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Careers

At Harborne Academy, we are committed to supporting our students with their career decision making. We provide careers information, advice, and guidance to them, which is detailed in our career offer and our flexible programme meets the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks of outstanding career guidance.

If you have any questions linked to careers, please do not hesitate to contact us, either by email or telephone. We aim to respond to phone calls and emails as quickly as possible, and certainly within 48 hours.

By telephone:      0121-464 2737 (main school switchboard)
By email:              Careers@harborneacademy.co.uk

The Harborne Academy Careers Programme - click here
The Provider Access Policy - click here
Information for Employers - click here
Parental Guide - click here
Year 10 Work Experience - click here
Useful Career Resources - click here


Careers Programme

The Gatsby Benchmarks

The Gatsby Benchmarks define what world class careers provision in education looks like and provide a clear framework for organising the careers provision at your school or college. The benchmarks are as follows:

  1. A stable career programme
  2. Learning from career and labour market information
  3. Addressing the needs of each student
  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

Below is an outline of how Harborne Academy meets these benchmarks.

GatsbyBenchmarks2425


Careerometer - Labour Market Information

Careerometer can be used to explore and compare key information about occupations, help you learn about different occupations and identify potential careers.

It provides access to a selection of UK headline data relating to pay, weekly hours of work and future employment prospects for different occupations, as well as description of the occupation.
Simply type in the title of the job you are interested in and the widget provides a series of options from which you can select the most relevant to you. You can then look up another two occupations and compare. You can also select ‘display the UK average’ and compare the information with the occupation you have selected.


Provider Access Policy

Harborne Academy is committed to ensuring there is an opportunity for a range of education and training providers to access our students, for the purpose of informing them about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.  Harborne Academy is aware of the responsibility to set students on the path that will secure the best outcome, enabling them to progress in education and work, and give employers the highly skilled people they need. This means acting impartially, in line with its statutory duty, and not showing bias towards any route, be that academic or technical.

Aims

Harborne Academy’s Policy for Access to other education and training providers has the following aims to:

  • develop the knowledge and awareness of our students of all career pathways available to them, including technical qualifications and apprenticeships.
  • support young people to be able to learn more about opportunities for education and training outside of school before making crucial choices about their future options.
  • reduce drop out from courses and avoid the risk of students becoming NEET (Young people not in education, employment or training).

Student Entitlement

Harborne Academy fully supports the statutory requirement for students to have direct access to other providers of further education training, technical training and apprenticeships.  The school will comply with the new legal requirement to facilitate at least six encounters with providers of approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships. This will be delivered through assemblies in National Apprenticeship Week and National Careers Week, PSHE days and faculty enrichment.

Development

This policy has been developed and is reviewed annually by the Careers Leader and Assistant Headteacher, Mr Andrew Farrell and Deputy Headteacher, Mr Gregory Caines, based on current good practice guidelines by the Department for Education.

Links with Other Policies

It supports and is underpinned by key school policies including those for Careers, Safeguarding, Personal Development, Equality and Diversity, and SEND.

Equality and Diversity

Access to other providers is available and promoted to allow all students to access information about other providers of further education and apprenticeships. Harborne Academy is committed to encouraging all students to make decisions about their future based on impartial information.

Requests for Access

Requests for access should be directed to Harborne Academy’s Careers Leader, Andrew Farrell, who may be contacted by telephone or email.

Email: Careers@harborneacademy.co.uk

Tel: 0121 464 2737  

Grounds for Granting Requests for Access

Access will be given for providers to attend school assemblies, PSHE days and other events that Harborne Academy is arranging. Students may also travel to providers, as part of educational visits, organised in partnership with Harborne Academy

Details of Premises and Facilities

The Harborne Academy Careers Leader will work closely with providers to ensure they are able to access appropriate facilities. Throughout the visit, providers will be met and supported by a member of Harborne Academy staff.

Live/Virtual Encounters

Harborne Academy will consider live online encounters with providers where requested, and these may be broadcast into classrooms or the school assembly hall. Technology checks in advance will be required to ensure compatibility of systems.

Parents and Carers

Parental involvement is encouraged, and parents may be invited to attend the events to meet the providers.

Management

The Careers Leader coordinates all provider requests and is responsible to his/her senior management line manager.

Complaints Procedure

Any complaints about this policy should be raised to Mr Andrew Farrell,

Email:  Careers@harborneacademy.co.uk

Careers Leader, Mr Andrew Farrell will raise the complaint to the Headteacher, Mrs Sarah Ross of Harborne Academy.

Monitoring Review and Evaluation

The policy is monitored and evaluated annually via the Senior Leadership Team.

Policy Coordinator: Mrs Sarah Ross

Policy Reviewed: January 2023


Information for Employers

Harborne Academy works closely with employers, employees, apprenticeship and training providers. We welcome hearing from prospective employers who would be willing to share their experience and expertise, to help build our students’ knowledge of employability skills, the workplace, the labour market and job search skills.

There are a number of ways in which you could become involved and support our students:

  • Work with teachers to deliver curriculum-based topics
  • Deliver a project as part of the Harborne Academy Careers Programme
  • Hold careers talks to highlight opportunities in your industry
  • Participate in any of our six calendared PSHE Days
  • Offer work-place visits for students
  • Offer work experience to Harborne Academy students.

If you are interested in supporting our careers offer, please contact our Careers Leader at Careers@harborneacademy.co.uk


Parental Guidance

Parental support in helping your child make the right decisions is vital. Please contact the academy if you wish to discuss how you may support your child; however, the following guides may help:

Talking Futures:

Resources to help parents with discussions with your child https://www.talkingfutures.org.uk/resources/ 

Apprenticeships:

https://www.theparentsguideto.co.uk/free-resources
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/influencers/support-for-parents-and-guardians (new editions released each month).

To Infinity and Beyond – A Parents’ Guide:

https://viewer.joomag.com/to-infinity-choices-and-beyond-parent-guide/0656178001638270921?short&

National Careers Week:             

https://nationalcareersweek.com/parents-guide-2023/


Year 10 Work Experience

At Harborne Academy, we see work experience as an essential part of a student’s preparation for adult life. Work experience will give your child the opportunity to gain an understanding of the world of work and working life. 

Work experience places your child in a completely new and different situation and gives them the chance to see what the world of work is really like. At Harborne, we encourage our students to find a placement in the sector they would like to work in.

More information on how to help your child find their placement please read the following links:


Useful Careers Resources

Careers Advice for Parents

Aims to give you an easy-to-read overview of all the essential facts on finding jobs and apprenticeships or choosing further and higher education courses which could make a real difference to your child’s future career prospects. – careersadviceforparents.org

Careeralchemy

Careers of the Future

A helpful publication to help you with researching your future careers – Careers of The Future.  www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-of-the-future

Govuk

Graduate Prospects

Graduate Prospects is the UK’s leading provider of information, advice and opportunities to students and graduates and provides an extensive graduate careers website. – www.prospects.ac.uk

Prospects

National Careers Service

National Careers Service – National Careers Service Direct

Natcareersservice

Not Going To Uni

If you are thinking of not going to University – then the ‘notgoingtouni’ team are here to help you find the options that work for you and they can give advice, inspiration and tools to make an informed decision about your future - http://www.notgoingtouni.co.uk/

Ngtu

Success at School

Success at School is the place for young people to explore careers, get the lowdown on top employers, and search for the latest jobs, courses and advice. Lots of helpful advice in the advice section on employability skills, work experience, apprenticeships, university and different career paths – www.successatschool.org

Successatschool

Which University

To help students make more informed decisions about their higher education choices.www.apprenticeships.gov.uk – apprenticeship vacancies (updated regularly) – university.which.co.uk

Theuniguide

Unifrog

Helping students compare every university course, every apprenticeship, and Further Education courses - then apply successfully. - Unifrog

Unifrog green logo 600px RGB

@@HarborneAcademy12:11 PM - 18th July, 2025 End of Year Assembly Congratulations to the students who won awards! Wishing all of our students, families and staff a lovely and rested break. pic.twitter.com/7BIswIgyCb
@@HarborneAcademy11:19 AM - 18th July, 2025 To see what's been happening at the academy this week, please read our newsletter via the link below:Read more
@@HarborneAcademy10:09 AM - 18th July, 2025 Yesterday, we had our summer fair. Thank you for all the effort and time taken to organise each event. We raised a massive £174.90 for Birmingham Children’s Hospital. pic.twitter.com/586FNofBv0
@@HarborneAcademy01:45 PM - 17th July, 2025 Students are having a fantastic time in Belgium. We look forward to welcoming them back to school tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/9pvybD0FvF
@@HarborneAcademy09:28 AM - 17th July, 2025 Students have been battling it out at this years Spelling Bee. Well done to everyone that took part and a huge congratulations to Hussainali for coming 1st place! pic.twitter.com/d0Wlf5G6Tj
@@HarborneAcademy09:16 AM - 17th July, 2025 Thank you to both students and parents for attending the final mental health event of this academic year. We raised £48 for Edwards Trust and had a lot of fun creating and flying our kites which is their symbol to represent the journey of grief, hope and healing. pic.twitter.com/tTAjD7g8XS
@@HarborneAcademy07:57 AM - 17th July, 2025 Good luck to Miss Matthews on her new adventure. You will be missed by us all! pic.twitter.com/TmhKyTbHpd
@@HarborneAcademy01:29 PM - 16th July, 2025 As a reward for excellent effort throughout the year, some of our year 10 students enjoyed a trip to Hollywood Bowl. Well done! pic.twitter.com/ogOrkOFedb
@@HarborneAcademy10:44 AM - 16th July, 2025 Our year 9’s did a great job with our new DT project, designing and soldering the components of these colour changing nightlights! pic.twitter.com/7hex4gQCpn
@@HarborneAcademy10:01 AM - 15th July, 2025 Yr9s have spent this term studying the play, 'Noughts and Crosses' based on Malorie Blackman's novel of the same name. Ms Matthews has challenged them to create a board game based on the text; they will then give a 'Dragon's Den' pitch. We look forward to finding out the winners! pic.twitter.com/GjyjqtaEVz
@@HarborneAcademy02:23 PM - 14th July, 2025 Congratulations for the excellent effort you have shown with Sparx. pic.twitter.com/zOq9ch73Je
@@HarborneAcademy01:34 PM - 14th July, 2025 Well done to year 8 for designing, casting and finishing their own jewellery mould. This was done using a variety of metal, smithing technique. pic.twitter.com/N5jvIQ0LUo
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