Why do we teach Careers?

At Monkseaton Middle School we aim to inspire our pupils’ aspirations and self-belief. For a child to work hard and achieve their potential, it needs to be purposeful; Careers education can support with this. By developing a knowledge of what their futures may hold, it allows the pupils a chance to see the end goal, to understand where they are trying to get to.

Careers education plays a key role in raising aspirations and giving the children steps to achieve their goals. This is undertaken through a range of strategies including Careers theme days, bespoke planning within Personal Development and elements written into planning across all year groups and all curriculum subjects.

The following information and links include details regarding the Gatsby Benchmarks, the measures by which all schools must successfully deliver Careers education to pupils.

‘The Government’s careers strategy 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. To achieve this aim, the careers strategy sets out that every school providing secondary educations should use the Gatsby Charitable Foundation Benchmarks to develop and improve their careers provision…The Gatsby Benchmarks are not a statutory framework but by adopting them, schools can be confident that they are fulfilling their legal duties.’  

Careers guidance and access for education and training providers (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Careers strategy: making the most of everyone’s skills and talents (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Monkseaton Middle School has been working since the publication of this document, along with ‘Careers Strategy: making the most of everyone’s skills and talents’ (DfE Dec 2017), to put in place a well-structured careers service for our pupils in Key Stage 3. However, as a middle school, we made the decision to include all year groups in our Careers Education Independant Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) provision to enable even the youngest pupils have early access to this valuable information.

The school has adopted the Gatsby Benchmark Toolkit and is also working with The Talent Foundry, Connexions, NT Learning Trust, North Tyneside Council, Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE) providers and a wide range of local employers. Theses providers assist in ensuring best practice for our pupils in provision of careers information, advice and guidance. 

What are the Gatsby Benchmarks?

The Gatsby Benchmarks provide the structure to our growing careers programme which aims to give all our pupils the advice and guidance they need to make informed decisions about their futures.

In 2014, Lord Sainsbury’s Gatsby Charitable Foundation published a report by Professor Sir John Holman, Adviser in Education at the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, titled “Good Career Guidance.”

The report identified eight benchmarks that are the core dimensions of good careers and enterprise provision in schools. These benchmarks are a central component of the DfE “Careers Strategy” that was published in December 2017 and are what we as a school strive to achieve every day for all pupils at Monkseaton Middle.

Benchmark 1 – A Stable Careers Programme
Benchmark 2 – Learning from career and labour market information
Benchmark 3 – Addressing the needs of each pupil
Benchmark 4 – Linking curriculum learning to careers
Benchmark 5 – Encounters with employers and employees
Benchmark 6 – Experiences of workplaces (N/A for middle schools)
Benchmark 7 – Encounters with further and higher education
Benchmark 8 – Personal Guidance

Careers programme information

Careers education is delivered through wider-curriculum opportunities including the Personal Development curriculum, tutorial programme, planned drop-down days and other bespoke events/activities. These are published on the Family Calendar.

At Monkseaton Middle School we implement a progressive programme that broadens horizons, and scaffolds development of the knowledge and understanding required for pupils to identify their best next steps, starting from when pupils join in Year 5.

We work closely with the North Tyneside Learning Trust to support our careers education programme by providing career related workshops for all years across the academic year. The school also use the careers guidance service Connexions both these providers support school to ensure we meet the Gatsby Benchmarks. 

Along with regular classroom-based sessions across the year groups, the following events take place each year. 


Year Group
CEIAG – 2024/2025

Whole School
4th – 8th March National Careers Week

Y5
Blockbuster – Careers workshop run by North Tyneside Learning Trust World of Work.

Y6		Desert Island employability skills session, North Tyneside Larning Trust World of Work 
Royal Navy workshop
What is Unifrog? Preparing for Key Stage 3
Careers in STEM – run by Newcastle Eagles

Y7		Career zone – North Tyneside Learning Trust World of Work
Newcastle University – Future choices workshops
Beginning Unifrog – My career journey
Department of work and pensions workshops

Y8		Barclays Life Skills – 4 sessions in the Autumn term.
HE workshops – Newcastle University
Career zone – North Tyneside Learning Trust World of Work
Connextions interviews
Theatre production – Roles within the NHS
Department of work and pensions workshops

There are further opportunities presented to our school throughout the year which we will always endeavor to accommodate. We measure and assess the impact of our careers programme using Compass, which is tool for schools that quickly and easily helps us to evaluate our careers activity against the benchmarks of best practice, we also carry out pupil voice and evaluations of workshops.  – known as the Gatsby Benchmarks. 

The school’s CEIAG strategy and policy has been formally adopted by the Governing Body and complies with  section 42B of the Education Act 1997, known as the ‘provider access legislation’.

Monkseaton Middle School Careers Lead: Sandra Marshall (Deputy Headteacher)

Contact: [email protected] or call on 0191 2532335

The school’s careers governor is Jane Lowe

PROVIDER SUPPORT

We are always eager to add more opportunities for our pupils to our Careers education. Please get in touch if you have anything to offer our CEIAG programme.

Please contact – Sandra Marshall, Deputy Headteacher and Careers Lead on [email protected]

Useful links for careers advice and guidance

Local Colleges and Sixth forms:

Apprenticeships