Careers Programme

The South Derbyshire Support Centre Policy Statement: The South Derbyshire Support Centre is committed to ensure that all children and young people have opportunities to access a relevant careers, employability and enterprise programme. The South Derbyshire Support Centre vision for Careers, Employability and Enterprise sits within our aim of: ‘Success, Opportunities, Acceptance, Purpose”.
We are a center that caters for children with a wide range of special needs including ASD, SEMH and mild to moderate learning difficulties. Our aim is to ensure that all students are given equal opportunity in accessing an array of career opportunities and are provided with the tools to prepare them for the world of work.

For the students at the centre this will mean:
Providing the opportunity for students to gain qualifications.
Providing employer encounter opportunities.
Preparing students for the next steps in their education and working life.
Developing life skills to support them to become more independent.

Raising Aspirations

The South Derbyshire Support Centre works in conjunction with the Derbyshire Educations Business Partnership (DEBP) and are part of the Raising Aspirations Programme. The DEBP’s Raising Aspirations Careers, Employability and Enterprise Programme is a bespoke programme that provides intensive support to address the needs of each individual student so they can reach their full potential. A core element of the initiative is putting the taught curriculum into context and their network of employer volunteers provide meaningful encounters and world of work experiences that assist young people to identify their skills and goals; motivating them to engage more fully with education so that they too can have a successful future.

The Raising Aspirations Careers, Employability and Enterprise Framework consists of 10 key goals which young people should have the opportunity of developing before they leave full time education:
To increase interactive and participatory learning.
To develop a listening campaign which responds to student and parent perceptions and needs.
To promote a culture of respect for local people, local culture and local values.
To broaden students’ horizons by offering experiences and opportunities they would not otherwise get.
To develop a culture of achievement and ‘belonging’ in a school.
To offer a rich and relevant curriculum to meet the needs and aspirations of all students.
To build students’ repertoire of spoken and written communication.
To develop students’ social, emotional and behaviour needs.
To support students at important moments in their lives, especially transition points.
To develop effective rewards and incentive schemes.

South Derbyshire Support Centres Career Programme Offer

At the South Derbyshire Support Centre, we strive to provide opportunities for our students to access an array of career learning opportunities. In accordance to the Education Act 2011, section 42A, we ensure a personalised and varied careers package for our students to provide them with the skills to seek out further education and employment in the future.

In accordance with the Gatsby Benchmarks, a framework which defines the best career and employment provisions, all schools should aim to achieve the following 8 criteria for their students:
A stable careers program
Learning from career and labour market information
Addressing the needs of each pupil
Linking curriculum learning to careers
Encounters with employers and employees
Experiences of Workplaces
Encounters with further education
Personal Guidance.

At the Esteem South Academy we provide the following opportunities:

1. Raising Aspirations Employability Programme for Year 10-11.
2. A programme that will be supported through key worker sessions that opens up the possibility to a variety of different careers paths through exploration of key skills and areas of interest- Gatsby Benchmark 1, 3.
3. Volunteering- Students support various charity events at the school, including the Macmillan Coffee Morning, Christmas Bazaar’s and Summer BBQ’s- Gatsby Benchmark 4 & 6.
4. Independent Living Skills- Students are taught various life skills including cooking, gardening and laundry to prepare them for living independently- Gatsby Benchmark 3.
5. Enterprise Week- All students will be participating in our Enterprise week, where together in groups they will design and market a product for a parental/carer engagement day. The students will meet with different employers from different sectors including marketing, finance, design and manufacturing. - Gatsby Benchmark 2.
6. Life skill Workshops- Workshops are organised for the students on a variety of life skills including banking and first aid- Gatsby Benchmark 3.
7. Employee Encounters- People from different organisations and career paths come to the centre to educate the students from Key stage 2,3 & 4 on their field of work- Gatbsy Benchmark 5.
8. Academic & Vocational curriculum- Sessions cover life skills and employability e.g. learning how to write a C.V. and developing employability skills- Gatsby Benchmark 3, 4.
9. Derbyshire Skills Festival- Students from Year 9, 10 & 11 attend a local careers festival to find out about a variety of career choices and how to work towards their chosen career path- Gatsby Benchmark 7.
10. Progression Pathways- Students will attend a variety of local colleges, apprenticeships and 6th forms to look at future education options- Gatsby benchmark 7.
11. Level 7 qualified Careers Guidance Practitioner- The Careers Guidance Practitioner conducts 1:1 sessions and small group sessions providing impartial advice and guidance for Key Stage 3 & 4.- Gatsby Benchmark 8.
12. Access to up-to-date Local Labour Market Information- Academic sessions to cover local labour market information for students to support their understanding of opportunities in different areas- Gatsby Benchmark 2.
13. Work Experience- Students in Year 10 & Year 11 will get the opportunity to complete a work experience week, working with employers and gaining insight into the job role – Gatsby Benchmark 5 & 6.

Baker Clause Statement

This policy statement sets out South Derbyshire’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to student at the Academy for the purposes of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education act 1997 (the ‘Baker Clause’).

Students in Years 4 – 11 are entitled to:
find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point;
hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options evening’s, assemblies and group discussions and taster events;
understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.

We work in partnership with Derbyshire County Council and our careers advisor and all associated agencies to ensure impartiality and support for all learners with their destinations.