Ark Academy uses the Gatsby Benchmarks as a guide to plan our careers programme. As part of our commitment to informing our pupils of the full range of learning and training pathways on offer to them, we consider all requests from training, apprenticeship and vocational education providers to speak to pupils and students.
Ark Academy also proactively seeks to build relationships with these partners as we plan our pathway & Enrichment activities throughout the school year to ensure that providers have multiple opportunities to speak to students and their parents across years 7-13, to offer information on vocational, technical and apprenticeship qualifications and pathways. Ark Academy ensures that Academy staff involved in personal guidance and pastoral support are up to date on their knowledge of these post 16 and post 18 pathways, through a programme of Continuing Professional Development.
Opportunities for providers to speak with pupils and students may include school assemblies, employer and provider engagement events or opportunities to speak with students and parents on a one-to-one basis supporting GCSE, post 16 or post 18 option choices.
Ark Academy's Destination programme is monitored for quality and impact by the Academy’s Senior Leadership and Governance Teams and monitoring of access to and opportunities to engage with, technical, vocational, and training providers will form part of this process.
In the first instance, requests by providers should be sent to the Academy’s Careers Leader, Stephen O’Carroll with a minimum of 6 weeks’ lead time. All requests will be considered based on; staffing availability to support the activity, clashes with other planned activity, trips or visits, interruption to preparation for examinations or rooming and space availability to host the activity.
For questions on this or Ark Academy’s wider Pathways and Enrichment programme, please contact the following staff, depending on the age group of students:
|
Age range |
Name |
|
Primary |
Mr J. Elliott |
|
Secondary |
Mr S. O’Carroll |
|
Sixth Form |
Ms L. Sach |
Our Careers Lead
Mr O'Carroll
The aim of Ark Ambitions is to ensure that all our students are prepared for life after Ark Academy, for university and for the world of work. We particularly want to help students develop the skills and knowledge needed for the changing job market which we set out to achieve through giving students a range of opportunities to engage with employers, further education, and higher education providers through their time at the Academy.
Our aim is to meet all the Gatsby Benchmarks** to ensure we are providing the best preparations for our pupils. We use the Gatsby Benchmarks as a guide to plan our Careers & Enrichment programme. As part of our commitment to informing our students of the full range of learning and training pathways on offer to them, we are happy to consider requests from training, apprenticeship and vocational providers to speak to students.
**A detailed overview of each of the Gatsby Benchmarks can be found here.
Strategic partnerships
Through the Ark Ambitions programme we have developed a number of key partnerships in order to deliver on our commitment to excellent careers and pathways opportunities and guidance. A number of these partners offer additional opportunities alongside the entitlement for all students listed above. These opportunities are tailored to the interests and needs of individuals at various key points to ensure a personalised approach to Ark Ambitions.
A key partnership exists with Prospects who deliver impartial careers guidance to all KS4 & KS5 students through one to one or small group sessions. This partnership has developed further to include support through particiaption in the local careers cluster [LEAN Network]
Disha Dansghani is our dedicated [impartial] careers advisor and can be contacted via email.
Alongside this, we have an incredible relationship with Ipsos Mori, the global leader in market and opinion research. Through this partnership we are able to offer business insight visits to our students in year 10. A number of sixth form students receive hints, tips and practice in interview skills along with the opportunity to attend qualitative skills and project management masterclasses. This partnership has seen students gain work experience at the Ipsos head offices and a small number of sixth form students have gained paid employment during their holidays.
Further programmes include the Into University programme. Into University provides academic support, mentoring and programmes that promote young people’s aspirations. This programme runs for targeted groups of students who meet the eligibility criteria.
Unifrog is an online platform available to all students in Years 7-13. It enables students to explore how their individual interests can lead to different education and training pathways. Students can explore what steps need to be ticked off to stand the best chance of application success; be it for apprenticeships, universities or scholarships to top US universities. Students also have access to online learning modules accredited by universities to help them stand out from the crowd in the competitive field of applications.
As part of Ark Schools we also receive support and guidance from the Ark Schools Pathways and Enrichment team. This includes a variety of support benefits such as helping us to engage with employers and employees from highly successful businesses, arranging encounters with further and higher education providers and assisting with the policy design behind our stable careers and pathways programme.
