Woolston Brook School

We work in partnership with local FE providers to expose our pupils to an environment that will help them with ‘life after school’. Arrangements are made for pupils to attend local colleges for the ‘taster sessions’ that they offer, in a variety of curriculum areas: Multi-skills; construction, plumbing, carpentry; motor vehicle; engineering; catering; hair + beauty; childcare.

 This gives our pupils the ability to make informed decisions about their future, which career path they wish to take and the route they need to travel to get there.

The Careers programme is implemented in conjunction with Warrington Borough Council. We work closely with an Education and Employment Advisor from Warrington Life, formerly known as Careers for Young People, within the Families and Wellbeing Directorate. From Year 9 our Education and Employment Advisor attends annual reviews of pupils EHCP and offers interviews, and undertakes Careers interviews with pupils in KS4, helping with college and apprenticeship application process

Our school aims to offer transformational opportunities to the students through a wide range of classroom and offsite careers learning that encapsulates the importance of the development of a wide range of knowledge and skills and their relation to adult working life. This includes the development of character alongside academic and vocational qualifications.

Pupils are taught about careers and the world of work as part of the PSHE curriculum, starting as soon as year 3, looking at stereotyping in job roles, through to Year 11 and writing personal statements. We strive to Inspire students through the curriculum and broader mentoring, as well as engagement with external providers.

Our  Curriculum pillars of Relationships, Communication, Life Skills and Independence, which we weave through all subjects, are designed to support the Careers Education, Information Advice and Guidance in school (CEIAG) by embedding knowledge and  strategies that focus on equipping our young people with the skills to navigate the Labour market such as Developing oracy skills, broadening their horizons through experiential learning through employee visits and  valuing the importance of lifelong learning

We aim to meet all of the Gatsby Benchmarks, which simply put are a framework for good career guidance developed to support secondary schools and colleges in providing students with the best possible careers education, information, advice, and guidance.

They were established as part of Sir John Holman's research into what pragmatic actions could improve career guidance in England. Based on international best practice, they set out what a world-class career guidance system looks like. The Benchmarks are part of the careers strategy (launched December 2017) and statutory guidance for secondary schools and colleges since 2018.

More information on each of the 8 benchmarks can be found on the website linked below:

Implementing the Gatsby benchmarks (goodcareerguidance.org.uk)

Woolston Brook are working in partnership with Teamsport and Fast Forward Vocational Training,  to offer an exciting, engaging and unique opportunity for our young people to acquire vocational skills and a qualification.

Students will have the benefit of developing their skills in a live workshop where they will face real world mechanical problems allowing them to be fully immersed in the programme.

The nationally recognised accredited Level 1 Motor Vehicle Studies course allows us to offer an off-site vocational training programme, in addition this qualification assists us in meeting the Gatsby benchmarks 3, 5 & 6.

Students will gain:

1. Valuable work experience within the motor vehicle industry
2. A nationally recognised qualification
3. Improved behaviour and engagement
4. An invitation to make use of the karting track at the end of each session

We seek experiential learning opportunities for our pupils from Year 9 upwards in the form of individual work placements, in areas such as equestrian, residential care, hair dressing and grounds maintenance