Careers and Education Guidance

 At Springfields Academy we deliver a carefully structured and inclusive Careers curriculum tailored to meet the diverse needs of our learners. The program is designed to build self-awareness, independence, and aspiration, while providing meaningful experiences that prepare pupils for life beyond school.

Key Themes Across All Stages

• Identity & Self-Awareness: Pupils explore who they are, their strengths, interests, and preferences through sensory activities, creative expression, and personalised learning.
• Exploring the World of Work: Pupils engage with real and imagined job roles through role-play, storytelling, props, and community links.
• Career Aspirations & Possibilities: Pupils are encouraged to dream big, express future goals, and celebrate their individuality through creative projects and showcase events.
• Practical Skills for Employment: Pupils develop communication, teamwork, time management, and digital skills through structured tasks and enterprise activities.
• Transition & Reflection: Each year includes opportunities for pupils to reflect on their progress, celebrate achievements, and prepare for future transitions.

Curriculum Highlights by Stage

• Pre-EYFS to EYFS: Focus on sensory exploration, symbolic play, and recognising familiar roles. Pupils engage with themed environments, costumes, and props to build early career awareness.
• Stages 1–3: Pupils begin to link personal interests to job roles, explore community helpers, and participate in imaginative role-play. They develop basic workplace behaviours and communication skills.
• Stages 4–6: Pupils explore job diversity, teamwork, and workplace routines. They take part in enterprise projects, mock interviews, and career showcases to build confidence and independence.
• Stages 7–8: Pupils research careers, reflect on personal strengths, and explore pathways into employment. They develop digital skills, prepare CVs and covering letters, and participate in transition events and careers fairs.
• Years 9–11: Pupils work towards Gateway Qualifications in Employability Skills, covering topics such as customer service, entrepreneurship, applying for jobs, and digital skills for work. Learning is practical, personalised, and supported by real-world scenarios and role-play.

Inclusive Approach

• All activities are adapted to suit individual communication styles and learning needs.
• Pupils use assistive technology, visual aids, and sensory resources to access the curriculum.
• Careers education is embedded across the school day, with opportunities for repetition, celebration, and supported choice-making.

Termly Overview

                                     Information for Parents and Carers                  Information for Employers                                      Information for pupils

 We believe that a well-structured and highly effective programme of Careers and Education Guidance (CEG) will play a key role in contributing to how the Academy prepares its young people for a safe, independent life. All learners have a discrete, timetabled careers lesson each week, following a bespoke, spiral curriculum. 

By working in partnership with an external agency, we provide accurate, impartial and focused careers information, advice and guidance tailored to individual needs to enable young people to make informed choices about their future career routes.

Our key aim is for students to develop a real understanding, of careers and work-related information that develops their sense of enquiry not only about careers and higher/further education but also an awareness of how the skills developed in school are applicable and integral ingredients in the modern workplace. 

Our overarching aims for Careers Education Guidance are to work with external agencies, such as the Careers Service, in order to:

• Contribute to strategies for raising achievement, especially by increasing motivation;
• Provide emphasis on the relevance of numeracy and literacy as fundamental components of everyday employment in the 21^st Century.
• Encourage students to become reflective learners who are self-aware of their strengths, skills and attributes and how these link to career and life planning;
• Support inclusion, challenge stereotyping and promote equality of opportunity;
• Encourage participation in continued learning, including higher education;
• Develop enterprise and employability skills
• Make clear to students how their behaviour, attendance and learning skills are inherently linked to their careers prospects and future prosperity. 
• The main body of the statutory guidance uses the Gatsby 8 Benchmarks with information on how to achieve each one.

 Gatsby Benchmarks

The fast-changing world of work puts an ever-greater demand on all of us to support young people in making a successful transition from education to further education, training or employment, helping them to identify and choose career opportunities that are right for them. The government’s Careers Strategy, published in 2017, and statutory guidance for school leaders and school staff, published in 2018, set out the plan for building a high-quality careers system that will help young people to achieve.

 Careers Guidance 2025/26

 Our independent careers adviser will be visiting Springfields on:

• September 15th 2025
• October 21st 2025
• December 15th 2025
• January 19th 2026
• May 8th 2026

For more information please contact our Careers Lead Lee Davidson: lee.Davidson@springfieldsacademy.org