Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance

Bilborough College has a long history of providing high quality support for our students. This is provided through a specialist careers and work experience team, our team of committed tutors and also through subject teachers.

Our team

The College’s Careers Plan

The college’s careers and progression support framework is guided by the Gatsby benchmarks, a national framework for the provision of excellent careers information, advice and guidance, which is very much aligned with the college’s own values.

“Gatsby believes that every young person needs high quality career guidance to make an informed decision about their future” (www.gatsby.org.uk)

Benchmark Comments

1

A stable careers programme Underpins everything

2

Learning from career and labour market information Tutorial programme, Unifrog, careers guidance and events

3

Addressing the needs of each pupil Widening participation initiatives, high achievers support, tutorial 1:1, careers adviser and work experience advice.

4

Linking curriculum learning to careers Subject advice, linking events with HE and employers in response to curriculum need, WREP week curriculum sessions

5

Encounters with employers and employees Programme of events, as well as apprenticeship evening and careers fair

6

Experiences of workplaces Support available for work experience, and regular advertising of local and national opportunities

7

Encounters with further and higher education In the tutorial programme, as well as regular lunchtime talks and trips to universities, either general or specific to curriculum areas

8

Personal guidance Qualified careers adviser available, with support from experienced tutors

Throughout their twoyear programme, all students will receive careers education and information through the weekly tutorial programme.  Key areas covered include: post-18 progression options, with focussed sessions on higher education and apprenticeships; work experience; widening participation programmes; UCAS applications and personal statement development; student finance; and alternative pathways for those not going to university. 

Our wider careers programme also includes college-wide events such as Apprenticeship Evening (for parents and students), Higher Education Evening (also for parents and students), our annual Careers Fair, and Work-Related Experiences and Progression Week.  Additionally, we regularly welcome visitors from a range of organisations to speak to our students. 

You can find an outline of the year plan for students here Careers Plan 2023-24

You can find our CEIAG policy here.

The college will assess the impact of its careers programme on students by conducting an annual survey of both students and parents, and by analysing destinations data in line with the activities offered through the programme.  In addition, we will survey the views of students and parents after the college-wide careers events listed above. 

Students are asked about careers in the curriculum through the colleges quality assurance cycle called “subject showcase”.

Our Careers Policy and Careers Programme are reviewed annually, and will next be reviewed in May 2023. 

Specialist support

This is available through the year for students applying for early deadline courses. These are any courses at Oxford and Cambridge, and medicine, dentistry and veterinary science courses at all universities that offer these courses. Students will be asked to express an interest early in year 12 and we encourage them to do so, so they can have the maximum amount of support available for these high-demand courses.

Staff responsible for these groups of students are:

Oxbridge – emma.walkers@bilborough.ac.uk

Medicine, dentistry and veterinary science – james.brackett@bilborough.ac.uk

Specialist support for students applying to conservatoires and drama schools is provided with the music and performing arts departments.

Information for Parents and Carers

You are welcome to contact the careers team at any time for information and advice.

You can have access to Unifrog, the platform used by students to research careers choices. Please contact the careers lead for the access code.

UCAS is the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. Students use this platform to apply to universities and conservatoires, but it also has really useful information on courses and other career options such as apprenticeships. This is the main website www.ucas.com and there is a specific section to help you understand the university admission process UCAS advice for parents and guardians

If any of you are in a position to be able to help our students, for example with work experience, part-time employment or apprenticeship opportunities, please get in touch with a member of the careers team.

Information for external providers

We have a talented pool of students who engage well with external providers and we could not do our job and provide excellent support, without the help of many universities, other higher education providers and national and local employers.

External providers take part in our annual careers fair, apprenticeship and higher education evenings, and are welcome to offer virtual or in-person workshops for our students.

Our Provider Access Policy Statement sets out the college’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to our students for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer.  This complies with the college’s legal obligations under Section 42b of the Education Act 1997, the legal duty known as the Baker Clause, 2018, and the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022.

This list gives an idea of who we already engage with, but is not exhaustive

Universities and other Higher Education providers including….. Employers including…
Coventry University (our BFMAT sponsor) Armed forces
De-Montfort University Boots
Leicester university Civil Service
Lincoln University Electronic Assembly Services Ltd
Loughborough University First Response Finance
University of Nottingham NHS
Nottingham Trent University Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Police
Sheffield Hallam University Rolls Royce
Sheffield University

 

As part of the college’s safeguarding procedures, all external speakers are required to adhere to our external speakers’ policy which you can access here.

Information for students

All current students can contact members of the careers team to arrange a 1:1 appointment for careers or work experience advice. Support is also available from your tutor and using the Unifrog and UCAS platforms. All students have access to the careers sharepoint through student advantage, and can also continue to access Unifrog after they leave college.

Work Experience (WEX)

All students should engage in work experience. This refers to all forms of work-related activity including work tasters, running a student enterprise, participation in social action (e.g. NCS), volunteering or a work placement taken with an external employer. We are encouraging as many students as possible to complete a placement which they can source themselves or find via one of the college links but whichever route they choose they must follow our procedures for this to be considered as work experience.

These will take place during the student’s programme of study, ideally in year 12, and can be completed in college time subject to the necessary approval or in a remote meeting. The full WEX Policy is available here.