Careers Education and Guidance

Mrs Skelton Careers Lead

Mr Palmer Careers Lead

Provider Access Policy

​Okehampton College believes that good career guidance is critical if young people are to lead a life of choice and opportunity. Okehampton College understands that every young person needs high-quality career guidance to make informed decisions about their future. We aim to raise awareness and confidence, increase motivation and broaden horizons. We help the students to look at preparing themselves for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences they will encounter at school, in further education, and in working life so that all young people can thrive.
 
The Department for Education has updated its guidance and advice for schools, independent careers guidance must be provided in schools in England to all students in years 8 — 13.

• It must be provided in an impartial manner — no bias or favouritism towards a particular education or work option.
• It should explore the range of education or training options — including apprenticeships and other vocational pathways.
• Advice should promote the students’ best interests.

 
The Gatsby Benchmarks that we follow at Okehampton College are a framework of 8 guidelines that define the best careers provision in schools and colleges. Gatsby welcomes the release of the new government careers strategy and its adoption of the Gatsby Career Benchmarks.
 
The eight Gatsby Benchmarks of good Career Guidance are:​

At Okehampton College, all students are provided with a planned and effective careers education program of lessons and activities to translate inspiration from the workplace into motivation in the classroom to help them make decisions and plan their careers, both in School and after they leave.
 
Careers education information and guidance (CEIAG) in the College aims to enable pupils to access impartial information, advice and guidance to help them make successful choices, manage transitions in learning and move into the workplace.
 
Careers education is vital in raising the aspirations and expectations of all pupils as well as developing pupils’ employability and promoting equality of opportunity with it being accessible to all pupils. 

Commitment
 
Okehampton College is committed to providing a planned programme of impartial and accurate careers education information and guidance for all pupils in Years 7-13 in partnership with the Careers South West Enterprise (CSW), Unifrog and Futuresmart.
If you are a parent, carer or local business who would like to get involved in supporting the careers education of our students, then please do get in touch. This could be through our work experience programmes, work shadowing opportunities, workshops or mock interviews. I am keen to work with local providers in order to strengthen our careers provision at Okehampton College and to improve the skills base of young people coming into the local workforce. 
 
You can contact directly by email: [email protected] or [email protected]