-ordinators.
Higher Education and Apprenticeship opportunities
Sixth Form students receive a weekly bulletin email from the Head of Careers with information about multiple Higher Education and apprenticeship opportunities, as well as academic competitions and work experience opportunities.
