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Careers & Guidance

Our Careers Service

At Wilberforce College, we offer a series of specially developed programmes to help you make informed and realistic decisions about your education and employment goals, and achieve your career potential.

Sound careers advice is crucial to making effective choices about your next steps in education and employment, and Wilberforce works intensively to support students to manage their career decisions and choices; prior to college entry, throughout enrolment, during time at college and after leaving us.

Every student is entitled to receive impartial, individually tailored Careers Information, Advice and Guidance (CIAG) from our qualified and experienced Careers Adviser, Sarah Didsbury. Sarah is available full-time throughout the whole year, and appointments can be made during term-time as well as over holiday periods. Careers advice is offered through one-to-one appointments, and in group delivery through a range of careers and employability workshops

Overview of Support

  • Advice on career paths and options
  • Support with higher education and UCAS applications
  • Help with researching and selecting apprenticeship opportunities, including degree apprenticeships
  • Work experience and volunteering advice
  • Student finance information
  • CV writing, interview techniques and employability skills
  • Advice on up-to-date job market information
  • Follow Wilberforce Careers on Instagram @wilbercareers

Life After Wilberforce

Our programmes cover a wide variety of career paths, including medicine, veterinary science, engineering, teaching and law. Taking part will give you the extra support and specialist experience you need to get a relevant university place, and take the next step towards your dream job.

Although qualifications are key factors in getting a great job or going on to university, we also understand the importance of work experience. We work hard to forge links with local and national companies to help you secure industry placements or find a suitable job relevant to your area of study.

If you’d like to find out more about the career programmes we offer at Wilberforce, are looking for ideas about what you’d like to do in the future, or need help deciding what courses to study after your GCSEs, please see our Careers Guide for more information. Feel free also to contact Sarah Didsbury at any time: sld@wilberforce.ac.uk

Life After Wilberforce

Higher Education

Wilberforce is the next step on your journey through education, with your hard work here preparing you for the next step onto university. We have a dedicated Higher Education team to guide you through the application process, offering help with creating a memorable personal statement, choosing the right courses and university for you, and navigating your way through student finance.

You’ll have the opportunity to visit universities across the country to help you make your decision as to which is the right one for you. We’ll also have a programme of guest speakers and a Higher Education Fair to give you further opportunities to explore your options in more detail.

If you’re considering making an application to the University of Oxford or Cambridge, we offer a dedicated programme, including support with applications, attendance at conferences and visits to both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.

Higher Education

Vocational Pathways

Wilberforce College is committed to ensuring students receive the best careers guidance whatever their chosen pathway. As well as programmes in place to help students make successful applications to University, we also offer a range of activities in college to support students who wish to progress on to apprenticeships, employment, traineeships and study programmes. We work closely with a number of local apprenticeship providers and other colleges, who have a regular presence in the college to provide additional and impartial 1-1 advice to students choosing vocational and technical pathways.

Vocational Pathways

Wilberforce Sixth Form College Careers Programme 2023 / 2024

Take a look at our comprehensive careers programme, which supports the Gatsby Benchmarks for Good Career Guidance. View the full report and the 8 benchmarks here.

The 8 Gatsby Benchmarks:

  • A stable careers programme
  • Learning from career and labour market information
  • Addressing the needs of each student
  • Linking curriculum learning to careers
  • Encounters with employers and employees
  • Experiences of workplaces
  • Encounters with further and higher education
  • Personal guidance

SUMMARY

The Wilberforce College careers programme runs all year round with a full-time Careers Adviser who is level 6 qualified in Career Guidance and Development. The service achieved the Humber Gold Standard for its quality of careers education, information, advice and guidance, and now holds the nationally accredited Quality in Careers Standard. The programme boasts a number of large scale events and guest speakers, a rich blend of career activities to suit students of all levels, and 1-1 advice sessions open to students, teachers and parents. Careers information is available to all parties in a range of formats. Students have access to a range of information onMicrosoft Teams, and there is a wide range of material in the careers centre (library); the latest books on careers are available to take out on loan, and there are numerous leaflets and guides free to take away. These can be made available in a range of formats to suit learners with special educational needs, learning support requirements or who speak English as an additional language.

The college measures and assesses its careers programme regularly, in a number of ways. We are Ofsted inspected, receiving excellent feedback in our latest inspection in February 2018 (see Ofsted report). We gather feedback from students and parents following all events, and gather stakeholder feedback through online surveys. Members of the senior leadership team and Governors measure the impact of our careers service and its delivery through analysis of key data such as student destinations. The careers Policy and Programme is reviewed annually by the Careers Manager and Senior Leadership Team.

To view the Wilberforce Sixth Form College careers programme 2023/24 please click here.

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