We are committed to ensuring that what we offer through our careers programme remains current and relevant to the current labour market information and geographical context therefore allows our students the best possible chance once they finish their studies
At Lift Unity City, we are committed to delivering Careers Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG) across the whole curriculum and across all year groups to ensure that all year groups feel empowered and informed with the knowledge and skills to thrive in the outside world and in their further education.
Our Career’s programme runs from Year 7 to Year 11 alongside our PDC tutor programme to ensure that all students get a wide variety of opportunities and chances to experience life after the academy. This includes: 1:1 careers interviews for our Year 11 and Year 10 students, Year 10 work experience, college visits for our Year 10 students as a whole cohort and aspirational meetings with employers and training providers throughout the academic year.
We provide the opportunity to participate in annual and also one-off experience in close collaboration with Lift Schools, our local colleges, universities, training providers as well as the Careers and Enterprise Company.
All year groups follow a bespoke curriculum for Careers during different sessions throughout each week.
This policy statement sets out the school’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to the school for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the school’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.
It is a government expectation that all young people remain in education, training or employment until the age of 18. Preparing for Post-16 courses and opportunities can be an overwhelming experience for both students, parents and guardians. There are a lot of terms and qualifications types that you may have not come across before and that can be confusing. Hopefully, the following guide will help to answer some of those questions. If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact our careers leaders, who will be able to answer your questions.
T Levels are new technical study programmes that sit alongside apprenticeships and A levels within a reformed skills training system. The introduction of T levels aims to streamline technical education and focuses on developing skills that sit within 15 industry routes. T levels will be level 3 technical study programmes, based on employer-designed standards and content, which will prepare students for highly skilled jobs and enable them to adapt to meet the skills needs of the future. Students achieving T levels will be able to progress to the highest levels of skilled employment or technical education and training at levels 4, 5 and 6. Progression options will include higher and degree level apprenticeships or higher technical education, including technical degrees. Apprenticeships and T levels are on the same set of standards designed by employers and others but there will be a difference in the overall content of each programme to reflect that apprenticeships are mainly delivered in the workplace, and T levels will mainly be delivered in the classroom. Students achieving a T level will have the numeracy, literacy, digital skills and wider transferable skills, attitudes and behaviours needed to succeed in occupations relevant to their chosen route and the wider workplace of the future.
Apprenticeships allow students to earn while they learn. They combine on-the-job experience with college based study. Apprenticeships are Government-funded programmes.
However, students need to approach work places to arrange apprenticeships because many apprenticeships are not advertised until June / July. Students also need to ensure that the employer has, or is willing to establish, a formal relationship with a college for the college based study element of the Apprenticeship. Apprenticeships can be Level 2, 3 or 4. The entry requirements vary considerably depending of the Level of the qualifications.
Functional Skills
These courses cover Maths, English and ICT (computer skills). Students are often instructed by colleges to complete Functional Skills in addition to their chosen courses if they haven’t gained the relevant GCSE pass grades 9-4.
Vocational Courses
Vocational qualifications offer a more practical approach to learning that relates to specific jobs or industries e.g. childcare, business, sport. Unlike A Levels, there are different “Levels” of vocational qualifications.
A Level qualifications are more academic in nature and focus on traditional study skills. They usually take two years to complete.
Entry requirements vary according to which Post-16 Provider students wish to apply for and which subjects they wish to study. Typically, students will be expected to have achieved 5 9-4 Grades including English and Maths. Many courses will ask students to have achieved a Grade 5 or above in the subject they wish to study.
From 2015, the Government introduced changes to ‘A’ Level subjects. These changes mean that the new reformed ‘A’ Levels will be ‘linear’, with all assessment undertaken at the end of two years of study.
The subjects that will be linear from 2015 are English Language, English Literature, English Language & Literature, the Sciences, History, Psychology, Art & Design, Business Studies and Computing.
The remaining subjects will continue as before, with students gaining half their marks assessed through the AS qualification in the first year of study. AS Levels are equivalent to half an A Level. Some students gain an AS qualification and then do not complete the second year to achieve an A Level.
Some Post-16 providers will ask students to select 4 A Level subjects. Some will ask students to select up to 5 A Level subjects.
Upon successful completion of a Level 3 qualification students will be in a position to go into the workplace or apply for University (Level 4) courses.
Miss B Whitfield (Associate Assistant Principal): responsible for strategic leadership of the careers programme.
Miss L Ashenden (Careers Lead and Advisor): The role of the careers lead and advisor is to plan and implement a strategy for developing a careers programme for the Academy that meets benchmarks good practice and prepares young people for the choices and transitions in education, training and employment. To provide professional career guidance services, including personal guidance interviews, in order to improve pupils’ skills, knowledge and understanding for career planning and management.
Our academy is compliant with all 8 Gatsby Benchmarks!
Every learner should have first-hand experiences of workplaces to help their exploration of career opportunities and expand their networks.
For schools:
For colleges and ITPs:
Work experience is a key part of any high-quality careers programme, helping to ensure that young people develop relevant skills for work and supporting transitions from education and training into skilled employment.
Young people want more opportunities to experience a wider range of workplaces to help them to make more informed decisions about their future. So, in addition to the strengthened Gatsby Benchmark, the government is reforming work experience to break down barriers to opportunity so that every pupil will have the opportunity to take part in 2 weeks’ worth of work experience during key stages 3 and 4.
From September 2025, all institutions should adopt the strengthened benchmark. Schools should ensure that every pupil has multiple first-hand experiences of workplaces by the age of 16 and at least one further such experience by age 18. Colleges and ITPs should ensure that every learner has had at least one experience of a workplace during their programme of study. High quality and meaningful experiences of workplaces are a key component of 16 to 19 study programmes.
The benchmark places a much stronger emphasis on ensuring that all learners have multiple, meaningful and varied workplace experiences. The increased flexibility in this model is also intended to reduce barriers for both young people and employers. The approach will support schools with strategic planning working towards the government’s guarantee of work experience.
A meaningful experience of the workplace gives the young person the opportunity to explore what it is like to work in that environment, what skills are valued in the workplace, their recruitment processes and what it takes to be successful. This could be achieved through visits to workplaces, work shadowing or work experience. These experiences could be in person or a combination of in person and virtual, where appropriate.
Both the young person and employers should be supported to prepare for the experience. Additional or different support may be needed for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people and for young people with SEND.
A meaningful experience will:
Schools, colleges and ITPs can take into account any part-time work a young person may have, if it genuinely offers them a meaningful experience. Part-time work can contribute to benchmark 6, but should not replace the need for other meaningful experiences of workplaces.
Our vision is that 2 weeks’ worth of work experience will be based on the following set of principles, building on the benchmark 6 definition of meaningful.
Two weeks’ worth of work experience should be broken down into:
Experiences should be aspirational and inspirational, giving young people the opportunity to access a wide range of career opportunities, aligned to their interests and talents, local skills needs and national growth sectors. Opportunity should go beyond the horizons of their immediate friends and family.
They should be co-designed and delivered in partnership with schools and involve two-way employer-pupil interaction.
Work experience activities in years 7 to 9 should consist of multiple, varied and meaningful employer-led activities to explore different industries and careers and involve active engagement with a diverse range of employers, including small and medium sized enterprises. Activities could include:
These could be undertaken individually or as part of a group or class-based activity. Some or all of the activities can be in person, with virtual activities contributing but not replacing in person.
Work experience placement(s) in years 10 to 11 should allow pupils to experience a real working environment and begin to develop work-based skills and behaviours.
Pupils should be free to undertake their 5 days’ worth of work experience placement(s) in years 10 to 11 with more than one employer, irrespective of sector, and be able to spread their placement time across a number of days or weeks at any point during the year 10 to 11 curriculum. This might be advantageous to young people who are undecided on their careers interests, by offering scope to try more employers and sectors.
We expect that the work experience placement(s) in years 10 to 11 be in-person, but acknowledge that in exceptional circumstances meaningful hybrid or virtual approaches may be impactful in removing barriers to access. In those circumstances, we would expect best endeavours to use remote engagement alongside, but not instead of, in-person activity.
From September 2025, schools should be planning and, where able, reforming their work experience programmes according to these principles so that all pupils can benefit from the opportunities, development and learning that work experience provides.
Schools should consider how to build meaningful experiences of workplaces, delivered under benchmark 6, into a structured work experience programme. The CEC has information on modern work experience, including a framework of structured learning outcomes to help schools implement a modern, progressive approach to work experience. To support this strategic planning, aligning progress towards the work experience guarantee to the school’s priorities, school leaders and careers leaders should refer to theme 5 of the internal leadership review.
DfE will set out more details of the work experience guarantee in due course, including:
Lift Unity City
Ormesby Road
Middlesbrough
Cleveland, TS3 8RE
