The Dukeries Academy encourages students through its careers education programmes to become citizens who will aspire, achieve and contribute in the work place and beyond.
We aim to encourage all students to discover their talents and skills and to gain the personal qualities needed to become more employable in their future career. We are always looking for new ways to connect with local employers, for example forging a powerful and strengthening partnership with the Murphy Group who have a local depot. Murphy help facilitate high quality encounters for our students with site visits and in-school sessions which are proving to be very popular with our students.
In KS3 students take part in programmes which enable them to find out more about the world of work. This is via our careers curriculum and their engagement with the Unifrog platform and suite of resources. Parents are also able to create Unifrog accounts to help them to support their child’s future choices. Careers guidance is also offered where appropriate to help students make sound option choices in Year 9. Students for whom university is an appropriate option are offered the chance to take part in a range of outreach programmes, which are ongoing from year to year.
In KS4 all students take part in a mock interview day in Y10 with representatives of local employers. They are helped to create a CV, personal statement and covering letter, which are used for discussion during the interview. This is followed by a one-week work experience for all students at the end of the year.
In Y11 all students receive individual guidance to help them make the correct choices for post-16 study, whether that be at college, an apprenticeship or in the Sixth Form. Students in all years are offered help with completing application forms and writing CVs in a lunch time drop-in session.
Our discrete careers curriculum is taught during tutor time, with wider “Careers in the Curriculum” input delivered in our range of faculty areas. During the careers curriculum sessions, students work independently, with their tutor, with each other, and by using Unifrog to complete self-discovery, reflection, analysis and planning tasks linked to careers they might be interested in pursuing.
Examples of our careers curriculum for each year group can be viewed below. Each booklet has an accompanying teacher resource and links to key quizzes and tasks on Unifrog.