Our Careers Programme

We recognise the value for students and to society of a wide-ranging but structured careers education programme. Good careers education is critical to ensuring that each student achieves their aspirations and becomes open to any experiences available to them. However, we will also ensure that our programme is not delivered using a 'one size fits all' approach. In fact, at Exceptional Ideas Ltd., we pride ourselves on treating each student as an individual and will adapt our teaching to maximise the potential of our students with their interests and aspirations in mind.

Our careers education offers a broad range of opportunities for students to develop their knowledge, improve their self-awareness and raise their aspirations to benefit their future learning and working lives. This work will be completed with support but also with a view to improving independence as students continue through the school years.

We value input into our programme from students, parents/carers, staff and employers and use a range of methods to communicate details about our programme including 10 weekly review documents, discussions and telephone conversations as well as updates on the website and Facebook page. We welcome contact from employers and other education providers and have a provider access policy in place to assist with this. Transition Leads will support parents, students and staff and are available for them to access information about our transition programme within each individual school.

All students will receive different levels of careers education, information, advice and guidance at a variety of stages throughout their secondary education.

Year 7

• Opportunities to explore careers relevant to STEAM lesson plans
• Opportunities to attend career events such as talks and visits

Year 8

• Opportunities to explore careers relevant to STEAM lesson plans
• Opportunities to attend career events such as talks and visits
• Half termly transition lessons to explore career aspirations

Year 9

• Opportunities to attend career events such as talks and visits
• Weekly transition lessons to further explore aspirations, develop exam and employability skills, research opportunities for further education and improve independence
• Annual careers guidance interview with their Preparation for Adulthood Adviser

Year 10

• As Year 9, plus preparing for exams, planning and completing work experience

Year 11

• As year 9, plus visits to further and higher education providers, developing independent study skills and applying for further education
• Aspiration work to address any outstanding issues or concerns about transition or the future.

Scheme of Work

The planned scheme of work for lessons from Year 9 is:

Lessons from Year 11.3 onwards will be needs based and a bespoke plan will be created to address specific areas.

Plans may not always work consistently to the Year/HT. Although Transition Coordinators will aim to schedule the lesson plans as above, delivery of these plans may change when a student joins Exceptional Ideas Ltd. after Year 9 or due to the priorities for their learning.

Measuring the effectiveness of our careers programme

The level of understanding demonstrated from our careers programme is measured through a RAG (red, amber and green) system in each of our half termly lesson plans. We also record any links to the achievement of skills within each student's social skills checklist. Any work experience, employer encounters or attendance at career events are recorded in individual transition work trackers. We review transition arrangements for each student as part of our ongoing 10 weekly student review process.

We have recently begun to collect information on the destinations that our students move on to and parents/students are asked complete a form allowing us to contact them to about what they go on to do for further education, higher education and work. This information will be analysed to provide statistics for us to publish on our website.

Review of published information

All published information will be reviewed annually with the next review due in September 2025.

Careers Newsletter

A newsletter about careers is available to download below. The latest one is at the top:

About The Transition Team

The transition team are available to help students develop their self-awareness, raise their aspirations, improve their independence, support their development and improve their confidence. We help inform students about potential career routes and provide ongoing support with applying for college or work-based learning when the time comes for students to leave us.

Lesson plans are delivered in a fun and interesting way that meets the needs of each individual student. Students will get the opportunity to participate in employer and work encounters from year 7 through to year 11 and from year 9 will begin weekly transition lessons.

Students will complete a needs/aspiration driven work experience placement which is usually done in year 10. Each individual coordinator will oversee the transition work students are completing, monitoring it to ensure that it is always meeting their needs.

Our Careers Leader is Ali Goode. Find out a little more about her below.

Schools Transition Team

Within each school, we have a Transition Coordinator. You can find out more below:

Resources

There are a load of resources available for everyone. We cater to everyone in order to help not just our students, but also our mentors who work tirelessly, along with parents/carers that may need help from time to time, and also for prospective employers.

From the following list, please choose which section you would like to visit. This will go to a new page, with resources listed.

Student Destinations

Where our Students Go

When our students leave us, they embark on a new journey outside of school life. This can mean going to college, a special provision, or straight in to work.

Below is a pie chart showing where our students leaving in 2024 went when they left us.

Click here for 2023's destinations.