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5thOctober 2015

Year 11 Careers Programme

Dear Parent/Guardian,

Please find below an outline of the careers programme for Year 11 students this term. Careers education is delivered within the PHSCE curriculum and we feel that it is important that you are aware of what we do so that you can support your son or daughter with this important topic.

Interview preparation

On the first PHSCE day of this academic year, 12th November, all Year 11 students will complete a face-to-face interview with an external business volunteer. These professionals come from a range of backgrounds and kindly volunteer their time in order to contribute to the development of our students. The interviews have always proven to be very successful and make a lasting impact on our students, enabling them to reflect upon and learn from the experience in preparation future employment or admissions interviews.

In preparation for these interviews, all Year 11 students have been taught about how CVs and cover letters are structured. They are in the process of drafting their own CVs and letters, which must be uploaded onto the school network by Friday 16thOctober[JP3][JP4][JP5] at the latest. The importance of completing these documents to a high standard has been emphasised to students, who may choose[CW6] or need to work on these documents at home in order to make them as professional as possible in time for the submission deadline. Once the documents are ready, they will be e-mailed to the interviewers in order for them to prepare questions (for safeguarding purposes no personal details other that students’ names are included in either document).

Information, advice and guidance (IAG)

Every Monday and Friday, Wilmslow High School employs a careers advisor, Dr Anne Rowe, through Changing Education. Following governmental changes to the allocation of funding to local authorities for careers advice, this represents a reduced service from previous years. We recognise that Year 11 students are at a key transitional phase and endeavour to ensure that all students who require information, advice or guidance receive an appointment with Dr Rowe. However, to supplement our provision of IAG all students and parents are able to speak with a careers advisor online or through web chat via the government’s new all-age, online career advice hub, the National Careers Service, for which the web address is below. This site offers other free services such as a skills diagnostic tool, advice on how to find and apply for jobs or apprenticeships, a CV builder and information on how to apply for funding.

Post-16 options

As well as having the opportunity to explore what Wilmslow High School Sixth Form has to offer during the Sixth Form Opportunities evening on 21stOctober, there will be a post-16 careers fair on 11th November, 3pm – 5.30pm, which allows students and parents to meet local colleges[LC7][LC8] and apprenticeship providers. Also, Dr Rowe will be present at this event to offer careers information and advice. A further letter with more details of this evening will be sent to you in the coming weeks.

Should you have any questions relating to the above, please do not hesitate to contact me. In the meantime, we would welcome your support in ensuring that the CVs and cover letters are of a high quality. A copy of this letter and the slides from the recent Year 11 assembly can be found on the school website.

Yours sincerely,

Mr P Jones

Careers Coordinator

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[JP5]This is not the last day of the half-term - is that what you want?

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