Mission Statement
The School of Coding is a safe, well ordered and caring environment for learning. It delivers high quality education to all its students and supports them to develop their individual potential for growth, self-worth and self-control.
High quality outstanding teaching, and clear and consistent guidance and support facilitates students in succeeding in education. Our broad and balanced academic and vocational curriculum will provide students with access to a broad range of accredited qualifications as well as educational and social experiences, which will address their learning and emotional needs. Our purpose is to support every student to develop their true potential, make positive contributions to their families and find fulfilment in employment.
Values
- Alternative Provision doesn’t mean a dumping ground…it’s main stream with the reasonable adjustments to succeed
- High standards and high expectations are incredibly important and are the corner stones to a successful school
- The School of Coding should become the go-to place for educators from across the country to see best practice
- Good simply isn’t good enough
- Learning is about a journey and there is more than one way to get to the destination
- Qualifications, manners, respect and opportunity should be the foundations for students that need a second chance.
School Ethos
High standards – students are pushed to achieve beyond their potential, and staff work to ensure everything that we do is better than people expect.
Daring to Dream – students at The School of Coding may have been in an educational setting where they lacked aspiration to be successful, at The School of Coding we challenge students to reach their potential and go on to further education and employment.
Traditional Values – some things often get forgotten in education, at The School of Coding we pride ourselves on mutual respect, good manners, making a positive contribution, supporting one another and an orderly, litter free environment.
Success – can come in many virtues, at The School of Coding we celebrate the small steps every day and tell students when they are doing well. We ensure that students can have a successful future.
Personalised Support – all students at The School of Coding have a Learning Coach who guides them, sets them bespoke targets and supports them in making social and academic progress.
STATEMENT OF INTENT
This policy is underpinned by Sections 42A and 45A of the Education Act 1997, and has due regard to the DfE’s statutory guidance, ‘Career’s guidance and access for education and training providers’, which was last updated in October 2018.
The main aims of careers provision at The School of Coding are to:
- Prepare Instil a healthy attitude towards work.
- pupils for life post-education.
- Develop an understanding of different career paths and challenge stereotypes.
- Develop an understanding of the differences between school and work.
- Inspire pupils to chase and achieve their dreams.
- Help pupils to access information on the full range of post-16 education and training opportunities.
- Support pupils after leaving school.
- Offer targeted support for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people
1. LEGAL FRAMEWORK
1.1. This policy has due regard to legislation and statutory guidance, including, but not limited to, the following:
- DfE ‘Career’s guidance and access for education and training providers’ 2018
- Education Act 1997
- Education and Skills Act 2008
- Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009
- Equality Act 2010
- Children and Families Act 2014
- Technical and Further Education Act 2017
- The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2018
2. A STABLE CAREERS PROGRAMME
2.1. A careers leader will be appointed to ensure the leadership and coordination of a high-quality careers programme. The careers leader is recruited alongside the suggested requirements to ensure the role is correctly fulfilled. The name and contact details of the career’s leader will be published on the school website.
2.2. A careers adviser will be appointed to support the careers leader and to provide individual, tailored careers guidance to pupils.
2.3. Details of the school’s careers plan will be published on the school website inviting pupils, parents, teachers, governors and employers to provide feedback.
2.4. The Director will work with enterprise coordinators to build careers and employer engagement plans to broaden the range of guidance that pupils have access to.
3. LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION
3.1. The school will ensure every pupil, and their parents, has access to good-quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities.
3.2. Pupils and their parents will be referred to the National Careers Service which offers information and professional advice via a website, helpline and web chat.
3.3. The school will ensure pupils and their parents understand the value of finding out about the labour market, and support them in accessing this information. Pupils and their parents will be provided with information on the benefits of understanding the labour market, including the salaries and promotion opportunities for different jobs, and the volume and location of vacancies across different sectors.
3.4. The school will ensure that all pupils, by the age of 14, have accessed and used information about career paths and the labour market to inform their decisions on study options.
3.5. The school will provide pupils with the necessary links and information that will enable them to access this. Access will be monitored to review whether pupils are making the most of the service, and if not, what can be done to ensure they do.
3.6. The school will make use of local enterprise partnerships to provide pupils with presentations and workshops on the local labour market and employer expectations. The information provided through the partnership will be used to shape career guidance and workshops in schools.
3.7. To support social mobility, the school will work to raise pupils’ aspirations and tackle stereotypical assumptions. Interventions will be used to tackle gender stereotypes; arrangements will be made for pupils to talk to employees who work in non-stereotypical jobs to raise awareness of the range of careers that STEM qualifications lead to.
4. ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF PUPILS
4.1. The school’s careers programme will aim to raise the aspirations of all pupils whilst being tailored to individual needs. The programme will inform pupils of the range of opportunities available to them, encouraging them to aim higher and make choices relevant to what they feel they can achieve.
4.2. All forms of stereotyping will be prohibited in the careers advice and guidance that is provided, to ensure pupils from all backgrounds, gender and diversity groups, and those with SEND, can consider the widest possible range of careers.
4.3. Comprehensive and accurate records will be kept to within the online Careers Tracking software Compass Plus. The school will allow access to this information, should a pupil or their parent request it.
4.4. Destination’s data will be retained by the school for at least three years.
Information about destinations, e.g., the percentage of pupils attending sixth form or college will be published on the school’s website alongside the school’s careers programme.
4.5. The school will collect and analyse destinations data to assess how well the careers programme is countering stereotypes and raising aspirations. The data will be reviewed by the Director and Careers Leader on a termly basis who can then base further development of the school’s career guidance plan on the results and areas of success or failure.
5. TARGETED SUPPORT
5.1. The school will work with the Local Authority to identify pupils who are in need of targeted support or those who are at risk of not participating in post-16 pathways. Agreements will be made over how these pupils can be referred for support drawn from a range of education and training support services available locally.
The school will work in partnership with their commissioning schools and Local Authorities, as well as post-16 providers, to provide support and advice on transitional pathways into Further Education or training.
5.2. The school will work with Jobcentre Plus under their ‘Support for Schools’ programme.
5.3. The school will ensure that pupils understand the programmes available to support them and the financial costs associated with staying in post16 Further Education.
5.4. To support pupils who are likely to need support with post-16 participation costs, such as those with SEND, the school will work with the Local Authority and local post-16 education or training providers to share pupil data and ensure these pupils receive such support.
5.5. The school will ensure that pupils are aware of the 16-19 Bursary Fund, which has been devised to support those individuals with financial hardship. Pupils will be advised of how to access this funding and who they should speak to in order to find out more information.
6. Pupils with SEND
6.1. The school will ensure that careers guidance is differentiated, if appropriate, and based on high aspirations and a personalised approach.
6.2. The Careers Leader will work closely with staff to support pupils with understanding different career pathways and how to develop the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and qualifications to succeed and fulfil their potential. The school will work with families of pupils to help them understand what career options are available.
6.3. Surveys will be conducted to find out individual pupil’s aspirations. The results of the surveys will create careers guidance and experience that will be tailored to pupils needs based on their own aspirations and abilities.
6.4. Career’s guidance will take account of the full range of relevant education, training and employment opportunities. It will inform pupils about the ways employees with SEND are supported in the workplace, and how jobs can be adapted to fit a person’s abilities.
6.5. The school will build partnerships with businesses and other employers, employment services, and disability and other voluntary organisations. Pupils will be prepared for encounters with employers and provided with any special support that will allow them to benefit fully from the experience.
6.6. Career’s guidance will focus on a pupil’s career aspirations and the post16 options which are most likely to give the pupil a pathway into employment or HE.
6.7. The SEND local offer will be utilised; annual reviews for a pupil’s EHC plan will be informed by good careers guidance.
Pupils with SEND will have the opportunity to hear from adults with disabilities who have succeeded in their careers as part of the school’s successful careers strategy.
6.8. When arranging work experience for pupils, the school will work with the employer to determine any additional support that will be needed during the work placement.
7. WORK EXPERIENCE
7.1. The school will ensure that all pupils have had at least one experience of a work place by the age of 16 including the following:
- Workplace visits
- Work experience (1-2 weeks)
- Job shadowing
- Career-related volunteering and social action
8. PERSONAL GUIDANCE
8.1. All pupils will be provided with opportunities for personal guidance interviews with a qualified Careers Adviser. Such interviews will take place by the time the pupil reaches age 16.
8.2. Career’s advisers working with pupils with SEND will use the outcome and aspirations in the EHC plan to focus discussions.
8.3. Career’s advisers working with Looked After Children or care leavers will use their personal education plan to focus discussions. These pupils will have a named adviser who will build a relationship with them to better understand their individual needs.
9. INFORMATION SHARING
9.1. The school will provide the relevant information about all pupils to the Local Authority support services including:
- Basic information, such as the pupil’s name or address.
- Other information that the Local Authority requires to support the pupil to participate in education or training to track their progress.
9.2. The school’s privacy notice will offer pupils and their parents the opportunity to ask for personal information not to be shared.
9.3. Local Authorities will be notified, as early as is possible, whenever a 16- or 17-year-old pupil leaves an education or training programme before completion. The school will agree on local arrangements for ensuring these duties are met.
This page was last updated on 19/01/2023