Okehampton College uses the Gatsby Benchmarks as a guide to plan our careers and enrichment programmes. 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 education providers to speak to students.
This policy statement sets out the school’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to pupils at Okehampton College for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training. This complies with the school’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.
All pupils in years 8-13 are entitled:
to find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point
to hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options events, assemblies and group discussions and taster events
to understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.
Opportunities for providers to speak with 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. Okehampton College careers and enrichment programme is monitored for quality and impact by the College 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. Several events, integrated into the school careers programme, will offer providers an opportunity to come into school to speak to pupils and/or their parents/carers.
All requests will be considered based on; staffing availability to support the activity, clashes with other planned activity, trips or visits to the College, interruption to preparation for examinations and rooming and space availability to host the activity. This will all be discussed and agreed in advance of the visit with the Careers Leader or a member of their team. Providers are welcome to leave a copy of their prospectus or other relevant course literature at the main reception.
Okehampton College would like to welcome further providers to attend the school and speak to students regarding employment, apprenticeships, training providers and employers. Please contact Mr N Sproats (SLT-careers lead) or alternatively Mrs J Luckhurst (careers education lead) or Mr R Corkell (SLT – careers oversight) if you would like to be a part of the careers programme.
Assessment of the impact of the careers programme on students Okehampton College is currently working towards initiating a half yearly questionnaire/survey to assess the impact of the careers programme on students. Survey information received will be published on the Careers webpage once completed