Careers Guidance
We have designed our Sixth Form Careers Programme to ensure that it meets the needs of all our learners, no matter what their onward destination is. Our careers programme is fully compliant with the Gatsby Benchmarks. Please see out main GWA Careers page for more detail.
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Throughout their time at GWA Sixth Form, students will have a range of opportunities to learn about different careers and the potential pathways they could take to progress into this career.
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All students have access to:
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Weekly careers newsletter full of opportunities from employers, universities and careers organisations
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Monthly employer talks where students will hear from different employers about their jobs and routes into these job roles. In the past, employers have included Nationwide, St James’s Place, Wiltshire Police, Amey, NHS, Aldi and many more!
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Weekly careers drop in where students can access support from a qualified and impartial career advisor. Students can access this support as many times as they need to.
In addition to this, in Year 12, students will take part in:
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A visit to a university
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Workshop about options at the end of Year 13 (University, Degree Apprenticeships, Further Education, Gap Year or Employment)
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Workshop about Degree Apprenticeships
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UCAS Workshops around Personal Statements and the application process
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Access to Work Experience opportunities, including Virtual WEX
In Year 13, students will then have tailored advice depending on their aim. Each student will fall into one of the following groups:
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University (Early Deadline) - Students will take part in early support for their personal statement as well as support to prepare for their admissions test. In our 2020/21 Alumni, 5% of our cohort went on to a place at Oxbridge.
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University (January Deadline) - Students will have support to complete their personal statement, portfolios and prepare for interviews. We also offer a talk to parents and carers to help them better understand the UCAS process. In our 2020/21 Alumni, 48% of our cohort were the first in their family to attend university.
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Apprenticeship/Employment - Students within this group will take part in a range of inputs including how to register for apprenticeship account, how to apply for vacancies and how to prepare for interview. The weekly newsletter will also ensure they are kept up-to-date with local, regional and national opportunities.
Newsletter
Our weekly careers newsletter, this is also sent to students via email and uploaded to their Tutor Teams page.
Links to helpful resources
www.careerpilot.com - Careerpilot is a free online platform offering a wealth of impartial information about routes to higher-level study in the South of England. It helps students identify their GCSE, post-16 and post-18 options with sections dedicated to a variety of qualifications, finding providers, researching courses and job sectors.
www.nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/ The National Careers Service can help you with your career, learning and training choices. On the website you can learn more about over 800 different jobs, complete a skills assessment and find courses available locally.
www.icould.com - icould.com is open to everyone and uses the power of personal stories to inform and inspire young people’s career choices. Free and simple to use, the site features over 1000 videos of real people talking about their careers – explaining their job role, career path and how different factors have shaped their choices.
University
www.UCAS.com - The UCAS Hub provides you with all the tools and information you need – in one place – and for free. When it comes to exploring subjects, considering apprenticeships, shortlisting your final five, and writing a killer personal statement or CV, UCAS have got it covered.
www.unitasterdays.com - This website brings together information on events from lots of different universities for you to view and book all in one place.
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www.university.springpod.com - Explore a range of different subject spotlights (taster lectures) and compare university profiles all in one place. There is also some great guides to life at University.
Employment & Apprenticeships
www.amazingapprenticeships.com - Amazing Apprenticeships is a small team with a big mission. We’re here to help educators, employers and students navigate the fast-changing world of apprenticeships and vocational education
www.notgoingtouni.co.uk - This website has an advice blog, case studies about previous apprentices, employer profiles at 1,100+ live apprenticeship vacancies that you can apply for. Someone applies using the NGTU website once every 9 minutes!
www.gov.uk/apply-apprenticeship - This is the government website where companies post the apprenticeship vacancies they have available and where people are able to apply for them.
www.indeed.com - Indeed is a website where you can find jobs, there are over 250 million users every month. Lots of employers post their jobs here because they are free to post.
www.totaljobs.com - Total jobs is another place you can look for job roles, employers have to pay to put their jobs on here so it is a slightly different variety to what you will find on indeed.
Remember, each employer will have their own careers section on the website so you can also use these to research job roles at particular companies. Here are a few:
What have students said
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“Miss Cook helped me to obtain more information about the degree I would like to study. I would rate the careers advice I received at GWA as 5*. Thank you for helping me to call to Universities.” - Izabela
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“I would rate the careers guidance at GWA as excellent in terms of the advisor's knowledge and the delivery of the advice. After working through what I had already done, an action plan was developed which was achievable and easy to follow.” - Jacob
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“My careers advice helped me have a more confident idea on what to do and the things I need to do before I send of UCAS.” - Mackenzie
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For more information on our careers programme, please click here.