Parents & Carers
We believe that support for careers and aspirations should begin as soon as students start with us in Year 7 and evolve until they leave in Year 11.
There is support for all students as they consider their life aspirations, and it is available throughout their time at ALNS. Specific careers lessons take place during “Aspiring Futures” (AF) lessons throughout each year and all students will have the chance to participate in Personal Development (PD) days each half term, with specific focusses on their future choices.
Having conversation about the world of work and employment can hugely beneficial to the positive outlook our students form about their post-16 pathways. Here is a handy worksheet to help families engage in careers conversations
Home Careers Conversations.pdf
Here is a brief overview of what we offer/have offered our year groups to broaden their opportunities in the wider world. This is not exhaustive as we have new and exciting events planned all the time!
Year 7
- Humanities skills days
- “Your rights to the world” day
- “Magic of books” day
- “Looking after you” day
- Residential trip to London
- Trip to Belgium
- Harry Potter STEM Day
- University of Portsmouth organised visits to campus
- Aspirations week
Moving forward, we are really excited to be developing our careers and aspirations offer for Year 7 with a launch coming in September 2022, watch this space…
Year 8
- “Passport to the world” day
- Design day
- CSI day
- Camping trip
- Careers day
- Options evening with careers fair
- University of Portsmouth organised visits to campus
- Aspirations week
Additional support can be found by clicking on the links below:
Careers Pilot – Free careers information page, students create an account to save the information they have researched, this page also has links to subjects and future career pathways
Flying Start – Access to courses for local colleges so that students can see what future studies could require
Year 9
- Human Rights Day
- “Power of reading” day
- Asia day
- Performance from “Box Clever” (Shakespeare)
- Humanities trips
- Stock market challenge
- University of Portsmouth organised visits to campus
- Aspirations week
Year 10
As the children move into KS4, the careers program becomes more prominent as we prepare our students for their next steps beyond ALNS. Year 10 is an important year for students to start to think about their aspirations for college, apprenticeships, work, and life. At ALNS we off the unique in-house opportunity for the students to choose their own work experience placement for 2 weeks in July as well as many meaningful encounters with employers, further/higher education, and the wider community.
Year 11
In year 11 there is, of course, a big focus on exams and revision, but careers and the future remain key to our oldest learners. Colleges and training providers begin hosting open events and students are strongly encouraged to visit as many as possible to help them make informed choices. Prospectuses from all local colleges are available from the information centre.
Labour Market Information (LMI)
LMI is a useful tool to help research future jobs in the local area, understand the skills needed for certain roles and the demand for future employment.
LMI helps to break down the complex ‘world of work’– ranging from descriptions of different careers, their entry routes, promotional prospects, salaries paid, skills and qualifications needed, etc. Crucially for young people, LMI also covers future demand – what kinds of jobs will be in demand after leaving school and what kinds of skills will be needed. Click below for the latest LMI from the Solent region
Further Support
A careers library is available in the Information Centre. Students can go there at any time to access the information that will help them as they move on from ALNS. We have an independent, trained careers adviser from Portsmouth City Council, Berni Hynes, who works within the Information Centre monthly. Please contact staff for an appointment.
All students within the school will have access to online careers tools which can be used both inside and outside of school. These sites have key information about different career sectors, examination requirements for different careers and are easy to navigate around for information about all types of careers options and choices.
ALNS works closely with the Careers and Enterprise Company, the Solent Universities Network and Portsmouth City Council to ensure it regularly assesses and evaluates its provision with the Gatsby benchmarks for good career guidance. This is reviewed at least annually, ensuring the programme is up to date and relevant. The school-wide careers policy is also reviewed regularly by SLT and governors.
In relation to Ofsted, our career learning is assessed using outcomes based on the National Framework and assessment for learning techniques as well as being recorded as part of the Local Education Provider/Careers and Enterprise Company’s Compass + monitoring tool. Year 11 students complete a Future Destinations questionnaire, whilst Year 10 students complete a careers review in July of Year 10 which is used to inform their provision for the following year. Year 8 students are also assessed for early careers interest data at the same time as making their options choices, and this data informs some targeted guidance by our careers advisor and activities set by the careers team.
See also:
Year 11 Planning Ahead 2020-2021
We encourage all students to apply for a college placement by Christmas even if they are thinking of an Apprenticeship as a back-up option. This leaflet has lots of useful links
Apprenticeships
Amazing Apprenticeships Parent and Carers Pack – to view the latest copy to access information on how to support your child and much more