Careers and Work Experience
Careers and Employability
During their time at Stowupland High School, students will take part in various career and employability skills activities. We work with a range of providers to give students the opportunity to learn more about the choices they have for the future. For Careers Programme Key Stage 3 and 4 please see attached at the bottom of the page.
Examples of activities:
Suffolk Skills Show – Year 10 and 11 visit the Suffolk Skills Show to learn more about employment opportunities in the local area.
Learning About Work Day – Local employers are invited to school to teach students about employer skills and expectations. Each student has the opportunity to have a one-to-one interview with a member of school staff and/or a representative from a local business/company.
Careers Fair – This event is open to all students from Y9 upwards to Y13. During this event, students will have the opportunity to discuss, with local and national employers and post-16 providers, jobs or courses that will be available to them when they leave school.
Work placement visits - Throughout the year we organise work placement visits for our younger students so they can see a place of work in action.
Careers information and advice
A dedicated team of staff work to support students through the decision making process and transition points. This includes:
Careers Guidance
During their time at Stowupland High School, students will have the opportunity to receive one-to-one careers information, advice and guidance appointments with our professional Careers Advisor, Mrs Katrina Johnson. Mrs Johnson provides impartial and independent careers advice. Students from any year group can request an appointment. If your child wishes to see the Careers Advisor, they should speak to their Form Tutor or Progress Leader in the first instance. Mrs Johnson supports all of our Year 11 students during the autumn and spring terms, helping them plan for their future and to understand the various choices they have, as well as guiding them through college applications etc.
Year 10 Work Experience
As part of your child’s careers programme and employability skills development, students are required to do one week of work experience during Year 10, this takes place in July.
We believe work experience is highly valuable to our students, giving them the opportunity to see what the working world is like. They learn how places of work are organised, what work processes are and that employer expectations are very different to school. We feel this experience is vital to our students’ development into young adults.
Students are required to source their own placements. Finding a company which can accommodate students for work experience can be a lengthy process and often requires students to follow up with letters and phone calls. Many companies may not accept students and we find a lot of resilience is sometimes needed so that they do not take this personally. If a student feels they need some extra support with cover letters, CVs or ideas they can approach their Form Tutor or Progress Leader.
Employer links
If you are an employer who is interested in offering your time for any of our careers activities, please do get in touch with the school on 01449 674827 or [email protected]. We would be delighted to hear from you.
To view our Provider Access Policy, please see below:
Careers Leader: Mrs A Walden oversees all aspects of our Careers Programme, liaising closely with Mrs Johnson and the Progress Team. For any queries, please email [email protected] or telephone the school on 01449 674827.
Useful Resources
The Source is a website from Suffolk County Council which is designed by young people for young people.
There are many useful pages on this website including: choices at 13+, choices at 16+, a CV builder, various job information as well as signposting young people to information about health, housing and money. It also has a lot of information on apprenticeships, including how to search and apply. You can even download an app which sends alerts to your phone every time a new apprenticeship in your chosen field is uploaded onto the apprenticeship system.
Icould is full of career videos of real life stories from many different industry sectors, from zookeepers to accountants! You can get first-hand information on jobs and ideas for the future from the people who are currently in those roles. You can also take the “Buzz Quiz” in under five minutes and find out what type of animal you are. This is a tool which helps students to start thinking about their career, what they like and what they could do. The ‘Buzz Quiz’, based on Meyers Briggs personality tests, is a simple personality quiz which identifies your character traits and will give you a list of jobs which might be suitable to you.
Start Profile has a lot of information about various employment sectors. You can narrow your search down to look at a specific role and find out all about it, from what skills are needed to how much money you could earn.
Register for a free account and then take the test on this website to see what careers you might be interested in. It may take a little while to complete but Start profile will save your answers for you to come back to at a later date.
This website will help you research a vast range of different careers and the training, qualifications and experience associated with them. FutureLearn is partnered with over 170 world-class universities, institutions and industry leaders to create world-class courses to help you with your career.
www.icanbea.org.ukA recently launched website which provides news, information on events and jobs in the local area. Once you have created an account you can learn more about employers and follow them to keep up-to-date with their latest information.
www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship
This is the apprenticeship website where you can search and filter for current live apprenticeships in your area. You will have to create an account before you apply for most of the apprenticeships here.
This website contains a vast array of general information for school leavers including information about the UK job market, careers sectors, employer profiles and university reviews.
www.nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk
The National Careers Service website has information and careers advice on many job roles. Students can take the ‘skills health check’ to give them some ideas of what area would be suited to them. You can also request to speak to one of their Careers Advisors.