Welcome to Careers at Parkside
Careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) is an essential part of the support we offer to students at Parkside Community School. Effective careers support can help to prepare young people for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life; it can help them to make decisions and manage transitions as learners and workers. As options for young people become more varied and complex, it is vital that we support them to develop the knowledge and skills they need to make informed choices for their future. As a result, the careers programme has a whole-school remit designed to complement the rest of the school curriculum.
At Parkside Community School, the senior leadership team are committed to delivering a robust programme of CEIAG – the link for this is Mrs L. Asher, deputy headteacher. The school have a qualified careers lead, Mrs K. O’Sullivan, who is in post to manage careers provision across the school. Mrs L Wigston is our work experience co-ordinator.
Parkside Community School has publicly committed to work towards meeting the Quality in Careers Standard incorporating the Gatsby Benchmarks” – the national quality award for its careers education, information, advice and guidance provision. Parkside Community School also uses the COMPASS tool to measure its provision in careers, information, advice and guidance against the Gatsby Benchmarks.
Please take time to review the following documents:
Provider Access Legislation Statement
Quality in Careers Standard Certificate
Career Mark
Parkside Community School are delighted to announce that we have been awarded the Career Mark by the National Quality in Careers Standard Awarding Body. The national award recognises excellence in careers, employability and enterprise in key stage 3 and 4.
As part of the assessment process, the assessor spoke to a group of pupils from each year group about their experience of career education at school. Over the past few years, Parkside Community School has been fortunate to enjoy a wide range of visitors to the school, including representatives from Microsoft, Google, Boeing, HS2, the local Fire Service, local business owners and local employers. Visitors have spoken to pupils about their jobs, skills, career paths, gender stereotyping, how they deal with challenges and setbacks and how the subjects they learn in school will help them throughout their lives. Pupils have practised key skills and learned many new things from participating in activities provided by visitors. During this time, we have also continued to strengthen our well-established links with Chesterfield College and local sixth form providers, as well as higher education providers through the HEPPSY+ project.
The Career Mark award highlights the outstanding work that has been done both by the Careers Team and also all staff across the school in linking curriculum areas to careers.
Our Careers Team
Mrs K O'SullivanCareers Lead
Miss T HoganCareers Advisor
Mrs L WigstonCareers Administrator
Raising Aspirations
We are delighted to have secured the support of the Derbyshire Education Business Partnership.
Every pupil will receive:
- A one-to-one interview to identify an appropriate career path.
- A Career Action Plan that will detail the specific qualifications and experiences needed to enter their desired profession.
- Support with applying for Post-16 destinations for when pupils finish Year 11.
- On-demand support when visiting Post-16 destinations including colleges, sixth form schools, apprenticeship and/or training
providers.
For more information please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or telephone (01246) 273458.
Careers Quiz for Students (and possibly parents too!)
Unsure what career you might like? Take this quiz to see what roles might suit your current skills and preferences!
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/skills-assessment
LMI For All's Careerometer - Compare Job Salaries
LMI stands for ‘Labour Market Information’ and refers to local job opportunites.
Destination advice for parents and students
Considering where to go after Parkside? Below are links to a wide range of local sixth forms, colleges and apprenticeship providers. Explore the options you can take at each one, find out what GCSE grades you need to be accepted, what you can expect to do and what you can expect to earn.
If you would like to provide feedback or suggestions to improve our careers provision, please please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Post16 links
Vision West Nottinghamshire College
Dronfield Henry Fanshawe Sixth Form
St Mary's Catholic High School Sixth Form
Brookfield Community School Sixth Form
University links
University of Derby - Student Finance Help Guide
Useful Careers Websites
Apprentice Town Apprenticeship Finder
http://www.chesterfield.co.uk/apprenticeships/become-an-apprentice-in-chesterfield/
WEX statement and information
Work Experience is an important part of the curriculum. It helps learners understand and develop their employability skills alongside the positive ‘can-do’ attitude employers are looking for in a highly competitive economy. We also know that it has a more personal effect on learners. It helps them to understand their own strengths, and areas for development; it builds confidence in handling new situations and in working within a team of adults.
Work Experience is a placement on employers’ premises in which a student carries out a particular task or duty, or range of tasks or duties, more or less as would an employee, but with the emphasis on the learning aspects of the experience. All Y10 students undertake a week-long work experience placement at a local provider during Y10. As a school, we have developed strong partnerships with a wide range of local businesses who accept our learners on placements every year. Students can also undertake their placement at a provider who they have personal links in, but this intention must be made clear to Mrs O’Sullivan (careers lead) and Mrs Wigston (work experience coordinator) as soon as possible in order to allow the relevant paperwork to be completed.
The process for work experience is as follows:
- Work Experience launch assembly – led by Mrs O’Sullivan during September of Y10
- Students begin to source their own placement. Once a student has secured a placement with a company verbally, parents/carers provide Mrs O’Sullivan with the company name, address and contact name
- Mrs Wigston then contacts the company to confirm the placement and the Health and Safety procedures that will take place
- Mrs Wigston then enters this information on the Safety Measures database. Safety Measures is an external company who make visits to every work experience setting to ensure that all health and safety guidelines are fully met before our students attend the placements
- Once Safety Measures have completed these checks, all information regarding the placement is sent to parents/carers by Mrs Wigston. Parents/carers and students taking part in the placement must sign and return a consent form to indicate that they have read and understood all parts of the placement
- Information regarding school safeguarding procedures are sent to all work experience providers. This includes what to do if a child does not attend placement and also what to do if an employer is concerned about they safety or welfare of a student
- During Work Experience week, a member of staff from Parkside is always available to discuss any issues that may arise and to visit placement settings where necessary. A member of staff from Parkside will make a phone call to the employer during the placement to ensure that everything is going well
If you are a student or parent/carer who would like to discuss work experience further, please contact Mrs O’Sullivan (careers lead) – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
If you are a local business who would like to offer a work experience placement, please contact Mrs Wigston (work experience coordinator) – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Our work experience statement is reviewed annually.