Careers education and guidance at The Royal School gives individual, positive support to each pupil, enabling them to aspire and achieve.
Careers education and guidance at The Royal School gives individual, positive support to each pupil, enabling them to aspire and achieve.
At The Royal School we take Careers seriously. We are connected, versatile, relevant and friendly. Careers education is integrated into the curriculum from Year 7 through to Year 13, and enhanced by events, activities and input from external contacts, parents and organisations. Our School Governors actively support and engage with our work.
Our Senior School careers programme is flexible and responsive, laying the foundations for aspiration and sound decision-making for each individual pupil. In Years 7 and 8, pupils are encouraged to research and reflect on their changing ideas and interests benefitting from bespoke lessons on challenging career stereotypes to undertaking national careers competitions. In Year 9 pupils are guided in preparation for making GCSE choices utilising the psychometric tool Morrisby, to identify their strengths and further linking this to careers and possible option subjects. In Year 10, pupils undertake further career research, develop career management skills and continue their Morrisby Online psychometric assessment to strengthen their self-awareness and decision-making. At this stage pupils also receive a one-to-one guidance interview with our school Careers Advisor to review Morrisby results and formulate a targeted action plan for future development. In Year 11, all pupils receive intensive careers lessons focussing on employability skills for the future and exploration of post 16 options.
We are professional. Our qualified Careers Adviser (Mrs Katharine Fry) works to maximise our external contacts. As a member school of the CDI (Career Development Institute, the professional body for Careers practitioners in the UK) our work is anchored by best practice, whilst embracing creativity and a sense of fun. We connect with universities, training providers and employers and receive valuable additional support from many Royal School parents and past pupils. All students are encouraged to obtain relevant work experience, particularly for competitive study or career pathways.
The school runs a biennial Careers Fair for those in Year 9 and above. Pupils are encouraged to be curious, have confidence to network and to ask questions.
Our Careers programme for years 7-13 is constantly reviewed to ensure that it is effective and relevant for every pupil and has been developed in line with Gatsby Benchmarks (https://www.gatsby.org.uk/education/focus-areas/good-career-guidance) and the CDI Framework (https://www.thecdi.net/CDI/media/Write/Documents/CD1_85-Framework_poster-web.pdf)