Careers
Ormiston Chadwick Academy is committed to providing Careers Education, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) to all students through the curriculum and organised activities. The information on this page will be reviewed in March 2026
Introduction to Careers
At Ormiston Chadwick Academy, our comprehensive Careers programme is integral to laying the foundations to encourage a successful future for our students. We offer a bespoke programme, tailors to each year group and accessing all Gatsby Benchmarks, including National Careers Week in order to make the biggest difference to the lives our all students.
We are proud to have been re-accredited in the Quality and Careers Standard career mark in July 2023 after our initial accreditation in June 2021 to acknowledge our CEIAG provision.
Intent:
“Our intent is to give students the education, advice and guidance to empower them to have high aspirations and self-belief so that they can achieve personal happiness and future success”
Unifrog Sign in – https://www.unifrog.org/sign-in
NCW: The Careers Download
Careers Information Advice and Guidance Programme (CEIAG)
Career Contacts
Miss Davies: [email protected]
For careers related enquiries, please ask for Miss Davies when calling reception: 0151 424 5038
Due to tighter work-place regulations and an increased number of the British workforce working from home post-pandemic, the way in which Ormiston Chadwick Academy offer work experience has had to adapt. Nonetheless, please rest assured that we remain committed to ensuring that every key stage student is given multiple opportunities to gain valuable and meaningful work experience by the time they graduate from the academy.
Our Work Experience Offer
Last academic year, we brought in a new platform, Springpod, to provide year 11 students with an opportunity to take part in bespoke virtual work experience within our brand-new Futures sessions. At the end of this work experience, students receive a certificate to help build their CV.
SEND Virtual Reality Work Experience (VRWEx)
In today’s world, technology plays a vital role in how young people interact with the world around them. Some students will find larger benefit from accessing a work experience virtually via a VR headset. Those students will have the opportunity to participate in an experience across three exciting sectors: Housing, Engineering and The Visitor Economy. This opportunity is available to ALL SEND students across ALL year groups.
In-House Work Experience Y9
As a taster to the world of work, we offer all year 9 students a 1-day work placement within the academy. Students will sign up for their area of interest and placements take place across four calendared weeks in the academic year. Placements include working with the site team, IT technicians, Library Assistant and many more as our students are given an opportunity to experience our community through a professional lens.
Whole Year Work Experience – Y10
In conjunction with Careers Connect, all Year 10 students will go on work experience from May 18th to May 22nd 2026.
Please see the work experience letter, placement form and presentation from Careers Connect.
Both securing and undertaking these external work placements helps students build social, emotional and professional skills as they enjoy a taster of the world of work in and around our local community.
OCA Virtual work experience
Ormiston Chadwick Academy have invested in the Springpod platform to allow students to undertake virtual work experience both at school and at home. Year 11 students will access Springpod during curriculum time as part of their ‘Futures’ lessons. The experiences on offer change regularly, but are ran by reputable companies such as Volve and the NHS. On completion of the experience, students will be awarded with a certificate that they can put onto their CV. There is no limit to how many students can complete, and we urge students to complete as many as possible.
Students will be updated regularly with external opportunities for virtual work experience which will provide them with the vital experience they need to build upon their essential skills.
Subject Specific Work Experience
Finally, departments will be sourcing work experience opportunities for students who have expressed an interest in career paths linked to their subject. Correspondence regarding these opportunities will be sent out by departments as they become available.
Other ways to get work experience
There are other useful ways of gaining work experience, like:
Definition: A labour market is the place where workers and employees interact with each other. In the labour market, employers compete to hire the best, and the workers compete for the best satisfying job.
Careerometer
KS3 Careers Resources
The BBC Bitesize careers website contains lots of useful information about careers including a careers A-Z to help you find the perfect job!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/careers
Careers – BBC Bitesize
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/careers
Get the low-down on the world of work, with Bitesize Careers. A site to help you find out what jobs you may be suited to, with videos and profiles from young people sharing their real-life career pathways, and honest descriptions of the work they do.
www.bbc.co.uk
Year 10 Careers Resources
Year 11 Careers Resources
Information
As parents and carers you play a vital part in ensuring your child gains the best information, advice and guidance to prepare them for life once they leave OCA both with the skills they have developed and the knowledge they have. Therefore, this website should provide you with all the information you need to help support you and enable you to take an active role in your child’s Careers Education. Understanding the changes in the Labour Market is equally important as knowing the education providers that are available, as it is this information on the growth market that may help develop a successful career.
and potential improvements for the CEIAG programme.
Parent Packs 2025-2026
As staff we play a vital part in ensuring our students gain the best information, advice and guidance possible to prepare them for life once they leave OCA. It is our duty to ensure CEIAG is embedded into the curriculum so our students understand not only its importance, but also its relevance.
We will strive to make sure students are aware in every subject how various roles, responsibilities various workplaces and life skills fit into that subject area, alongside the potential career paths that may be derived from exploring a pathway in that subject.
CEIAG literature, posters and information is displayed in each subject areas of the school and staff submit a yearly overview of how they will embed careers into lessons. You will also see evidence of this in the CEIAG programme for each year group as the subject content id identified throughout the year.
Any further information you need please see the CEIAG leads Miss Davies
Miss Davies – [email protected]
Careers guidance and access for education and training providers
As an education provider you may be interested in the information, advice and guidance we provide to our students within both further and higher education. We have our OCA Careers Fair as well as our Post 16: Your Choice, Your Future event every year in which we invite all local education providers to come in, host a stall and chat to our students and their parents/carers in Years 10 and 11.
Our Heads of Department are familiar with the importance of CEIAG and ensuring it is embedded within their subject area, therefore if you wish to work with any particular subject area, they would most certainly welcome further and higher education involvement to enhance the current provision.
In the summer term, in preparation for Taster Days, you are welcome to host an assembly, take tutorials and anything else that may help you encourage and advertise to our students what you have to offer them Post 16. The same applies to the Autumn term on the lead up to applications and interviews for Post 16 provision.
The website should provide you with an insight into the events and opportunities planned throughout the year for various year groups, however, if you wish to find out anything more or you would like to work in an identified subject area, please contact the designated CEIAG lead.
Miss Davies – [email protected]
Please click on the links below to find further information on Education Providers in the local area.
Employers & Apprenticeships For Students
Explore Apprenticeships and learn about apprenticeships, browse live vacancies, and find guidance on how to apply.
What is an Apprenticeship? Understand how apprenticeships work, the benefits, and the different levels available.
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk
Find Apprenticeship Vacancies
Search live apprenticeship opportunities across the UK. https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/apprenticeshipsearch
Apprenticeship Support – Skills & Level
Information on different apprenticeship levels (intermediate to degree) and how apprenticeships can help your career progression.
https://www.skillsforcareers.education.gov.uk/pages/training-choice/apprenticeships
A broader careers platform with apprenticeships, school-leaver schemes, job listings, employer insights, and career guidance articles.
Apprenticeships, Graduate Schemes & Jobs | Careermap
For Employers – Hiring, Support & Apprenticeship Management
Find out how your organisation can benefit from hiring apprentices: from funding and training support to recruitment guidance and employer resources.
Hire an Apprentice – GOV.UK Employer Guide
Official guidance for employers on why hire apprentices, funding options, responsibilities and how to get started.
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/employers/
Get Started with Apprenticeships (Employers)
Step‑by‑step on finding the right apprenticeship, choosing a training provider, and creating your apprenticeship service account.
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/employers/get-started
Recruiting an Apprentice – Practical Advice for Employers
Tips for recruiting apprentices, engaging with schools, using the apprenticeship service and managing candidates.
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/employers/hiring-an-apprentice
Employer Guides & Resources
Downloadable guides covering reasons to employ apprentices, off‑the‑job training, higher apprenticeships, standards, and more.
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/employers/employer-guides
Find Training & Employment Schemes for Business
Government schemes and support for employers, including financial support, apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps, and industry placements.
https://find-employer-schemes.education.gov.uk/schemes/apprenticeships
Additional Useful Resources
Useful resources include official apprenticeship listings, employer best‑practice guides, and recognised apprenticeship employers that illustrate successful career pathways.
Apprenticeship Provider & Assessment Register (APAR)
For training providers or employers who want to join the official register and deliver apprenticeship training in England.
https://apply.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/
Top Apprenticeship Employers (Annual Recognition Lists)
Examples of recognised companies with strong apprenticeship programmes (e.g., British Army, BAE Systems, Amazon) that may be useful as inspiration or career examples.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/top-apprenticeship-employers-celebrated-for-2025
Careers Guidance & Access for Schools (GOV.UK)
Official careers guidance duties for schools, including advice on ensuring apprenticeships and employer pathways are promoted in school.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-provision-for-young-people-in-schools/careers-guidance-and-access-for-education-and-training-providers
2025/2026 Advisor – Kerry Hetherington
For 2025/2026, Ormiston Chadwick Academy continue their longstanding relationship with Careers Connect to ensure that all students leave school having received at least one face to face appointment with a Level 6 qualified careers advisor.
Our Careers Advisor will provide the following services:
- Year 7 – Identified Group Sessions.
- Year 8 – Identified Group Sessions.
- Year 9 – Identified group sessions for those at risk of NEET post-16.
- Year 10 – Identified one-to-one sessions for those at risk of NEET post-16. Beginning of one-to-one sessions for general cohort (Summer 2).
- Year 11 – All students to receive one-to-one personalised guidance. Additional one-to-one and group interviews for cohort identified as at risk of NEET post-16.
Our Careers adviser, Kerry, is based in the the maths intervention room in Houghton building every Monday from 8:30am-3:00pm.
Students are encouraged to drop in and see Kerry at breaks or lunchtimes to seek any guidance or find out information on potential career steps. Kerry will follow this up with a record of the discussion and any actions. She is also the point of contact in conjunction with Mrs Davies for the Year 10 Work Experience Week.
Student Destinations
Students destination figures are another indication of how we can assess the impact of the careers programme at OCA. According to the new government statutory guidelines:
‘every student must receive impartial guidance in the form of a 1:1 interview before they leave school at 16.’
Our partnership with Career Connect provides every Year 11 students with an impartial careers interview that will provide them the necessary advice and guidance to steer them onto the correct and most suitable career path for Post 16 education. This may be in the form of a further education establishment, an apprenticeship or other training providers alongside employment.
We are very proud of the fact that when the students leave us in Year 11 the vast majority have all been allocated provisional places at Post-16. Our careers team and attendance officers work hard to ensure bespoke student needs are met and catered for.
The careers programme is paramount to ensuring students are well-educated and informed of their options both in further and higher education. Events, assemblies, careers fairs, sampling days, employers marketplace and other necessary interventions are put into place from as early as Year 7. Every year group will have access to Gatsby Benchmark 5, 6, 7 and 8 as part of this programme.
