Careers Programme
Student Entitlement
Labour Market Info
Parents
Students

There has never been a time when careers guidance has been as important for young people as it is today. The landscape of education, training and employment opportunities that students need to navigate is more complex and more challenging than that faced by previous generations. While the economy is beginning to recover from the recent recession, levels of youth unemployment and under-employment are still high. The raising of the age for participating in learning means that young people face a wider range of choices of courses and places to study.

Qualifications such as GCSE and A level are changing, and opportunities in higher education extend now beyond the UK to other parts of Europe and opportunities for these qualifications through apprenticeship and university pathways. Students need help to make choices and manage transitions: they need good quality careers education, information, advice and guidance.

The careers plan sets out how Workington Academy intends to provide a good careers programme with the available resources which will provide our students with the knowledge, inspiration and ability to take ownership of their own career action plans which will enable them to succeed in their chosen career paths.

The plan is based on the DfE document “Careers Guidance and Inspiration in Schools” dated May 2025. The main outcome of the plan over the coming years is to achieve the 8 recommendations of the updated Gatsby report “Good Career Guidance: The next ten years” dated 2025.

Careers education does not just mean informing students about their options after school but also how their school career will affect their futures. It is our statutory duty to ensure that all pupils receive independent, impartial advice and guidance regarding all options within school and how they will affect their options after school and which careers pathways will become available to them. By helping students with decisions at crucial stages, informing them of all their options and introducing them to the world of work, we aim to prepare them for life after school whichever path they choose.

We believe that at Workington Academy we offer good advice and guidance for our young people. The Careers and Enterprise company provide the ‘Compass+’ tool in order to assess and evaluate the schools’ current careers practices and procedures. Our progress towards achieving the eight benchmarks identified as key for outstanding careers provision are outlined below:

Our Careers Programme

During a students’ time at Workington Academy, they will have a variety of careers input. Below is our annual programme, however, this is enhanced every year by additional visits from our alumni, local employers and new events.

We have a focus during our wider curriculum on developing transferable skills, these are the skills that employers want and can include leadership, speaking skills, creativity and adaptability. Teaching staff will highlight these skills using the Skills Builder logos within their lessons so students can record how they are developing these using examples on Unifrog.

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Review Date for Careers

CEIAG is always developing and changing in light of a changing world of work and education. The progress towards the Gatsby Benchmarks is reviewed on a termly basis to ensure our young people have access to the best careers programme possible. In light of this, we always review and adjust provision on an annual basis in light of local and national changes as well as student, parent, teacher and employer feedback.

We are scheduled to complete a full in depth review in July 2028.

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Student Entitlement

Our careers curriculum aims to combine key areas from both the PSHE Association and the Careers Development Institute. We draw together the content in order to ensure we are working towards achieving the Gatsby Benchmarks, resulting in outstanding careers guidance for all. Students are able to access their own individual record of experiences through the Unifrog platform.

The eight Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance are:

  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 six CDI learning areas. As the central professional association for careers professionals, we use the Careers Development Institute Framework to design our curriculum. Our careers leader and advisor, Andrea McAllister is a member of this association and adheres to the membership guidelines.

Careers Advice

Within the Academy we have a level 6 trained professional careers lead/advisor, Mrs Andrea McAllister (amcallister@workingtonacademy.org) who is able to offer appointments for advice and guidance to students during the year. In order to arrange an appointment, students should speak to their Director of Learning who can liaise and arrange this. In addition to this advisor, we also welcome a representative from Inspira annually who will conduct one-to-one guidance meetings with every Year 11 student. These are arranged centrally and do not require appointments to be made individually.

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Destinations Data

At Workington Academy we monitor the impact of our careers programme regularly to ensure that it meets the needs of students. We do this in a variety of ways, including asking students to complete the Future Skills Questionnaire annually. This questionnaire is designed to work alongside the Gatsby Benchmarks and the self-reporting tool Compass+.

We also monitor intended, initial and sustained destinations. Intended destinations are the post-16 and post-18 destinations students would like to progress onto before they leave us. Initial destinations are the destinations that students move onto in the September after they leave the school. Sustained destinations are the destinations that students remain in from September until January.

Sustained destinations data is collected by an external body and has a time lag. Our sustained destinations data can be accessed via: Workington Academy – Compare school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK. Our initial destinations data can be seen below.

KS4 (year 11 leavers) 2025

Education, apprenticeship or employment – 95.1%
Education (6th form or college) – 59.8%
Apprenticeship – 19.7%
Employment (without approved training) – 15.8%

KS5 (year 13 leavers) 2025

Education, apprenticeship or employment – 98.4%
Education (6th form or college) – 42.1%
Apprenticeship – 37.5%
Employment (without approved training) – 18.8%

All stakeholders’ views are important to us and we ask for feedback during key events and through the annual parental survey. Following events we will ask visiting speakers for feedback in order to further improve experiences for students.

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Destinations Data

At Workington Academy we monitor the impact of our careers programme regularly to ensure that it meets the needs of students. We do this in a variety of ways, including asking students to complete the Future Skills Questionnaire annually. This questionnaire is designed to work alongside the Gatsby Benchmarks and the self-reporting tool Compass+.

We also monitor intended, initial and sustained destinations. Intended destinations are the post-16 and post-18 destinations students would like to progress onto before they leave us. Initial destinations are the destinations that students move onto in the September after they leave the school. Sustained destinations are the destinations that students remain in from September until January.

Sustained destinations data is collected by an external body and has a time lag. Our sustained destinations data can be accessed via: Workington Academy – Compare school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK. Our initial destinations data can be seen below.

KS4 (year 11 leavers) 2025

Education, apprenticeship or employment – 95.1%
Education (6th form or college) – 59.8%
Apprenticeship – 19.7%
Employment (without approved training) – 15.8%

KS5 (year 13 leavers) 2025

Education, apprenticeship or employment – 98.4%
Education (6th form or college) – 42.1%
Apprenticeship – 37.5%
Employment (without approved training) – 18.8%

All stakeholders’ views are important to us and we ask for feedback during key events and through the annual parental survey. Following events we will ask visiting speakers for feedback in order to further improve experiences for students.

At the Academy we encourage all students to regularly use Unifrog for LMI as well as information from the Cumbria Careers Hub which reflects local LMI.

Students can access Unifrog using their school email address and password they have created. If students have forgotten their password they can use the ‘Forgotten Password’ link to reset via their school email address. Students should explore the ‘Careers Library’ where each career will show the LMI for Cumbria or the North West of England.

The Cumbria LMI can be found via: Careers and Labour Market Information for Cumbria

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Parents

We know that parents are eager to support their child making key decisions for the future but may feel that you do not know enough about the other avenues available other than your own experiences. We encourage parents to begin conversations with their children using the Talking Futures platform, it’s never too early to think about the future!

Parents Advice for Career Conversations – Talking Futures

As you explore the website you will find a range of resources that can be used, including conversation starter cards to help get those conversations going. Suggestions include:

  • Sit side by side, perhaps in the car, young people often open up more without direct eye contact
  • Ask them about things they really enjoy and encourage them to explore jobs in this area, even if you might initially thin there aren’t any
  • Keep conversations light, reassure them that people can change jobs and career pathways throughout their working life
  • Lots of small informal conversations are more useful than longer more formal ones
  • Reflect some of the key skills that you have seen them demonstrate, they might have not realised they have those skills

Unifrog

Unifrog is a key tool that allows students to independently explore careers information outside of school. Students can access the platform using their school email address and a password that they create themselves. This platform allows us to log events they have attended and suggest activities to complete and pages to investigate to help them on their journey. We encourage you to explore this platform with them and will regularly provide links to upcoming webinars hosted on this platform for you to watch as parents and caregivers. The site is broken into key areas:

Quizzing: where students can answer questions to help narrow down some of the career or subject areas they might want to explore in further depth

Exploring: which allows students to find out more about a wide range of careers, subjects and the know-how library which contains information on a wide array of areas from revision techniques to life skills and application processes

Recording: where students can record the skills they have developed and activities that help prepare them for their future, ready to add to future applications

Materials: here students can write their CV for applications for employment roles or the personal statement for degree study

Searching: this is a collection of tools that allow students to find sixth form and college courses, apprenticeships and university places, each search allows students to refine their list based on predicted grades, location, and more

Applications: a place for students to record their intended destination which can help staff support students to make this into a reality

If you would like more information about this platform, please do not hesitate to contact Mrs A McAllister via amcallister@workingtonacademy.org

GCSE Options

As part of the year 9 progress evening, you will be able to discuss the option choices with your child’s teachers. You will be provided with information on the subjects covering both the knowledge and skills developed. If students already have a career path in mind, they might need to select certain subjects, however, if they don’t we recommend that students choose courses they find interesting and feel that they will enjoy. Log into Unifrog and explore the Know-How library to find out more: https://www.unifrog.org/student/know-how/direct/helping-your-child-make-their-level-2-qualification-choices

Post-16 Options

Students will receive a range of information on the different types of qualification and pathways available to them through assemblies and in class learning. Families will also be invited to the Inspira Careers Convention which takes place in early November each year, offering you an opportunity to speak to a range of providers to find out more about the opportunities available locally. Parents will receive information via email and Edulink highlighting upcoming online parental events and open evening opportunities. Log into the Unifrog site and begin to explore more opportunities: https://www.unifrog.org/student/know-how/direct/helping-your-child-to-make-their-level-3-qualification-choices

Post-18 Options

Students will receive the majority of the information at this stage, this will take the form of workshops and in-class learning as well as visits to university and apprenticeship fairs and universities. We support all pathways and take each students individual interests as a starting point. We continue to encourage parents to be involved in the discussions and will share regular emails and links to Unifrog webinars for further information and support.

Additional sources of information:

General careers information

icould – Career ideas and information for your future

Explore careers | National Careers Service

Careerpilot : Plan your future work & study

What Next GCSEs – Get Career Confident

Apprenticeship information

Amazing Apprenticeships | Explore Technical Education & Apprenticeship Opportunities

The Apprenticeship Guide listing all apprenticeships available

 
 
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Students

The future is in your hands.

We know you want to be successful and have a great career, in order to make this happen you need to take control. Career education isn’t just learning about the different jobs that are out there, it’s about knowing how and where to find information, it’s about having the skills to adapt when things change, it’s about having the confidence to believe in yourself.

You will have regular lessons in Ethics/RPE/tutorial which will focus on careers education, but your learning doesn’t stop there. Careers education is everywhere, from morning tutor time to every single subject lesson. To be successful you need qualifications, you need skills and you need to know what you enjoy. Fully engaging in every lesson and taking part in extra talks and workshops will make sure you have the best chance possible to be the best you can be.

Unifrog

Unifrog is a key tool that allows you to independently explore careers information outside of school. You can access the platform using your school email address and a password that you have created. This platform also allows teachers to log events they have attended and suggest activities to complete and pages to investigate to help you on their journey. The site is broken into key areas:

Quizzing: where students can answer questions to help narrow down some of the career or subject areas they might want to explore in further depth

Exploring: which allows students to find out more about a wide range of careers, subjects and the know-how library which contains information on a wide array of areas from revision techniques to life skills and application processes

Recording: where students can record the skills they have developed and activities that help prepare them for their future, ready to add to future applications

Materials: here students can write their CV for applications for employment roles or the personal statement for degree study

Searching: this is a collection of tools that allow students to find sixth form and college courses, apprenticeships and university places, each search allows students to refine their list based on predicted grades, location, and more

Applications: a place for students to record their intended destination which can help staff support students to make this into a reality

Your next steps:

  • Regularly access Unifrog to explore careers and subjects
  • Regularly record your skills and activities that you complete. Look out for the Skills Builder logos during your lessons.
  • Complete the home learning tasks related to careers set in Edulink
  • Actively participate in all RPE/Ethics/Tutorial lessons
  • Attend all workshops, trips and activities that are relevant to you
  • Talk to your family, they know you well and might be able to help you

Leaving year 11

Leaving year 13

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