At Buckler’s Mead Academy, we are dedicated to ensuring our young people are equipped with both career planning and employability skills, which is delivered through our comprehensive and impartial Careers Education, Information and Guidance programme.

We are committed to making sure that we meet the Gatsby Foundation’s eight Career Benchmarks of good practice and review the impact of our careers programme on an annual basis. This ensures that we maintain the high quality of our CEIAG programme.

Careers Programme - this document is updated and reviewed regularly

• 1: 1 careers guidance interviews.
• Visiting speakers- we invite in employers, colleges, sixth forms, higher education providers and past students.
• Curriculum, Personal Development lessons, tutor time and off timetable careers/employability sessions.

The careers leaders are responsible for making sure that the careers programme meets the expectations set out in the Gatsby Benchmarks. They are also responsible for tracking the destinations of students and using this information to improve the effectiveness of the career programme.

As members of the Yeovil Chamber of Commerce and the South Somerset 14-19 Partnership we are busy growing your employees of the future. We also have a business Enterprise Adviser, who is linked to our school and offers support from a business perspective on our careers curriculum.

We welcome the help of local businesses to raise the career aspirations of our students, develop their employability skills and learn more about the exciting industries in Somerset.

We welcome Training Providers and employers to come into school and talk to our students. Please see our Provider Access Statement for events and contact details 

How Employers and Training Providers Can Help Our Students

• Give a short careers talk about your company, apprenticeship scheme, your role and career path and answer students’ questions.
• Providing Work Experience to our students. Year 10s complete a five-day placement in May, which they start arranging from November.  We currently work with 215 businesses and always welcome more.
• Assisting with the Year 10 Mock Interview event. This is in July and around 60 interviewers are needed for either one full day or two to give all our Year 10 students an interview experience.
• We aim where possible to bring the careers and workplace application into curriculum lessons. We welcome links with employers who can contribute to a specific subject department by either allowing students to visit their company on a school trip, or come into school to deliver an aspect of subject curriculum to a class.
• If you have an apprenticeship you wish to fill please email details to our Careers Leader and this will be forwarded to the students who are planning the workplace and looking for that type of employment.

If you are able to assist or would like to find out more information about the work of our Careers department, please email our Careers Coordinator.

Kate Kitchen- careers@bucklersmeadacademy.com 

Buckler’s Mead Academy has the benefit of a key business volunteer who works with us on a strategic level, encouraging the development of our careers programme and connecting us to the business community across the county. This role is recognised nationally as an Enterprise Adviser(EA) and they are part of the Somerset Careers Hub community of support driving the connection between careers education and the business sector. 

If you are an employer, former student, apprenticeship or training provider and would like the opportunity to come and talk to our students about the jobs apprenticeships and courses you can offer, please email careers@bucklersmeadacademy.com

Our PSHE / Careers and Citizenship Curriculum, ensures that the key skills and essential knowledge we have identified permeate our curriculum from year 7 to year 11, allowing our pupils to make links in their learning as well as develop the ability to think more deeply about what they are learning. In this respect, pupils’ learning is meaningful and purposeful, and designed in a range of contexts, which offer breadth and variety to their learning.

All teachers include careers into their lessons, and develop student’s employability skills. Staff have access to a wide range of resources on the school Intranet to showcase careers in their subject lessons. As an example; Benchmark 4 Portal 

Teachers are encouraged to implement the below into the curriculum:

• have a prominent display that links subject learning and skill development to different careers

• develop links with businesses and organisations

• to invite alumni and other external speakers to come into school (virtually where an actual visit is not feasible)

• where appropriate to organise external visits for students to local businesses/organisations

• record careers learning opportunities for students in schemes of learning

• take part in whole school ‘Careers Days’ where all teachers start their lesson with a careers focus, such as talking about their career pathway or showing a short film where people in a range of job roles explain the relevance of skills developed in a particular subject area to their role. 

• explore the possibility of developing real projects/challenges for students with a local business or organisation 

• consider the needs and interests of all students and ensure that information challenges career stereotyping including gender, race and disability