Useful information for Students & Parents
Information for Employers & Training Providers
Westfield Academy Careers Programme - 5 Year Plan
Careers Education
Westfield Academy’s all-embracing approach to Careers Education is rather unique. Careers Education is taught as part of our morning Wider Curriculum with tutors, with a strong focus on preparing students for life after Westfield. On top of this all departments include Careers Education into their lessons, developing student’s employability skills. Staff have access to a wide range of resources on the school Intranet to showcase Careers in their subject lessons.
Teachers are encouraged to implement the below into the curriculum:
- Have a prominent display that links subject learning and skill development to different careers
- Develop links with businesses and organisations
- Invite alumni and other external speakers to come into school (virtually where an actual visit is not feasible)
- Where appropriate to organise external visits by students to local businesses/organisations
- Record careers learning opportunities for students in schemes of learning
- Take part in whole school ‘Careers Days’ where all teachers start their lesson with a careers focus, such as talking about their career pathway or showing a short film where people in a range of job roles explain the relevance of skills developed in a particular subject area to their role.
- Explore the possibility of developing real projects/challenges for students with a local business or organisation
- Consider the needs and interests of all students and ensure that information challenges career stereotyping including gender, race and disability
Our PSHE / Careers and Citizenship Curriculum ensures that the key skills and essential knowledge we have identified permeate our curriculum from Years 7 to 11, allowing our students to make links in their learning as well as develop the ability to think more deeply about what they are learning. In this respect, pupils’ learning is meaningful and purposeful, and designed in a range of contexts, which offer breadth and variety to their learning.
The main topics covered are:
- Options 16+
- Introduction to 6th Form and colleges
- Apprenticeships
- The role of Inspired to Achieve (1:1 advice and guidance to students)
- Finding information
- Self- review
- The local labour market
- Employer expectations
- Job seeking skills - application by telephone/letter, completing application forms, writing CV’s, interview technique, entrance tests
- Enterprise skills (employability skills)
- Transition skills
- Action planning
- Work Experience Preparation
As a school we use the online platform Unifrog to support our students with careers and next steps. This online platform allows students to search possible career options, future pathways and prepare for their next steps.
Careers Staff
SLT Career's Leader is Sarah Allen. She is based in the Middle Block and can be contacted via sarah.allen@westfieldacademy.co.uk
Careers & Futures Coordinator is Natalie Gray - natalie.gray@westfieldacademy.co.uk
Careers Link Governor is Claire Cole. Head of Internal Communications at Leonardo UK
We also have a business Enterprise Adviser(EA) Ross Dickson from Santander Bank who is linked to our school and offers support from a business perspective on our Careers curriculum.
We work in partnership with the Heart of the South West Careers Hub and Westfield Academy are implementing and evaluated on the Gatsby Foundation’s eight Career Benchmarks of Good Practice.
Work Experience
All Year 10 Students are required to undertake a weeks work experience with a chosen Employer. This provides the students with a fantastic opportunity to discover a wide variety of industries, roles and tasks, ready for making those all important Post 16+ choices. Students are encouraged to find and organise the placement independently along with the support and guidance from the staff within the Careers and Personal Development department.
The dates for this years Work Experience will fall over a two week period in 2024. We are launching "Futures Fortnight" in June, where the cohort will engage in one week of Work Experience and then have the opportunity to get involved in a range of other Careers related activities in the second week. The dates for this fortnight will run from Monday 17th - Friday 28th June.
If you are an Employer and you would like to offer a placement within your establishment, please get in touch.
Our Careers & Futures Coordinator is Mrs Natalie Gray and this includes all aspects of Work Experience where our own students are offsite on placements.
The contact details for this department are:​
t: 01935 446863 / Main Office: 01935 423747 e: natalie.gray@westfieldacademy.co.uk
For Work Experience enquiries to join a team within Westfield Academy as an outside agency, please contact the Main Office here on 01935 423747 and they will pass on your details.
Apprenticeships and Post 16+ Providers​
Westfield Academy prides itself on the excellent rapport it has with local employers, post 16+ venues and training providers. They regularly contact us with up to date information on what is currently available and how to apply. We also invite these links into school for working lunches, lesson presentations and interview practice.
Regular information is displayed in and around the school as well as on our internal briefing section.
We welcome any local employers, post 16+ venues and training providers to get in touch regarding opportunities for work experience and beyond.
Please contact Natalie Gray, Careers & Futures Coordinator, for further information using the details above.
Click on the links for more information:
Provider Access Policy Statement (PAL)