At Atkinson School, we recognise that at the core of everything we do is progress. This progress takes shape in many forms but the holistic journey that our young people go on is something we are incredibly proud of.
Alongside the academic and personal development side of our curriculum, is also the progressive future planning that we do with our young people.
Whilst so much of it is out of their control, we work alongside them to encourage goals and aspirations for their future. As the majority of our young people come in at the very base level of the Trauma Recovery Model, sometimes looking long term can be incredibly intimidating so this has to approached with high levels of support and as they progress through the stages.
We embed the Gatsby Benchmarks where possible throughout our curriculum and use the support of a designated careers advisor to formally approach this topic with young people.
Examples of how we meet the Gatsby Benchmarks
Gatsby Benchmark 1 – A stable careers programme
- Regular meetings with a formal careers advisor (Sally Trump) who comes in to do future planning with young people.
- Access to a PSHEE curriculum which includes: aspirations, careers skills, employability and CV writing.
Gatsby Benchmark 2 – Learning from labour market information
- Use recent case studies as examples of cross curricular, such as using cost of Alton Towers trips to budget within maths as well as tips and percentage increases.
- Jobs that are of interest to them and are popular within their area. For example if a young person is moving to a heavily tourist area we may discuss career paths that are appropriate to that.
Gatsby Benchmark 3 – Addressing the needs of every pupil
- Individualise their programme of approach according to the Trauma Recovery Model to ensure that it is not overwhelming.
- Programme experiences such as work experience or trips and visits according to interests and future pathways. For example, we have had learners go and be Dartmoor Rangers for a day once a fortnight to experience their role.
Gatsby Benchmark 4 – Linking curriculum learning to career
- We have previously used programmes such as Duke of Edinburgh to support career opportunities within the curriculum.
- The individualised approach to the curriculum allows for the teaching staff to personalise the learning according to interest. For example, if we have young people particularly interested in hair and beauty then maths work will be around stock product, their speaking and listening would be about the process of shampooing someone’s hair and they would create a collage in art of the similar interests.
- Increasing key skills within core subjects so young people are actually able to have a variety of options as they move forward – such as gaining functional skills to access college courses and AQAs to demonstrate what they have been learning and experiencing.
Gatsby Benchmark 5 – encounters with employers and employees
- Where possible, we get young people out into the local community as much as possible so that they can have informal encounters with several employers and employees and see how society works.
- We regularly have external visitors come in and young people will ask a lot of questions about how their business works – for example, Bales Buddies is a business that a lot of young people are interested in and want to know how it works.
- If a young person has a particular interest in an area, we can set up a particular experience for them so that they are able to have the appropriate encounter. For example, one young person went to the Donkey Sanctuary, Paignton Zoo and Dartmoor Zoo and was supported by staff to enquire about the running of the various places and how they look after their business and animals.
Gatsby Benchmark 6 – Experiences of workplaces
- This is often done overtime with workplaces often coming to us before our young people go to them. This ensures that the relationships are built and there are clear steps for progress to build confidence and skill for the young person. An example of this is Hair@TheAcademy, a provider that come in and see our young people once a week and once the young person is ready, they are able to continue their qualification by attending their provision.
Gatsby Benchmark 7 – Encounters with further and higher education
- As our young people get to an age where further and high education are an option, we do what is appropriate to support them in their experiences. This can involve anything from researching on the internet for various providers and courses, attending meetings alongside young people to help advocate for their preferences as well as physically taking young people to potential colleges.
- On top of this, we always provide samples of work and information on the young people to transition with them so that they are set up to be as successful as possible.
Gatsby Benchmark 8 – Personal guidance
- Young people have regular meetings with Sally Trump our designated careers advisor. We have a teacher with a Level 2 certificate in IAG.
- There is a lot of ‘informal’ guidance given by key workers, teachers and other people within the home that share good relationships about a young person’s interests.
- Within core subjects, we use a variety of career based examples which naturally flare conversations around futures and interests.