CAREERS PROGRAMME

Careers at Chiswick School

The Careers team at Chiswick School are:

• Mrs Nari Issa: Assistant Headteacher Careers/CIAG Lead

• Miss Alice Young: Assessment Manager & CIAG Advisor

• Mr Julian Dunn: Assessment & CIAG Assistant

As a school, all staff including teachers, tutors, support staff, Learning Coordinators, Curriculum Team Leaders and Senior Leadership Team are committed to supporting the Careers programme.

Both our school website and Google Classroom contain regular updates about our Careers programme including events, opportunities, talks and Careers bulletins.

For Careers and Work Experience enquiries, you can contact Mrs Issa via email: nis@chiswickschool.org

Curriculum Intent

Here at Chiswick School, it is part of our intention that pupils leave school with a careers education that has helped to raise aspirations, given students the skills to achieve their full potential and provide them with the opportunity to experience different career pathways.

The Careers department ensures that all pupils, from Year 7 upwards, are kept fully up to date with the most recent careers information, so that they can make well informed decisions about their next steps after Chiswick School.

In order to fulfil this, we have a careers curriculum programme in place, which delivers employability and work-related learning skills from Years 7-11, as well as many other careers- linked activities which take place throughout the academic year.

Careers Programme

Our Careers strategy is developed in line with the Gatsby benchmarks.

Careers is an integrated part of the curriculum. All subject areas make reference to and discuss career opportunities specific to individual areas, as well as exploring the transferable, enabling skills which enable pupils to develop across all year groups.

The PSHCE programme plays a key role in supporting the delivery of the Careers strategy.

Pupils with SEND are further supported by staff in Learning Support; our school SENDCo liaises with our Careers Leader and additional outside agencies for pupils as necessary. 

You can navigate through this page to access our Careers strategy and a summary of our careers programme by year group.

Supporting the Careers Programme at Chiswick School

If you or a family member or friend are a business or employer, education or training provider and could support Chiswick School with our Careers programme (including Work Experience placements, lunchtime careers talks, networking opportunities and attending our careers Fair in March 2023), please do contact us as we are always looking to expand our network of employers and education providers. 

Email Mrs Issa on: nis@chiswickschool.org

Careers Guidance in schools - Statutory Frameworks:

In December 2017, the Department for Education (DfE) published a new Careers Strategy for secondary schools followed by statutory guidance in January 2018. Schools must have an appointed Careers Leader and a Careers Information, Advice & Guidance (CIAG) Programme for each academic year. All schools  should be meeting the Eight Gatsby Benchmarks (outlined below):

The Gatsby Benchmarks:

1. A stable careers programme

2. Learning from career and labour market information

3. Addressing the needs of each pupil

4. Linking curriculum learning to careers

5. Encounters with employers and employees

6. Experiences of workplaces

7. Encounters with further and higher education

8. Personal guidance

Quality Assurance within our Careers Programme

At Chiswick School, we strive to constantly review and reflect on all our processes ensuring that we provide the best experience for all students. Our Careers programme is no exception to this as we evaluate our provision using the Compass+ evaluation tool (arranged by The Careers & Enterprise Company) once per year. This provides us with information on how we are performing against the Gatsby Benchmarks and what we need to improve.

Our most recent Compass evaluation in 2022 showed that we are making excellent progress with meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks, and are all well above national average. We are confident that our Careers provision will continue to make excellent progress and with this we value your feedback and input.

Work Experience

Work Experience is a key component of our curriculum at Chiswick School. Our goal is that as many of our students as possible obtain work experience placements which will help them to develop a more realistic view of adult working life and its responsibilities. In researching and seeking out a placement for themselves, we aim to enhance their maturity, communication and levels of independence, better enabling them to seek further study or employment upon leaving Chiswick School.

We are always looking for new community partners. If you might be interested, please get in touch with Mrs Issa to discuss ideas by emailing nis@chiswickschool.org

Year 10 work experience

All Year 10 students will undertake a work experience placement for 5 days. This year’s work experience is from Monday 3rd July – Friday 7th July 2023. All students are required to complete an ‘Own Find’ online form with details of their work placement. The deadline for this is 23rd January 2023. Should you have any enquiries or suggestions, or to request a copy of the form, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Issa.

Key documents for students:

• Yr 10 WEX Video Presentation part I and part II

• Y10 How to Guide

• CV Template

Ongoing work experience opportunities

Students in Years 10-13 are free to organise their own ongoing work experience placements which may take place in the holidays throughout the year, though we would encourage students in years 11 and 13 to leave the Easter holidays free for revision.

Please click on the document links below to view our Careers Strategy.

Careers Strategy

CEIAG Programme 2022-25

Please click on the link below for information for employers.

Information for Employers

Please click on the link below for our Careers Newsletter.

Careers Newsletter January 2023

Please click on the expandable sections below for further information on careers programmes and guidance.

Careerometer - A tool to compare jobs

Fast Tomato - Online Careers Portal

Apprenticeships