1- Introduction

At Newfriars College we strive to attain the highest standards in our work, have respect for others and develop individual talents. These principles underpin the College's approach to developing employability skills in our students so that they can look forward with confidence. We provide impartial career guidance/advice and employability education to support young people in understanding the career landscape.

The careers programme provides information and experiences to help our young people to make better- informed and more confident decisions about their future transitions, whatever their needs. Learning programmes embed the development of employability skills; provide access to college placements, industry professionals, vocational training courses, specialist workshops, careers events and work experience. Newfriars adheres to the Gatsby Benchmarks to deliver good quality careers education for learners with diverse needs.

The 8 Gatsby benchmarks as specified below support Inscape in delivering high quality careers education and provision:

1. A stable Careers Programme

2. Learning from career and labour market

3. Addressing the needs of each learner

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

We recognise that parents, careers and guardians often have questions about the options available to leavers. If parents/guardians/carers have a query, they can telephone Helen Sawyer-Grund the careers advisor or Stacey Oakley (Assistant Headteacher) via the College office on 01782987180 or alternatively via the following email addresses: 

Helen.Sawyer-Grund@newfriarscollege.org.uk

Stacey.Oakley@newfriarscollege.org.uk

2- Careers/Employability defined

A career is a pathway through life, learning and work. Newfriars College promotes careers/employability learning via three themes: Development through employability education, work experience and enterprise education - which includes self-awareness, self-assessment and self-improvement as a learner.

Learning about careers and the world of work, which includes - exploring careers and career development, investigating work and working life, understanding business and industry, investigating jobs and labour market information, valuing equality, diversity and inclusion, learning about safe working practices and environments, accessing local colleges and training providers.

Employability skills - Making the most of careers information, advice and guidance, preparing for employment, showing initiative and enterprise, identifying choices and opportunities, planning and deciding, handling applications and interviews and managing changes and transitions.

Learners follow study programmes tailored to their individual needs, education and employment goals, there is a major emphasis on developing work skills, since the main goal of most of our learners is to find paid employment in their future lives. Newfriars strives to offer meaningful work experience options to all learners, where appropriate, and we have secure links to local businesses and promote the importance in developing enterprise skills in our learners.

We also maintain strong links with local colleges, and training providers. Careers/employability learning follows differentiated accreditation and diverse routes for all of our learners. Personalised RARPA and Employability programmes provide the academic structure for our careers/employability curriculum.

All course units and academic study can be linked to any work experience placement or vocational training experience. Careers Information, Advice and Guidance is impartial and the opportunity to engage in 1:1 careers interviews is available to students during their studies.

All College staff contribute to CEIAG education across the College for those whom it is appropriate, and learners follow a number of valuable units that will support the development of hard and soft skills and direct them towards becoming work ready. Students may also gain access to careers advice externally and learners have opportunities to attend workshops and events provided by Industry professionals, local businesses and training providers.

3 - Careers Guidance

 The College implements the following processes to ensure that young people and their families understand the employment/training options available and to ensure access to exciting career options:

• Active involvement of employers in the employability curriculum to support curriculum activity and personal support in making career choices.

• Promoting opportunities to work actively with employers, industry professionals, colleges and training providers to establish routes to employment.

• Monitoring and evaluation of Career Guidance and related activity by the subject leader, including use of student destination information and the Compass evaluation process.

 • 1:1 impartial Career Guidance provided by the Careers Advisor and supplemented by external career advice services where required. Guidance is universal and is focused at key transition points.

• Use of the College website to provide careers advice, labour market information, useful links/software, and information about upcoming careers events.

• Newfriars believes in giving training providers, colleges, and local businesses the opportunity to talk to students at the College. Please refer to the Provider Access Policy for further information.

 • Internal and external careers events and network sessions are organised by the careers lead and parents and learners are notified and invited to attend. Such events provide opportunities for parents, learners, and educators to access up-to-date information to support potential routes and future transitions into employment, training, or further education.

• Annual review meetings and parent’s contact events also provide valuable opportunities to provide parents and learners with information about the careers programme and to explore potential routes into employment.

4 - Governing Body

There is a dedicated career and employability link Governor who oversees learning developments in College.

5 - Career guidance across the whole College is managed and co-ordinated by the Work Experience Co-ordinator & Careers Advisor.

6 - Involving Employers

 The College is committed to involving employers, industry professionals and outside agencies in the development and delivery of employability activities.

The College also has the support of dedicated Business Enterprise advisors and is part of the Stoke and Staffordshire LEP and The Careers and Enterprise Company who provide strategic support and business experience and professional networks to develop an effective strategy that puts opportunities with local employers at the heart of a young person's education. Our Enterprise Adviser is Acacia Training who will advise and support with strategic development of the college’s Careers Programme and also enable Newfriars to utilise Acacia’s business network to enrich the programme.

7 - Work Experience  

 The Department for Education (DfE) defines work experience as: “A placement on an employer’s premises in which a student carries out a particular task or duty, or range of tasks and duties, more or less as would an employee, but with the emphasis on the learning aspects of the experience.”

At Newfriars College we often provide extended work placements for the duration of the academic year, this provision is essential since many students require repetition and consistent routines to develop their confidence in unfamiliar working environments. Students that access work related learning outside of the College environment will be more exposed to the potential risks that may arise in a work setting, both from the tasks they undertake and from the working environment.

Learners with an Autistic Spectrum Condition may have difficulty with social interaction, social communication, and flexibility in thinking and behaviour. It is subsequently these difficulties that can constitute a risk in itself, and it is therefore important that the College and placement provider consider specific risks when arranging placements for each learner. Often staff support our learners on work experience placements and embed EHCP and personal curriculum targets through the programme. 

8 - Safeguarding

When arranging work experience placements there are considerations regarding Safeguarding. Employers are asked, when preparing a programme of work experience for a young person, to take responsibility for their social welfare as well as their physical welfare (Learners are supported by Educational support and experienced practitioners.)

Employers should do all they can to ensure their employee’s relationships with young people on work experience are appropriate to their age and gender. Attitude, behaviour and language all require care and thought. Employers must acknowledge the Colleges expectations around safeguarding as specified in the safeguarding information provided to employers.

All parties involved in setting up and monitoring of work experience placements should be familiar with Safeguarding procedures. All College employees should be aware of the College safeguarding procedures as outlined in the Colleges safeguarding policy.

9 - Employment Organiser Responsibilities

The Careers Advisor,  Work Experience Co-ordinator/SLT will ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that students on work experience, are not exposed to risks to their health and safety by ensuring that:

• That placement providers hosting students on placement have been approved based on a robust health and safety inspection, and there is evidence of Employer’s Liability Insurance and Risk Assessments in place. The College will make a note of the insurance certificate numbers for our records.

• Placements do not take place with ANY employer who does not have employer’s liability insurance. (This recommendation is made with the intention of maintaining the safety and wellbeing of the student at all times, all appropriate health & safety guidance must be adhered to, and appropriate risk assessments carried out.) Work placements adhere to agreed health & safety and safeguarding responsibilities as presented in College guidance.

• Placement providers comply with the accident reporting protocol.

• Placement risk assessments are made available to SLT and the Health and Safety Manager

 • The Health and Safety Manager and SLT are nominated within the College with responsibility for ensuring that the health and safety requirements for work experience are carried out on organising a placement.

 • The Work Experience Co-ordinator is nominated within the College to meet with employers to assess the suitability of the work experience placements and to assess the competency of the person providing and supporting the young person.

• Supporting staff have clear communication with The Work Experience Co-ordinator or Health and Safety Manager/SLT and all key parties involved with the work placement.

 • The Work Experience Co-ordinator or Health and Safety Manager/SLT, supporting staff, the young person and wok placement provider must ensure that health and safety procedures are followed.

• Arrangements are in place to gain consent from the young person or parents/carers before the placement begins.

• Arrangements are in place to detail clearly to employers safeguarding protocols, best practice in supporting learners with learning difficulties/disabilities and the expectations around the importance of embedding fundamental British Values to ensure that learners develop vital skills to become positive citizens

Where necessary, medical care plans will be shared with appropriate staff at the work placement to ensure that any procedures are followed in respect of existing medical conditions.

Where appropriate, behaviour and safeguarding information may be shared with appropriate staff at the work placement in order to ensure that interaction between workers and learners is appropriate and monitored in accordance with risk.

• Procedures are in place to use the risk assessments when matching students with placements.

• Students are given any necessary health and safety instruction and training;

• Procedures are in place to ensure that students are monitored on placement and that the development and progression of work skills is assessed by the employer and supporting adult.

• Relevant staff comply with accident protocol and all parties understand their responsibilities.

10 - Placement Providers

The Placement Provider is the employer that has agreed to take a student on placement. The Placement Provider must comply with the following requirements:

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states that employers must assess the risks to their young workers, including students on work experience before they start work.

• Providers must contact their insurance company to advise them that they are taking a student for work experience and ensure that Employer’s Liability Insurance is in place.

• Providers must assess the risks to their young workers (i.e. under 18 years of age) including students on work experience, before they start work.

• Providers must ensure that a risk assessment is completed and takes into account specific factors such as learning difficulties/disabilities, inexperience and lack of awareness, as well as any additional needs the student may have.

• Introduce and implement control measures to eliminate or minimise the risks and ensure that these are implemented, including the wearing of personal protective equipment or clothing.

• Ensure the student receives adequate training and health and safety instructions prior to commencing the placement/first day.

• Provide adequate supervision as detailed on the risk assessment (College support to supervise learners) (Mentor employees to support students independently accessing placements.)

• Ensure students are made aware of the work activities involved and any associated significant risks.

 • Students are informed in relation to who has day to day responsibility at the workplace for supervising them, and who (if different) has overall responsibility for their health and safety during their work experience; incident/accident book, and/or report as a RIDDOR to HSE in the event of serious accident/incident in line under required under RIDDOR.

The Health and Safety Manager and SLT must ensure that they are satisfied that the Placement Provider has these processes in place before approving a placement.

11 - Feedback, monitoring & assessment

Assessment and evaluation enables the College to make judgements about the worth or value of different aspects of the careers/employability provision so that we can decide how to improve and progress with the ever changing labour market. The following procedures support this assessment process:

• Successful management of work experience programmes depends on feedback; therefore, the learner, employability practitioner, employer, teachers and support staff are encouraged to provide feedback about progress.

• Learning outcomes as specified in the Employability schemes of work must be adhered to for each academic term and assessed accordingly. A portfolio of evidence must be created to provide evidence that learners have met specific outcomes.

• Progression details must be tracked and recorded effectively to ensure that the development of work/life skills, independence and EHCP and PfA targets are assessed thoroughly with support from placement providers where appropriate.

• It is recommended that students be asked to feedback on the productivity of their placements and the health and safety standards of the placement provider during the post placement review. The Placement provider will need to be notified immediately if concerns are raised.

• Compass evaluations to be completed periodically to assess progress towards the Gatsby Benchmarks.

16 - Guidance on Developing a Work Experience Policy

Newfriars College work experience policy has been created to ensure that all staff, parents, guardians/carers are aware of the local procedures and how they are discharged. Our aims are to:

 • Ensure that roles and responsibilities for all staff are clear and concise.

• Ensure that annual risk assessments are carried out when identifying student placements.

• Ensure that parents/guardians are informed how information on an individual student will be shared and with whom;

• Ensure that written parental consent has been received before students can go out on work experience;

• Ensure that students complete a work experience booklet before going on work experience giving them guidance and training.

 • Ensure that all students will either be supported or visited on work experience by a member of staff, and all will have a contact number if any issues arise. They will also have clear instructions on how to report accidents or incidents to the College.

• Students are de-briefed after their placement and given the opportunity to reflect upon learning outcomes and health and safety.