Vision for Careers and Employability

Our aim is to:

Help pupils to be more self-aware, informed of their own further education and employment, including traineeships, apprenticeships and university.
Enable pupils to manage transition to new roles and situations throughout their lives and help them to achieve their aspirations.
Allow pupils to develop personal awareness, and actively drive their futures.
Make clear links between earning potential and the learning and qualifications they gain.
Show pupils how to adapt and be flexible, to adjust to change and to make effective use of it.
Prepare pupils for the transfer from school to adult life including further education, training and work.

Our Enterprise Partners 

We are extremely grateful to a number of local companies who have collaborated with us and supported various initiatives across the school and sixth form.  They are helping pupils with their personal development skills linked to careers education, including work experience placements, mock interviews and being involved in our careers fair to name a few.

Companies who work with us include: RS Components, Wincanton, 3M, Geosynthetics, NHS, Warwickshire County Council, BAM Construction, The MTC, Ricardo Automotive, Nuneaton & Bedworth Leisure Trust, Aldi, Siemens, Hilton Foods, Polestar Electric Vehicles

Our Enterprise Advisor is Samuel Taylor, a former pupil who is now part of the Civil Service fast track scheme.

An Enterprise Advisor works directly with the Careers Lead to develop their Careers programme.

They combine their passion for raising the aspirations of young people with their strategic skills to help put opportunities with local employers at the heart of a young person’s education.

We are supported by the Careers & Enterprise Company an organisation which was set up by the government in 2015, whose mission is to help every young person to find their best next step.

They are the national body for careers education in England, supporting schools and colleges to deliver modern, 21^st century careers education.

Emma Culey is our link Enterprise Coordinator and supports the Careers Lead with planning activities to meet the Gatsby benchmarks and evaluating the school’s progress towards meeting them by the use of the Compass+ evaluation tool.

https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/

Further & Higher Education Partners & Apprenticeship Providers

We have a strong link with all local post 16 providers and encourage students to research and investigate the full range of options open to them at the end of Year 11. Every student receives impartial advice and guidance during 1:1 interviews with Elaine Wainwright from Prospects who is an independent Careers Advisor. Colleges and Apprenticeship Providers are also invited to attend our annual Careers and Apprenticeship Fairs which all students and parents are invited to visit. Students will also receive presentations on the full range of opportunities open to them at key transition points in their school journey.

We have excellent relationships with a number of universities who regularly come into school and sixth form to talk to the students about this pathway. We also take students to university campus visits so that they can experience this first hand.

Developing Key Skills for Employability & Independent Living

We are very keen for our students to develop the skills that employers actively look for in their employees and which will ultimately prepare them for the future regardless of the pathway they end up choosing. We work closely with a number of organisations who come into school and college to deliver interactive activities with our students which help them to develop skills such as teamwork, leadership, communication, problem solving, organisation, time management, creativity, enterprise & initiative.

We are grateful to the following organisations who have worked with us on these initiatives:

The Money Charity, Talent Foundry, Royal Navy, British Army, Work Pays, Prospects

We actively encourage our students to undertake voluntary work as this is a great way to develop these skills whilst also giving something back to the community. We work closely with a number of charities and local community groups who attend our Careers, HE & Volunteering Fair every year to talk to our students about volunteering opportunities.

Barnardos, Nuneaton Food Bank, Zoes Place, Doorway, WCAVA, Warwickshire Library Services

Unifrog

In keeping with our commitment to provide students with outstanding careers guidance and tailored support when choosing their next step after school, we will now be using Unifrog; an award-winning, online careers platform. All students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 now have access to this excellent website.

The Unifrog platform is designed to support learners in making the most informed decisions about their futures and has a range of tools that are suitable for all year groups. Each student has their own personal account that provides a wide range of information related to their interests and aspirations. Key features of the platform include:

Exploring Pathways – personality quizzes, career and subject profiles, MOOCs and webinars

Recording – self-reflection about extracurricular activities and key employability skills
Opportunities – search tools showing live vacancies/courses/placements for apprenticeships, universities (in the UK and abroad), FE, virtual work experience and much more
Applications – tools to help students build applications for a range of pathways (e.g., CVs, Personal Statements, Common App Essays)

Students access the platform by clicking a link in their welcome email, where they create a password and can begin using the platform. They login to Unifrog using their school email address and password and they can do so from any computer, tablet or smartphone. We would encourage you to use the platform with your child so you can support them through the process of deciding their next step.

We have also set up a parent login so that you can use Unifrog as if you were a student yourself, allowing you to support your child throughout the process. The sign up code you need is: STTMParents and you can sign up here: www.unifrog.org

Alumni

We have a growing alumni network who come into school and college to talk to students about their experience and career journey and also support various careers events in school as well as hosting some work placements and workplace visits for our students. We are always keen to hear from previous St Thomas More students so if you would like to get involved please contact Mrs Way on way.v@st-thomas-more.net or connect on Linkedin