Neil Ferraby	Careers Lead	n.ferraby@willowpark.teameducation.org
Sharron Knowles	Extended Schools Co-Ordinator	s.knowles@willowpark.teameducation.org
Richard Leng	Careers Champion	r.leng@willowpark.teameducation.org
Weronika Strozyk	Careers Champion	w.strozyk@willowpark.teameducation.org

We want to empower students to plan and manage their own future, no matter what stage of career development they are currently at. 

We will support students by:

• Responding to their needs and interests 
• Opening doors to experiences and opportunities that help them to progress 
• Help them with opportunities/pathways for everyone to achieve success! 

We will plan a programme of activities to prepare students for their own future pathways, plan for future careers and sustain employability throughout their lives. 

We will ensure a careers' curriculum where learning takes place through engaging activities that are appropriate to students' stages of career learning, planning and development. 

We will deliver a curriculum that teaches our students skills to give them the best chance of success in the world of work. 

Our students will receive a CEIAG provision which meets professional standards of practice and which is person-centred, aspirational, impartial and confidential. The programme will raise aspirations, challenge stereotyping and promote equality and diversity. 

The 8 Gatsby Benchmarks

As a school, we work towards meeting the 8 Gatsby benchmarks, which are:

1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from careers and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each student
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance 

If you want any future information on the 8 Gatsby benchmarks, you can find a description of each benchmark on page 4 of the CEIAG Policy, below.

Strategic Careers Plan

Willow Park's aim is to help pupils develop a greater understanding and acceptance of themselves as positive individuals with a value that goes beyond school. With a nurturing environment and relational practice at our core, we will create a safe space where children feel part of the ‘family’, a space where they feel cared for and can be accepted for who they are. We will be relentless in our pursuit of ensuring our pupils achieve their maximum potential and qualifications, leading to progression to further education and employment.

Preparation for employment is an integral part of everything we do at Willow Park School. We aim to prepare our pupils to go on to further education or skilled employment and enable them to be the best they can be to make a significant contribution to society.

The Strategic Careers Plan, below, goes into more depth as to how we aim to deliver careers at Willow Park.

Benchmark Performance Report
South Yorkshire Careers Hub: Benchmark Performance

The report below includes Willow Park’s most recent Compass report and some suggestions based on how to meet each benchmark or improve our careers provision. This document contains information from the current results across South Yorkshire and Willow Park School. This is to provide us with a current picture of the region and an overview of the Gatsby Benchmarks achievements across South Yorkshire. All data is collected using Compass - a careers tracking software which measures against the Gatsby criteria. This is the same measure Ofsted used to evidence improvement in their most recent inspection update.

How we measure and assess the impact of the careers programme:

At Willow Park School, we use the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks to plan, deliver and evaluate our programme of Careers. (For more information on the 8 Gatsby benchmarks you can find a description of each benchmark on page 4 of the CEIAG Policy.)

We work closely with the South Yorkshire careers hub, who are linked closely with the national careers' strategy. The support we receive directly and positively impacts all of our pupils; providing opportunity, experience and education.

Termly returns are made using the Compass+ platform, which measures the success of the programme and is used nationally to compare against other settings.

We use the future skills questionnaire to inform us of the pupil's voice and to highlight potential areas of transition in order that we can provide meaningful encounters.

We hold the Bronze award in partnership with the skill's builder programme. This initiative has been valuable to all school pupils and aims to bridge the skills gaps in eight key areas. 

The careers programme is reviewed regularly by the careers lead and SLT. The quality of the delivery and planning is subject to quality assurance by SLT.

Willow Park is committed to supporting pupils. We track destination data up to 3 years from the date that they leave school as year 11 pupils. Ongoing support is in place with our ultimate aim of zero NEET (Not in Education Employment or Training) pupils.