Careers
Careers at Northallerton School & Sixth Form College
We believe that excellent careers advice is essential for raising aspirations, enabling our students to ‘Strive for Excellence’.
Our careers programme at Northallerton School & Sixth Form College helps students explore future pathways and make confident, informed decisions. With employer encounters, mock interviews, guidance meetings, and careers events, we support students as they prepare for further education, apprenticeships, or employment.
Summary of our Careers Programme
Our Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) programme supports all students from Years 7–13 to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to make informed realistic decisions about their future pathways. The programme is planned across the academic year and aligned with the Gatsby Benchmarks and Provider Access Legislation.
Students access the careers programme through curriculum lessons, assemblies, employer encounters, work experience, careers events, and one-to-one guidance interviews. Information is also available through the school website and digital platforms such as UNIfrog.
Parents and carers can access information about the careers programme via the school website, parent evenings and information events. They are encouraged to engage with key transition points such as post-16 and post-18 decision-making.
Teachers access careers information through curriculum mapping documents, staff briefings/bulletins and shared resources, enabling them to embed careers learning within their subjects.
Employers, training providers and further/higher education institutions engage with the programme through talks, workshops, careers fairs, work experience and apprenticeship encounters. Providers wishing to engage with pupils are supported in line with the school’s Provider Access Policy.
Measuring and Assessing the Impact of the Careers Programme
The impact of the careers programme is measured and evaluated using a range of qualitative and quantitative methods, including:
· Student voice surveys and evaluations following careers activities
· Tracking students’ participation in employer encounters and guidance interviews
· Monitoring destinations data at post-16 and post-18
· Feedback from employers, parents and staff
· Assessment of careers learning within curriculum areas such as Life through thrive check points
· Targeted tracking of priority groups (e.g. SEND, disadvantaged students)
This information is used to assess effectiveness, identify areas for improvement and inform the ongoing development of the careers programme.
Date of Next Review
The information published on the school website will be reviewed by July 2026, with updates made as part of the annual evaluation and planning cycle for the following academic year.
Contacting our Careers Team
The Careers Team is made up of:
- Mrs Donna-Marie Brosnan (Assistant Headteacher & Careers Lead)
- Mr Peter Soroczan (Careers Advisor)
- Mr Chris Barnes (Governor with responsibility for Careers)
(If you would like to contact our Careers Advisor, Mr Peter Soroczan, please email office@northallerton-alt.uk or call the school on 01609 773340)
This table shows how we implement each of the Gatsby Benchmarks and the further actions for 2026/27.
*Please note: this approach is reviewed annually.
| Gatsby Benchmark | How we implement this at NSSFC | Further actions for 2026/27 |
| 1 | Our Careers Programme is part of our LIFE Curriculum. In each year, starting from Year 7, our students cover each of the LIFE strands – Healthy Lives, Relationships, Essential Skills, Living In The Wider World and Careers. All students have a LIFE lesson once a fortnight, this year this is Week 1, Wednesday P4. Each of the five LIFE strands are delivered by specialist LIFE teams. The LIFE Careers Programme is here. In addition, we celebrate National Apprenticeship Week and National Careers Week. | Gain feedback from parents and employers to complement the feedback that we already receive from students and teachers and further strengthen the evaluation process. |
| 2 | Good quality information about future study opportunities and labour market opportunities are included in our LIFE Careers Programme. In addition, students can access information and carry out research on Morrisby.com and Unifrog.org. | |
| 3 | Our LIFE Careers Programme and our specialist Careers LIFE Team actively seek to challenge stereotypes and raise the aspirations of all of our students, both within the taught curriculum and by offering extra-curricular opportunities such as the Step Into The NHS Competition, designed to raise ambition and challenge stereotypes.
All students in Years 10 and 11 have at least one Personal Careers Session (PCS) of up to an hour with our Careers Advisor. This ensures that all students have plans for Post-16 in education, employment or training. The information from the PCS is shared with both the student and parents or carers. We collect data on the education, employment or training destination of all of our students at the end of Years 11 and 13. |
Produce case studies to illustrate this. |
| 4 | We encourage all teachers to make links between curriculum learning and careers so that students can explore their subjects in more depth. | Further training. Begin an audit to show the links between curriculum learning and careers, to be repeated each year. This will be conducted through and Internap Leadership review using COMPASS. |
| 5 | In National Apprenticeship Week and Careers Week, we welcome speakers into school. In addition, our Governor with responsibility for careers, Chris Barnes is a regular visitor to school. There are also various other opportunities for students to encounter employers and employees, for example the Year 12 Enterprise Competition. | |
| 6 | Work experience – This has been relaunched in 2025 for Year 10 students and continues for Year 12 in the summer term. | |
| 7 | All Year 10 students will have the opportunity to visit further and higher education establishments as part of the Careers Event in July. All Year 12 students will have opportunities to visit local education establishments. In addition, we run the Arete Oxbridge Trip in July. | |
| 8 | All students in Years 10 and 11 have at least one Personal Careers Session (PCS). In Years 12 and 13, all students have access to a PCS. |
Information for Parents and Carers
Supporting your child in School: Careers Information for Parents and Carers
Careers education and guidance in school or college, (CEIAG) helps to prepare your child for the workplace by actively providing them with a clear understanding of the world of work. In order to achieve this objective, Northallerton School and Sixth Form within the Areté Learning Trust provides your child with specific careers lessons within personal development sessions, information on apprenticeships, the work place and independent further training and education information to ensure that your child is fully equipped with the knowledge they require in order to make informed decisions suitable for their personal interests, pathways and skills set.
Each child is given a personalised careers meeting starting at Year 10 and through to Year 11 with follow ups upon where required upon teacher and careers advisor recommendation. Parents are also welcome to come into Northallerton School to attend a Careers Meeting with their child if they would like to make an appointment with the Careers Advisor.
The wealth of information out there relating to the world of careers can be a daunting and onerous task to say the least but you can actively support your child on this journey through accessing some useful websites via the links listed below which have been selected to help navigate the journey so that you can find up to date knowledge, ideas, advice and information which is at once, useful, engaging and helpful in supporting your child’s career progression alongside the Career support and guidance we provide your child with here at Northallerton School and Sixth Form.
Useful links:
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/
https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/influencers/support-for-parents-and-guardians
https://www.theparentsguideto.co.uk/
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-your-education-and-training-choices
https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/#
https://amazingapprenticeships.com/
Unifrog: Tracking and Recording your Child’s Career Pathway
As part of your child’s career progression pathway, Northallerton School uses Unifrog, an online careers platform which brings together careers information in one single, impartial, user-friendly website. It helps students to research universities, degree courses, and apprenticeships.
All of our students have access to Unifrog and have their own accounts linked to their school email address. Students can create shortlists and develop their personal statements or job applications online.
Unifrog provides tutorials for writing CVs, covering letters as well as information linked to courses, apprenticeships, skills and quality quizzes and various related activities and you are welcome to visit the platform with your child to explore the careers interactions that Northallerton School has provided from assemblies, workshops, meetings and visits.
Find out more at:
Post 16 Careers
At Key Stage 5 the sixth form tutorial programme dedicates considerable time to providing careers advice and guidance through an experienced tutor team led by Mrs Redpath. All Year 12 students go on a week’s work experience programme in the summer. Organised visits take place to the Apprenticeship Fair, the National UCAS Conference and to Oxford and Cambridge universities and students are encouraged to apply to university summer schools and attend open days. There are various guides to how to choose universities online.
