Careers Guidance
At Silverdale, careers education gives every student the knowledge, experiences and individual support they need to make ambitious and informed decisions about their future.
Our programme reflects the school’s values:
AMBITION
Students encounter a wide range of careers, workplaces and education pathways, encouraging them to aim high and understand the steps needed to achieve their goals.
BELONGING
Students learn about opportunities in Sheffield and beyond, meet employers and education providers, and begin to see themselves as valued members of future workplaces and communities.
INTEGRITY
Students develop the independence, self-awareness and responsibility needed to make choices that reflect their interests, strengths and values.
Careers education is not confined to a single lesson or event. It is delivered through PSHE and tutorial lessons, subject teaching, careers guidance, employer encounters, educational visits, workplace experiences and contact with further education, higher education and apprenticeship providers. Additional and specialist guidance ensures that disadvantage, vulnerability or SEND does not restrict a student’s aspirations or access to future opportunities.
Our careers programme is structured around the eight Gatsby Benchmarks and the Careers and Enterprise Company’s EqualEx framework. This means that students receive a progressive programme of careers learning, meaningful encounters with employers and education providers, experience of workplaces and impartial personal guidance at important transition points.
Our Careers Policy sets out our school’s provision of impartial and informed careers guidance for our pupils. This includes the ways in which pupils, parents, teachers and employers can access information about our careers programme.
Our Provider Access Policy Statement sets out the school's arrangements for managing the access of providers to students at the school for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the school’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.
How the careers curriculum progresses
Introduce and inspire
Students build their understanding of careers and begin to recognise their own interests, strengths and ambitions. They encounter different sectors, challenge stereotypes and learn about the connections between school subjects and future opportunities.
Investigate and explore
Students explore employment sectors and the full range of academic, technical and vocational pathways. They investigate local labour-market information, develop transferable skills and use tools such as Unifrog to compare options and identify possible next steps.
Apply and demonstrate
Students put their learning into practice through workplace experiences, applications, interviews and encounters with employers. They receive guidance at key transition points and learn to present their strengths, reflect on experiences and make well-informed decisions about their future.
Across all three stages, students are supported to keep their options open, evaluate information carefully and take increasing ownership of their career planning.
Careers provision by year group
Year 7: Broadening horizons
Students begin to explore the relationship between their interests, strengths, school subjects and possible future careers. Careers learning introduces them to a wide range of roles and sectors, helping them to develop the vocabulary and confidence to talk about their ambitions.
Key focus: Self-awareness, aspiration and awareness of opportunity.
Year 8: Developing responsibility
Students continue to explore careers and pathways while beginning to develop the personal qualities valued in education and employment. Every Year 8 student takes on the responsibility of serving as a student receptionist, developing communication, organisation and confidence in a real role within the school community.
Key focus: Employability skills, responsibility and the world of work.
Year 9: Making informed choices
Careers lessons introduce students to university, apprenticeships, A levels, T levels and vocational routes. Students use Unifrog to investigate their options and receive individual support when making their Key Stage 4 subject choices. The Options Evening enables students and families to speak directly to subject teams.
Students taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze Award gain experience through volunteering. Students not participating in DofE visit Skill Street, where they experience six different areas of employment and learn directly about careers within them.
Key focus: Understanding pathways and making informed Key Stage 4 choices.
Year 10: Experiencing the workplace
Every Year 10 student completes work experience, supported by preparation in school. Students receive a professional one-to-one interview and produce a Careers Action Plan, helping them to identify their ambitions, prepare for their placement and recognise the skills they want to develop.
Subject visits, visiting speakers and encounters with employers show students how curriculum knowledge is applied in workplaces and different professions.
Key focus: Workplace experience, employability and reflection.
Year 11: Planning the next step
Students receive independent careers guidance and structured support with their post-16 plans. A dedicated Sheffield Progress morning introduces the range of routes available through Silverdale Sixth Form, further education, apprenticeships and training.
Students are supported to research courses and providers, complete applications and develop a clear and realistic plan for the transition beyond Year 11. Additional intervention is provided for students who may face barriers to progression or be at risk of becoming not in education, employment or training.
Key focus: Impartial guidance, applications and successful post-16 transition.
Year 12: Exploring post-18 opportunities
Students investigate university, higher and degree apprenticeships, employment and other post-18 routes. They attend the UCAS Discovery event, hear from former Silverdale students and take part in tutorials covering university and course selection, applications and personal statements.
Students can attend university visits, admissions workshops, academic lectures and subject-related encounters with employers and education providers. Weekly careers drop-ins and one-to-one meetings with form tutors provide ongoing individual support. Year 12 students are also introduced to and begin preparing for their work experience, which takes place at the beginning of Year 13.
Key focus: Exploring post-18 pathways and developing a strong personal plan.
Year 13: Applying and progressing
Students put their plans into action. Tutors provide structured support with UCAS applications, apprenticeship and employment opportunities, personal statements, choices and decisions. Students continue to have access to careers drop-ins, individual guidance and targeted specialist support.
Work experience gives students a further opportunity to develop professional skills, make contacts and test their developing ambitions in a real setting. Through the Extended Project Qualification and wider Sixth Form opportunities, students can also demonstrate independence, research skills and commitment beyond their main subjects.
Key focus: Experience, applications and confident progression beyond Silverdale.
Personal careers guidance
Students receive impartial careers guidance at key transition points and whenever additional support is needed. This includes:
- support with Key Stage 4 options;
- professional careers interviews and action planning;
- guidance with post-16 and post-18 pathways;
- weekly careers drop-ins for Sixth Form students;
- additional early guidance for students identified through the school’s Inclusion Panel;
- specialist careers guidance for students with SEND and their families; and
- targeted mentoring and intervention for students at risk of not progressing into education, employment or training.
This combination of universal provision and targeted support helps ensure that every student can understand and access an ambitious future pathway.
Careers and Employability Manager
Students are able to speak to Helen Elmore, our careers and employability manager.
Mrs Elmore is a fully qualified and independent Careers Adviser, who organises and delivers the careers events. Mrs Elmore has a one-to-one interview with each Year 11 student to discuss their post-16 options and offer impartial advice.
Silverdale’s careers programme is committed to offering support which is student-centred and the impartiality of our advice is a key part of this. Mrs Elmore also runs drop-in sessions for any student with questions about university and careers.
You can contact her at careers@silverdale.chorustrust.org, or you can call the school reception on 0114 236 9991 and ask to speak to her.
Working with parents, employers and providers
Parents and carers play an important part in helping young people make decisions about their future. Silverdale shares information at key transition points and welcomes contact from families who would like further advice or guidance.
We also work with employers, former students, universities, colleges, apprenticeship providers and training organisations to provide workplace experiences, talks, workshops, visits and curriculum-linked encounters.
If you would like to support our careers programme by offering a placement, speaking to students or sharing your professional expertise, please contact: careers@silverdale.chorustrust.org
