Aims
At Bentley Wood High School, we provide a comprehensive programme of careers education in line with the Government’s careers strategy, published on the 4 December 2017 and the Provider Access Legislation, January 2023, which sets out a long-term plan to build a world class careers system that will help young people and adults choose the career that is right for them. This statutory guidance has been updated to expand on the aim set out in the strategy to make sure that all young people in secondary school get a programme of careers education, information, advice and guidance that is stable, structured and delivered by individuals with the right skills and experience.
To achieve this aim, the careers strategy and LAP guidance sets out that every school and academy providing secondary education should use the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s Benchmarks to develop and improve their careers provision. These benchmarks are: (1) To provide a stable careers programme; (2) Learning from career 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; and (8) Personal guidance.
Bentley Wood High School fully supports the statutory requirement for students to have direct access to other providers of further education training, technical training and apprenticeships. The school will comply with the legal requirement to put on at least six encounters with providers of approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships. This will be done in a number of events, as shown in the programme in appendix 1, including assemblies and Active Tutoring activities during National Apprenticeship Week and National Careers Week, in addition to providers attending careers events at school as a live or virtual encounter.
The overarching aim for careers guidance at Bentley Wood focused on widening students’ horizons, challenging stereotypes and raising aspiration. Bentley Wood will provide students with the knowledge and skills to make a successful transition to the next stage of their life and support social mobility by improving the opportunities for all our students (especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with special educational needs and disabilities).
High quality careers education and guidance in school is critical to young people’s futures. It helps to prepare them for the workplace by providing a clear understanding of the world of work including the routes to jobs and careers that they might find engaging and rewarding.
As the number of apprenticeships rises every year, it becomes increasingly important that all young people have a full understanding of all the options available to them post-16 and post-18 including wider technical education options such as T-Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications.
To read the full Careers (CEIAG) Policy please see below.
Parents’ Guide to Careers for National Careers Week 2025
Please find attached the Parents’ Guide to Careers for National Careers Week 2025. This guide helps parents and carers with clear, unbiased advice on post-school options, study and exam revision, and wellbeing. Created in partnership with National Careers Week, this guide supports young people in talking about their futures.
The Parents’ Guide to Green Careers
UNIFROG
In keeping with our commitment to provide students with outstanding careers guidance and tailored support when choosing their next steps after Bentley Wood High School, we use Unifrog www.unifrog.org; an award-winning, online destinations platform. All students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 now have access to this website.
You can watch a short video here explaining UNIFROG https://www.unifrog.org/about
Unifrog is the universal destinations platform and is designed to support learners in making the most informed decisions about their futures and has a range of tools that are suitable for all year groups. Each student has their own account where they can explore all the career and next step options available to them and find information on everything from managing their workload to writing a winning CV. Students have access to a wide variety of video and written content, and interactive quizzes and tests, including:
| Section of the platform | Examples of what students can do |
Suitable age range |
| Quizzes | Finding their interests, personality type, preferred work environment, and skillset. | Years 7-13 |
| Exploring pathways | Explore careers, career sectors, subjects, sign up to free webinars, explore MOOCs and courses, and find wider reading materials. | Years 7-13 |
| Recording what you’ve done | Record their in-class and extracurricular activities, record examples of their skills, and see the record of CEIAG events the school has added to their accounts. | Years 7-13 |
| Searching for opportunities | Find scholarships, activities, and bursaries to support their HE journey. Find and compare degrees in the UK and overseas, live apprenticeships, and FE courses. | Years 10-13 |
| Application materials / Making applications | Write their CV, cover letter, Personal Statement, and more. Track their applications and record their Post 16 / 18 intentions. | Years 11-13 |
Parents/Carers can also have your own Unifrog account. You’ll be able to research careers, attend webinars delivered by employers and universities to learn more about their opportunities, and compare pathways so you can support your child in making an informed decision about their next steps
Year 10 and 12 Work Experience
In an integral part of the Key Stage 4 and 5 school curriculum is the provision of a Work Experience Programme for all students in Year 10. We have found Work Experience to be extremely beneficial to students in preparing them for entering the world of work. It should give them:
- A better understanding of the reality of working life and working relationships
- An opportunity to apply skills learned at school to the work environment
- An opportunity to gain more self confidence
- Students usually go on Work Experience in the last week of the Summer term.
- Your daughter has two options: to ask Bentley Wood High school to find a placement for her or for your daughter to find her own placement.
- The students will receive no payment for this placement because they are still in full time education
All students have to complete the Work Experience Student Application Form which is given to them in October of Year 10.
On the same week the Bentley Wood students will be out on work experience there are many other Harrow High schools also on work experience. It is therefore going to be a challenge to place students in their chosen job area. We very much welcome students using their family and friends’ networks to seek their own work placements.
In particular, if your daughter has an interest in the media, fashion, design, and law, you may want to help her find her placement. These placement opportunities are limited and difficult to get into. If your daughter is hoping to find her own placement, it is necessary for the employer to fill in the Self-Found Placement Form. Last year many of our students found their own placements.
Other Work Experience
At Bentley Wood, we strongly encourage students to undertake work experience whenever possible in other year groups.
This should ideally take place in the school holidays, although leave of absence from school can sometimes be negotiated with your relevant Head of Year – make sure you have a chat with your Head of Year before signing up for any opportunities that arise.
Work Experience Opportunities
Regular work experience opportunities that come to our attention will be posted on their Year Group Team and emailed in careers communications as they often have quite tight timeframes for applications.
The subjects and qualifications you study over Years 9, 10 and 11 will affect how you spend your time during your next three years at Bentley Wood. It could also help set you up for the career or college course you want later on.
How do I choose?
To help you decide what to study in Years 8, 9, 10 and 11, start by asking yourself what you enjoy doing and what you’re good at.
Think about:
- what you’re interested in: it could be other cultures and languages, writing projects, helping people, being outdoors or designing things
- what types of activity you enjoy most – working things out and thinking them through, practical activities or artistic options like painting, drawing or performing music
- what you’re like at home, as well as in school – what skills have you developed following outside interests?
Some red hot tips…..
- Get as much information as you can so you choose well.
- Ask for help from your Head of Year.
- If you have a firm career idea, research it and choose your options accordingly. Remember, no qualification is ever wasted.
- You don’t have to have a career in mind at this stage – you just need to choose subjects and courses that will give you plenty of choice later on.
- Choose subjects that you enjoy!
- Check out whether the subjects have coursework, controlled assessment (NEA) or just exams.
Where can I get help and advice?
The choices are yours, but most people look for advice on important decisions. There’s plenty available, but you should do as much as you can yourself to research all the options.
Parents, carers, family and friends probably know you best, so talking to them can help you work out what might suit you. But remember that they won’t always know a lot about careers or courses you’re interested in. If you’re planning to work towards a particular career or college course, don’t be put off just because it means taking a different direction from friends or family members. Subject teachers know exactly what studying a subject in Year 8, 9, 10 and 11 involves, and can advise whether it’s right for you.
Mrs Ortega (Careers Leader) can guide you towards advice about which subjects and qualifications are useful for particular careers.
Mr Tapper the school’s Careers Adviser, will be at Parents/Options Evening for you to ask any questions.
Options Post 16
What are my Options?
Remember, the participation age has been raised, so you now have to stay in some sort of education or training until your 18th birthday. But you do have a number of options for the form this can take.
A Levels
The most popular option is to continue your studies into A Levels. You can do this at Bentley Wood or at another school with a sixth form or a sixth form college. This provides you with the best basis to access university courses, although it’s not the only way.
Apprenticeships
You can apply to do an apprenticeship and get paid while you learn! For further information on Apprenticeships follow this link: https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship
Other College Courses
You can do a different course at a college. This could be a diploma or a vocational qualification such as an NVQ, a City and Guilds or a BTEC. Mr Tapper, the school’s Careers Adviser, can help you with these.
Skills Route:
Skills Route is a set of tools to help students, explore the different routes that they could take, plan and learn about all the options that are available for study after GCSE and find all the information they need to research college or sixth forms. The link is below.
Useful websites:
The Free Future Finder website helps students learn which STEM A Levels, are used in Medical Careers such as General Practitioner, Hospital Doctor, Surgeon, Psychiatrist and Pathologist. This feature also can be used for other Health and STEM related careers. There are lots of inspirational Career paths to explore here TheFemaleLead.
What are my Options?
Most people in Year 13 at Bentley Wood go through the UCAS application process to get into university. However, there are other options which may very well be right for some of you.
University
Most people at Bentley Wood would look at a full degree taking three years plus, although it also possible to do a Foundation Degree – these last two years and allow more of an option at the end of those two years about what you do next.
Apprenticeships and School Leaver Programmes
You may wish to investigate doing an apprenticeship when you leave Bentley Wood – an increasingly popular (and also competitive) option in the light of the increased burden of student tuition fees at university. For further information on Apprenticeships follow this link: https://www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship
Please view the video link below for information about Higher Education and Apprenticeships. Higher Education and Apprenticeships
Please view the video link below for information about applying to Medical School Update to Medical Admissions – A Guide for Medical Applicants
Gap Year
You may decide to take a gap year before going to university.
Employment
You may wish to leave education entirely at this point and try to get a job.
The Free Future Finder website helps students learn which STEM A Levels, are used in Medical Careers such as General Practitioner, Hospital Doctor, Surgeon, Psychiatrist and Pathologist. This feature also can be used for other Health and STEM related careers. There are lots of inspirational Career paths to explore here TheFemaleLead.
Skills Route
Skills Route is a set of tools to help students, explore the different routes that they could take, plan and learn about all the options that are available for study after GCSE and find all the information they need to research college or sixth forms. The link is below.
Labour market information (or LMI) is essentially data on where people work, the salaries they earn, the skills that are in demand and can forecast future trends and job vacancies. These resources will help you find information on labour market and careers.
Labour Market Information (or LMI) includes:
- Data on where people work
- The salaries they earn
- Skills that are in demand
- Future trends and job vacancies
Resources
National Careers Service provides high quality, free and impartial careers advice, information and guidance to help make decisions on learning, training and work.
This video will give you a brief overview of some of the work the National Careers Service undertakes.
The LMI for All portal provides high quality, reliable Labour Market Information (LMI) to inform careers decisions. http://www.lmiforall.org.uk/explore_lmi/
NOMIS – Nomis is a service provided by the Office for National Statistics, ONS, to give free access to the most detailed and up-to-date UK labour market statistics from official sources.
icould – Free and simple to use, icould.com features over 1000 videos of people talking about their careers – explaining their job role, career path, and how different factors have shaped their direction.
My Learning, My Future is a suite of resources that has been developed in partnership with The Careers & Enterprise Company and Skills Builder to help colleagues speak confidently about careers related to subjects, as well as the various pathways and skills needed by employers.
Quality in Careers Award
We are delighted to announce that the school is currently being considered for recognition with a Quality in Careers Award
