CAREERS EDUCATION, INFORMATION, ADVICE AND
GUIDANCE (CEIAG)

Useful Websites

• Useful Careers Websites download_for_offline
  download_for_offlineUseful Careers Websites

 

An Overview

The Castle School believes one of its fundamental purposes is to support all students in learning about, preparing for and making informed decisions about the world of work and their own career pathways. All aspects of school and Personal Development should play a part in developing students’ skills, knowledge, interests and personal qualities, all of which help lead to an appropriate career pathway. But we also believe that a structured programme of learning and opportunities are needed to help students do this successfully.

The main strands of our Careers, Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) programme are summarised below.

• Taught Programme. All students in Years 7-13 follow our formal Personal Development curriculum, in which CEIAG is one of the key themes. This programme will include encounters with employers. Awareness of skills, knowledge, careers pathways and role-modelling should be implicit and explicit in all subjects within a student’s timetable.
• Work Experience. During Years 10/11, we aim for all students to take part in at least one formal work experience placement all during the same week (usually during Year 10).  In addition, some students complete two placements.  In Post-16 all students are able to include a formal work placement in their timetabled study programme if they wish, and all students are encouraged to undertake at least one work-shadowing opportunity. Year 10 Work Experience for 2025/26 will take place from March 23rd - 27th 2026. Contact melanie.price@cset.co.uk with any queries.
• Individual Guidance. We engage an independent careers advice company, Compass Careers, to provide individual advice for students at key decision points. A number of key school staff are also involved in providing 1:1 guidance for students. Students in KS4 and Post-16 all receive at least one 1:1 session to help focus on their progression pathways. Mrs Price also provides support and a drop in service at our Careers Office in school.
• Careers Information and Support: 
  - Unifrog: all students use the national online careers platform: Unifrog. Parents/carers are also able to have a log-in.  Please click here for a guidance video: Unifrog Information
  - Newsletter: a careers update newsletter is circulated to students and parents/carers throughout the year via email and contains all available opportunities for information events, courses, competitions and job and apprenticeship opportunities.
  - Higher Education Support: students applying to competitive Higher Education routes with additional entry requirements will receive additional support throughout their application process including visits to national information events, face-to-face events in school, visits to Oxbridge colleges, mentoring by local professionals, interview training and mock interviews.  We are particularly pleased that so many students who have taken this route themselves offer to come back and support future cohorts.
• STEM. Our students live in an area in which career opportunities in STEM areas are much higher than other areas of the country.  Thus, in line with national guidance, Castle School has taken a strong role in promoting awareness of STEM opportunities, working closely with external agencies in order to do so. We are particularly grateful to local employers such as Renishaw, Essilor, Airbus, Rolls Royce and Hydrock, who support us so well.
• Participation Activities for disadvantaged and SEND students . We have recognised that some of our students find it harder to engage with some aspects of the above provision, and need additional help to consider ambitious career pathways. Our SEND team runs a programme of individual and group tasters, familiarisation visits and wider experiences in conjunction with our Enterprise Adviser and South Gloucestershire council. 

careers year plan 2025 26 termly.pdf

Key Personnel

SLT Lead : Mrs Elizabeth Smith, oversight of all aspects of CEIAG provision and Personal Development lead for Post-16. (elizabeth.smith@cset.co.uk)

Work-Related Learning Manager: Mrs Melanie Price. (melanie.price@cset.co.uk)

External Careers Advisor : Our Compass Careers Advisors are qualified to level-6/7 in Careers Guidance.

Personal Development Coordinator : Mrs Rebecca Maurice oversees all aspects of the taught Personal Development curriculum in Years 7-11. (rebecca.maurice@cset.co.uk). 

Enterprise Coordinator : Ms Julie Ilogu, Julie is employed by West of England Careers Hub and is our link Enterprise Coordinator who liaises with school regularly, provides additional training and guidance, but also monitors and helps to evaluate the school’s progress in CEIAG against the national Gatsby Benchmarks.  

Enterprise Adviser : Mr Andrew Low.  The Enterprise Adviser is a volunteer whose role is to help bridge the gap between the world of work and education. They work with the Careers Leader and wider senior leaders to support the school strategically and to make links with the local community.  

Post 16 Student Support Workers : Mrs Sarah MacIsaac and Mr Russ Summers. These two colleagues work full-time in our Post-16 Centre supporting students, and their role includes group and individual activities to support study, personal development and CEIAG. (sarah.macisaac@cset.co.uk; russell.summers@cset.co.uk)

Gatsby Benchmarks

The 8 Gatsby Benchmarks are a framework for good career guidance, developed to support schools in providing the best possible careers education, information, guidance and support. Each benchmark contains a range of measures of good practice. The 8 benchmarks are:

 

Destinations

Each year we track the ongoing destinations of leavers from Years 11, 12 or 13 – and share this information with South Glos Council, in order to identify any students needing wider intervention or support. Please see the link below to a privacy notice from South Gloucestershire Council Education, Employment & Training Post 16, for students/parents/carers to understand that we are required to share their data with the Local Authority.    PN-Employment-Education-Training-Tracking.pdf (southglos.gov.uk). 

Additional CEIAG events that have place in previous years

Year 7 - The West in Minecraft - DETI Inspire Workshop

DETI Inspire is managed by UWE Bristol’s School of Engineering with funding from the Digital Engineering Technology & Innovation initiative (DETI).  In February, Year 7 students attended an hour-long session using ‘The West in Minecraft’ educational resources that took a digital, play-based approach to engineering using the popular game Minecraft.  Students were supported to develop their own ideas and problem solving skills, and engage with engineering as a creative and diverse subject that can impact the world around us.  The event will be repeated yearly.

Year 9 - Unlock Cyber Taster Day - UWE Bristol

Students in Years 8 & 9 attended an Unlock Cyber Taster Day at UWE in June.  The event was aimed at inspiring those who are interested in cyber and taking Computer Science at GCSE. 

This opportunity really enhanced their knowledge and understanding and was a fun day with other students, to explore the world of Computer Science.  The day consisted of hands-on cyber activities and problem-solving team challenges, i.e. a Lego challenge and a new cyber game, and was organised by leading regional employers from the cyber sector.  The event will hopefully be repeated yearly.

Provider Access Legislation (PAL) Talks

The Provider Access Legislation states that from 1 January 2023, all schools must provide at least six encounters with a provider of technical education or apprenticeships for students in Years 8 to 13. Two encounters for pupils should be during the 'first key phase'. 

Interested in providing work experience or talking to our students about your job, please click on the following link: 

Local Careers opportunities for students