At Bloxham School our aim is to inform and inspire pupils about the vast range of opportunities available within the world of work. Now, more than ever before, making the right decisions about learning or work really matters.

The Careers Education Information Advice and Guidance Programme (CEIAG) at Bloxham School aims to give pupils the best possible opportunities to build, refine and articulate their skills in preparation for Higher Education and the working world beyond.

For further information, please contact Head of Careers, Nichole Guzenda.

Aims

Bloxham School provides independent guidance for all students (The Education Act 2011/Careers Guidance and Access for Education and Training Providers January 2018) and aligns with the national ‘Quality in Careers Standard’ and ISI’s guidance to ensure that all our pupils have: “…access to accurate, up-to-date careers guidance that: (i) is presented in an impartial manner; (ii) enables them to make informed choices about a broad range of career options; and (iii) helps to encourage them to fulfil their potential.”

The Careers Department aims to provide a framework within which each pupil can develop the self-awareness and employability skills necessary to make the best-informed decisions at each stage of their academic journey and into their future. We deliver a comprehensive programme of careers-focused lessons, one-to-one guidance sessions, interactive events and careers fairs, guru lectures and workshops (with industry experts and business leaders),  interview training, skills-based profiling, CV-writing together with UCAS support and GAP year planning. Work experience is strongly encouraged and pupils are given the support to find placements in relevant and skills-directed working environments.

The department works closely with the Head of Sixth Form, our Director of Teaching and Learning, UCAS-support staff, teaching staff, tutors, housemasters/mistresses and external careers advisers, to ensure that each pupil is given a complete, multi-tiered level of support.  Throughout a pupil’s time at Bloxham School, staff work closely together to offer assistance in making essential decisions (with important issues such as GCSE, A Level option choices and UCAS applications), including offering advice about alternative routes into work, including Further Education, apprenticeships, and traineeship schemes.

Bloxham School aims to:

  • raise students’ aspirations and to broaden their horizons;
  • inspire and to empower students to make informed realistic decisions at key transition points in learning and work;
  • provide good quality independent and impartial careers advice to students which is in the best interests of the student and which inspires and motivates them to fulfil their potential;
  • provide opportunities to work in partnership with employers, training providers, local colleges and others to provide opportunities to inspire students through real-life contact with the world of work;
  • develop enterprise and employability skills including skills for self-employment;
  • support inclusion, challenge stereotyping and promote equality of opportunity;
  • support students to see learning and careers development as a life-long process.

Bloxham School’s Career Strategy sets out how the school provides a fit for purpose careers programme which provides our students with the knowledge and inspiration to succeed in their chosen career paths.

Bloxham School’s Careers programme is based on, and mapped against, ISI’s guidelines the CDI Framework for Careers, Enterprise and Employability (2018) and the DfE document “Careers Guidance and Inspiration in Schools” (January 2018).

For more detailed information on our careers programme:

Download Careers Policy Statement

Download Careers Programme Overview

Download Careers Access Policy Statement

The Careers programme is reviewed and updated on an annual basis. The next review will take place in November 2023.

The Careers (CEIAG) Team

Bloxham School takes a holistic approach to careers, with all staff supporting the delivery of the Careers Programme through our pastoral system and within our curricular (and co-curricular) areas:

Mrs Nichole Guzenda (Head of Careers)

Emma Exelby (Head of Sixth Form)

Simon Floate (Assistant Head of UCAS)

Azita Kazem (Director of Teaching and Learning)

Simon Batten (School Archivist)

Kate Greaves and Sarah Demirtges (Alumni and Development Officers)

Mrs EL Lewis Jones (Joint Chair of Governors and Governor for CEIAG)

To contact the Careers Team, please email us.

The Gatsby Benchmarks

Bloxham School’s Careers Plan supports the achievement of the eight Gatsby Benchmarks:

Benchmark 1: A Stable Careers Programme
Every school and college should have an embedded programme of career education and guidance that is known and understood by students, parents, teachers, governors and employers.

Benchmark 2: Learning from Career and Labour Market Information
Every student and their parents should have access to good quality information about future study options and labour market opportunities. They will need the support of an informed adviser to make the best use of available information.

Benchmark 3: Addressing the Needs of Each Student
Students have different career guidance needs at different stages. Opportunities for advice and support need to be tailored to the needs of each student. A school’s careers programme should embed equality and diversity considerations throughout.

Benchmark 4: Linking Curriculum Learning to Careers
All teachers should link curriculum learning with careers. STEM subject teachers should highlight the relevance of STEM subjects for a wide range of careers paths.

Benchmark 5: Encounters with Employers and Employees
Every student should have multiple opportunities to learn from employers about work, employment and the skills that are valued in the workplace. This can be through a range of enrichment activities including visiting speakers, mentoring and enterprise schemes.

Benchmark 6: Experiences of Workplaces
Every student should have first-hand experience of the workplace through work visits, work shadowing, and/or work experience to help their exploration of career opportunities and expand their networks.

Benchmark 7: Encounters with Further and Higher Education
All students should understand the full range of learning opportunities that are available to them. This includes both academic and vocational routes and learning in schools, colleges, universities and in the workplace.

Benchmark 8: Personal Guidance
Every student should have opportunities for guidance interviews with a careers adviser, who could be internal (a member of school staff) or external, provided they are trained to an appropriate level. These should be available whenever significant study or career choices are being made. They should be expected for all students but should be timed to meet their individual needs.

Pathways and Progression (Post-16 and Post-18)

As part of our careers programme, all Fifth Form students (and new Lower Sixth Form pupils) are provided with a careers profiling opportunity, followed by a one-to-one careers guidance interview with an independent and Matrix Level 6 qualified careers advisor. Future Smart Careers provide our independent and impartial careers interviews. Click here for more information about Future Smart.

Students and parents of students from any year group can also request a careers guidance interview by Bloxham’s Head of Careers by emailing or by contacting their son/daughter’s Tutor directly.

In addition to this, students are given access to a wide range of resources, workshops, off-timetable activities, opportunities to engage with employers and option talks – all designed to help students make well-informed careers decisions.

Download Careers Programme Overview

InvestIN Education

Bloxham School is partnered with InvestIN Education. InvestIN offer students aged 12-18 the opportunity to learn from top industry professionals through interactive activities, site visits, networking opportunities, career coaching sessions and more.

As a partner school, all students are entitled to 10% off any career experience programme (contact Mrs. Nichole Guzenda for details). To see what programmes are on offer, click here.

Useful Information for Pupils and Parents

Experience Courses and Career Days

League Tables and Guides

Investigating University Courses

Higher & Degree Apprenticeships

Investigating Career Ideas

  • Prospects  – find out about the career options with your university course
  • NHS Careers – working for the NHS, the third largest employer in the world
  • All About Careers
  • Employers and Education – inspiration and information for young people through free access to over 1000 personal video stories, detailed job information, plus practical tips, insight and advice
  • National Careers Service – information, advice and guidance to help students make decisions on learning, training and work opportunities.
  • Career Alchemy – aims to give parents an easy-to-read overview of all the essential facts on finding jobs and apprenticeships or choosing further and higher education courses

Employer Links

To support our delivery of careers, Bloxham School has developed strong networks with a wide range of organisations, HE Institutions, training providers and voluntary agencies. In addition to this, we have a strong and highly active Old Bloxhamist (OB) Network, who engage in a wide range of employment-related events and support for our current pupils.

Overall, through our partnership with a wide range of organisations, Bloxham School strives to:

  • raise aspirations and increase motivation;
  • help young people identify educational and occupational goals;
  • demonstrate the relevance of the knowledge and skills learnt in subjects to future opportunities in learning and working;
  • demonstrate the links between living, learning and earning;
  • provide work enrichment opportunities including work experience, workplace visits, guest speakers and curriculum support.

Find out more about our Future Focus in The Bloxhamist.

Measuring the Impact of our Careers Programme

Bloxham School’s careers programme is delivered through PSHE lessons, our horizontal tutorial programme (consisting of two meetings each week), as well as through subject lessons (following Gatsby Benchmark 4) and an extensive range of enrichment opportunities and activities.

Our monitoring and evaluation strategies cover all of these aspects of delivery and are used to inform decision-making about the future development of our careers programme. Monitoring activities to ensure that the careers programme is being implemented as planned include:

  • Learning walks & lesson observations
  • Questionnaires – students, staff, parents/guardians, external organisations
  • Focus groups – students, Careers Prefects and staff
  • Career ‘Compass Tool’ tracker
  • Work scrutiny
  • Curriculum plans
  • Destination data
  • Student evaluations of personal guidance interviews

Evaluation of Bloxham’s careers programme is shared in regular meetings with the Senior Leadership Team and Governors. Bloxham School’s progress towards achieving all Gatsby Benchmarks is measured annually using the online Compass tool. Individual Departments also conduct their own careers audits, which are shared with the Head of Careers (and other Heads of Department). The careers strategy and action plan is based upon the outcomes of these audits.

A designated governor has responsibility for overseeing the quality of careers guidance. The Head of Careers reports to the Governors on a termly basis with a formal written report.

The Careers Policy is reviewed on an annual basis by the Head of Careers and the Deputy Head of Curriculum (Academic).

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