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Futures and Careers

Overview

Futures and careers education at Dorin Park aims to fully support our young people as they transition to college, apprenticeship, traineeship or employment.

Futures and careers options are introduced as early as Key Stage 2 through the EQUALS curriculum. Introducing careers options early encourages our learners to begin to see moving on from Dorin Park as a positive thing and the next step to becoming an adult.

At Key Stages 4 and 5, futures and careers education takes on a more focused role. We work closely with Nicola Holyoak, our IES Participation and Transition Worker named person, to ensure that all of our learners are given the opportunity to ask questions, share worries or concerns, and develop links to colleges. The IES Participation and Transition Worker attends EHCP review meetings from Year 9 onwards (where possible). As part of taught lessons, learners are supported to identify their skills and the lessons that they enjoy in order to find potential college courses or areas of study. All learners are supported to develop realistic life goals that will be achievable but challenging. Our IES Participation and Transition Worker also visits school to deliver discrete sessions to some Key Stage 3 pupils to help them access and understand more about careers and futures in the first instance.

Learners in Key Stages 4 and 5 may also have the opportunity to visit colleges and partake in lessons every Wednesday (where possible); this removes some of the worry surrounding college as they become familiar with college layouts and college communities.

In addition to identifying potential paths to college, learners receive teaching in skills that will have increased importance in the future: skills such as preparing for interviews, basic first aid, job/college applications and writing CVs.

Alongside taught careers lessons, learners in Key Stages 4 and 5 also have workplace experience and education that helps them to identify areas of interest and the expectations of working life. Currently, via The Pledge, Dorin Park also has a partnership with a local hotel, enabling learners to explore hospitality and the opportunities available.

According to learner need, providers are invited into school to talk to learners about courses and careers on offer.

Futures and Careers Team

  • Careers Leader: Jane Delamere
  • Careers Link Governor: Ursula Middleton
  • Senior Leader: Sarah Adam
  • IES Participation and Transition Worker: Nicola Holyoak

Our Careers Leader is contactable:

Information for Parents and Carers

The main aims of our futures and careers programme are:

  1. To prepare all our young people for their future and life beyond Dorin Park.
  2. To encourage and support our young people to be independent, resilient and safe future citizens by providing practical activities throughout their general school life and curriculum.
  3. To encourage and support our young people to focus on their strengths and to feel safe being themselves, along with embracing the individual needs and differences of others.
  4. To support our young people, for who it may be deemed appropriate, in becoming effective communicators, active listeners and to manage their emotions/feelings.
  5. To support our young people as they transition to college, a supported internship, employment or social care. (Support can include further education visits, work-related learning, visits into the community, outside speakers and exploring the world of work).

We work proactively with The Careers & Enterprise Company and The Pledge Partnership, together delivering a futures and careers program which empowers our young people to develop skills and confidence in their future, and informs them about appropriate futures, careers, work and pathways.

Our futures and careers program is monitored regularly against the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks:

  1. A stable careers programme ​
  2. Learning from careers 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 education colleges
  8. Personal guidance

All our Seniors learners have the opportunity to learn about the different pathways they can take when they leave our school. They also receive encounters with post-16/18 providers during Key Stage 4/5.

Our links to local colleges include:

More information for pupils can be found by clicking the links below:

Information for ​Providers of Education, Training and Employment

Our Provider Access Policy Statement describes how we manage provider access requests, opportunities for access, and how we measure and assess impact.

If you are a local employer who would like to support our school, for example, by delivering an engaging presentation or workshop, and/or providing a venue for a school educational visit or work experience, please contact our Careers Leader in the first instance.

We believe in giving all learners relevant information about future pathways after they leave our school, including employment, apprenticeships, supported internships, colleges and social care (as deemed appropriate for the learner).

Employers are really important to us. Without good employers we would not be able to equip our learners with essential insight into the world of work, plus the practical experience needed to prepare them for their future beyond us. Getting a job can be life changing for a young person and their families.

Destinations

Our leavers’ destinations are overwhelmingly local further education providers, mainly Coleg Cambria and Cheshire College South and West. A small number of pupils go on to bespoke support (care) packages. Very occasionally a leaver will go on to a supported internship.

Useful Links and Resources for Teachers

Labour Market Information

  • National Careers Service
    • Comprehensive careers website with job profiles outlining the skills required, main tasks, pay levels and career prospects for hundreds of different jobs, plus valuable guidance on the different stages involved in getting a job
  • Cheshire and Warrington Job Opportunities Portal
    • Portal with a range of local labour market information, including jobs, apprenticeships and training providers
  • Cheshire and Warrington Your Futures
    • Portal with a range of  local labour market information, including jobs, apprenticeships and training providers, all specifically for SEND
  • My Path Careers
    • Information about a wide variety of interesting careers with job profiles and videos

Post-16 Pathways

  • Cheshire College South and West
    • Local college with campuses in Crewe, Chester, and Ellesmere Port offering apprenticeships and vocational courses
  • Coleg Cambria
    • Local college offering apprenticeships and vocational courses
  • Wirral Met College
    • Local college in Birkenhead offering apprenticeships and vocational courses
  • Petty Pool College
    • Specialist education provider for young adults with learning difficulties which offers a variety of vocational courses
  • Riverside College, Widnes & Runcorn
    • Local college offering apprenticeships, and vocational courses
  • Warrington and Vale Royal College
    • Local college offering apprenticeships, and vocational courses
  • Reaseheath College
    • Local college offering apprenticeships, and vocational courses
  • Ask Apprenticeships
    • Information about apprenticeship opportunities in a variety of sectors
  • Live! Cheshire
    • Small local charity which provides a varied programme of fully inclusive and accessible clubs and social activities for young people with SEND, including their ‘Moving On’ program for 16–25-year-olds

Date of Next Review

Date of next review of the information published: Autumn 2024

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