Careers Education

Northolt High School is committed to providing its students with a high quality, rounded education that provides all students with the best start in life. Our comprehensive Careers programme uses the Gatsby Benchmarks & The Baker Clause to develop and implement our Careers provision and enable a range of education and training providers to regularly engage with all students across Year 7-13. This is also true of our Connexions careers programme that gives students high quality, independent advice and guidance with regards to careers, further and higher education and future life choices. 



Careers Leadership at Northolt:

The Careers team at Northolt are:

  • Mr Andy Price -  Assistant Head Teacher and  Head of Careers Education
  • Ms Hannah Farah -  Careers Lead at Northolt High School
     

As a school, all staff including Teachers, Tutors, Support Staff, Heads of Year, Heads of Department and Senior Leadership Team are committed to supporting the Careers programme.

The contact details for Careers & Work Experience are:

  • Mr Andy Price (Assistant Head Teacher and Head of Careers): aprice@northolthigh.org.uk
  • Ms Hannah Farah (Careers Leader): hfarah@northolthigh.org.uk

You can reach Mr Price or Ms Farah by telephone on 020 8864 8544.



Supporting our Careers Programme at Northolt High School:

If you or a family member or friend are a business or employer, education or training provider and could support Northolt High School with our Careers programme (including Work Experience placements, lunchtime careers talks, networking opportunities, etc), please do contact us as we are always looking to expand our network of employers and education providers.



Careers Guidance in schools - Statutory Frameworks:

In December 2017, the Department for Education (DfE) published a new Careers Strategy for secondary schools followed by statutory guidance in January 2018. Schools must have an appointed Careers Leader and a Careers Information, Advice & Guidance (CIAG) Programme for each academic year. By September 2020 schools should be meeting the Eight Gatsby Benchmarks (outlined below):

The Gatsby Benchmarks:

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


The Baker Clause:

In January 2018, the DfE also introduced ‘The Baker Clause’ as an amendment to the Technical and Further Education Act 2017. The Baker Clause stipulates that schools must allow colleges and training providers access to every student in years 8-13 to discuss non-academic routes that are available to them. It is expected that by doing so this will help address the UK’s productivity challenges and address skills shortages experienced across several sectors of the economy.


Northolt High School - CEIAG Policy 2023

Careers Education, Information Advice, Guidance and Employability Policy 2023



Quality Assurance within our Careers provision:

In order to regularly evaluate our Careers provision, we complete a compass evaluation (arranged by The Careers & Enterprise Company) once per year, which provides information about how we are performing against the Gatsby Benchmarks.

Our most recent Compass evaluation in February 2023 showed that we are making excellent progress with meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks:
 

  2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
1 23% 41% 76% 76% 70% 100%
2 80% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
3 72% 81% 81% 81% 81% 81%
4 100% 100% 100% 100% 81% 100%
5 75% 75% 75% 75% 75% 100%
6 62% 100% 100% 50% 62% 100%
7 37% 75% 70% 41% 75% 70%
8 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%


We are confident that our Careers provision is wide ranging, inclusive and diverse. Within our Pastoral Programme, Wider learning offer, Curriculum and additional Careers provisions, we feel that we are giving students the right support, knowledge and skills to be successful in their future at Northolt and beyond. As always, we are open to receiving feedback & suggestions for further ways to continue to develop & refine our Careers programme.


Our school website contains regular updates about our Careers programme including events, opportunities, talks and newsletters. You can view more of our newsletters below.

Careers Newsletters: