Assistant Headteacher in charge of Careers Education: Mr L Wood

At Wanstead High School, we believe in an inclusive curriculum that encourages pupils to strive for success and facilitates the development of their character. In line with our school vision and our aims, our careers programme promotes the personal growth and development of our ambitious pupils; providing them with high quality careers education, information advice and guidance (CEIAG) that will support them and set them on a pathway to thrive, achieve and succeed in the modern world.

Our objectives for our careers programme are to provide high-quality careers education, information and guidance that:

• Is implemented equally and fosters a culture of high aspirations and equality of opportunity, in which diversity is celebrated and stereotypes are challenged.

• Is engaging and relevant. 

• Is personalised and facilitates the development of transferable skills and character. 

• Promotes a culture of high aspirations that challenges pupils to aim high and encourages participation in continued learning, including higher education and apprenticeships.

• Uses pupil, parent, staff and employer feedback to drive its continuous improvement.

A tutor time programme is dedicated to this each week, based on the Skills Builder employability skills framework for Years 7 to 9, and Unifrog for Years 10 to 13 (please see our monthly careers newsletter for details on how this can be accessed as a parent). We achieved the Skills Builder Bronze Award for our work implementing the programme in Year 8 last year; you can read our case study here.

Within the taught curriculum, links are made between lesson learning and the careers pathways, and a number of subject areas host subject-relevant careers talks, sessions and workshops.

Our careers curriculum is supplemented by a planned careers programme of events across all-year groups, delivered by an expansive network of high quality employers, technical, further and higher education providers. Events are both based around key dates in the careers calendar, such as National Careers and National Apprenticeship week, as well as the unique needs and aspirations of our pupil community. This includes an annual careers fair and outreach and engagement days with specific partners and providers.

If you are an employer or provider and would like to attend one of our careers events, our Provider Access Policy, which includes contact details, can be found here: Provider Access Policy.

We offer our pupils the opportunity to gain valuable work experience, through our pupil helper programme in Year 8 and a planned placement for all Year 12 pupils, facilitated by the Business Education Partnership. In addition to this, pupils gain valuable work place exposure and interaction through regular exposure to online seminars delivered by various industries and training providers. Pupils can opt in to sign up to as diverse selection of opportunities to enrich their career exposure at their own pace.

Our pupils also receive high quality, impartial careers guidance, which helps them to make informed choices in deciding their next steps in relation to GCSE, post-16 and post-18 options, from a combination of school staff and our external careers partners, Prospects and Connexions.

Our disadvantaged and SEND pupils are targeted and prioritised in all aspects of our careers offer as outlined above.

We use the Gatsby benchmarks to inform and plan our careers curriculum and programme, and evaluation indicates that we are currently meeting most and are above national average for all. We welcome parental feedback, which can be provided through this form.

A general overview of the careers activities can be found here:

You can find out more about our careers offer through our monthly careers newsletter.