Our careers programme

Students at Tuxford Academy have a planned programme of CEIAG, in accordance with the DFE Careers Guidance and Inspiration in Schools guidelines. The programme ensures all students have opportunities to recognise their own strengths and values and take responsibility for developing employability skills.

Parental support

Talking to your child about their career aspirations, understanding plans is an important step in helping them to establish a pathway which suits them. Sitting down for a simple question and answer session with your child can be a great way to do this, and revisiting their answers occasionally can help them to continue to shape their plans to suit their needs.

Careers Conversations: Student and Parent Q&A Prompts

Key contact

Our careers lead is Mrs Sue Johnson:

careers@tuxford-ac.org.uk

01777 870001

Policies

All related policies, including our Careers education, information, advice and guidance policy and our provider access policy can be found here(opens in new tab).

What we offer at Post 16

At Tuxford, regardless of which pathway you are thinking of taking, there will be plenty of support to aid you with the application process from form tutors, teachers and other students. We are committed to ensuring that you are kept up to date with the opportunities that are out there and, most importantly, what you need to do to take them.

A full overview of Tuxford Academy’s careers offering across all year groups can be found here.

Bulletin

A weekly information, advice and guidance bulletin is emailed to every student and is also discussed during form time with their tutor. This bulletin is kept up to date with information on apprenticeship vacancies, employment opportunities and university open days, as well as study and revision tips.

Bursary

The bursary fund is made available from the government through its funding body – Education Funding Agency (EFA) for 16-19 year olds – to provide assistance to students whose access to, or completion of, education is inhibited by financial constraints or barriers.

16-19 Bursary application form(opens in new tab)

Work experience

A week is set aside each year for students to source, arrange and complete a work experience placement with whichever employer they feel will be most relevant to their future pathway. This is an excellent opportunity to practise ‘real life’ skills which will become invaluable when writing a CV or application in the future – giving our students the edge over those with just academic qualifications.

University outreach and visits

Many opportunities are given for students to complete outreach programmes with universities. These range from specialist residential support with applications for medicine and Oxbridge, to programmes designed for students who are undecided on whether they want to go to university. In addition, we run a residential visit to Lancaster University each year in order to give students a flavour of what university life will be like.

We also invite outside speakers from universities, colleges, apprenticeship providers and employers to give you an overview of what each different career pathway might look like.

Post 18 student finance

Planning for your child to go to university or college can be daunting, and worries about finance can often seem like a barrier. There are a range of grants, scholarships and bursaries  available to students, to make the cost of higher education more manageable. Student loans are also tailored to a student’s personal circumstances.

You can get an idea of what finance your child may be eligible for here, and search for scholarships and bursaries here.

Useful resources

Unifrog

All of our students have free access to Unifrog, an online service which enables students to easily explore their interests, then find and successfully apply for their next best step after school; such as university, further education, or going straight into a career.

It offers students the opportunity to create a bespoke pathway for themselves and gives real-time advice on available courses, careers, salaries and more.

It is the only place where students can compare every university course, apprenticeship and FE course in the UK as well as university courses in 30 other countries across the world. This is alongside getting access to labour market information and advice on careers and subjects for all routes.

Helping students to record and evidence their key activities and competencies and prepare their CVs and personal statements alongside teacher reference, CEIAG interactions recording and destination tracking tools – all in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks.

If you would like your own login for Unifrog, to explore the platform for yourself, please get in touch with our careers lead.

University of Sheffield and HEPP

It is important for students to research Higher Educations institutions such as universities and degree apprenticeships so that they can make an informed decision about their future.

We are working closely with the University of Sheffield and HEPP (‘the Higher Education Progression Partnership’ of Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam) and they have a range of helpful resources, films, campus tours booklets on student finance/loans and blogs to help your child think about higher education.

Other useful links

Higher education

Vocational and careers