Careers guidance and support is an integral part of the curriculum for students at Bedelsford School in Year 8 and above. We ensure that students and families are supported in developing each individual’s career identity, and work hard to ensure that when each student leaves Bedelsford they are fully equipped to succeed in their adult lives.
For more information please click the link below
Futures Curriculum: preparing for Adulthood Outcomes
Denise Heffernan, Head of Key Stage 5, has overall responsibility for the careers programme at Bedelsford. Pupils, parents, teachers and employers can contact Denise by the school office or by email: dheffernan@bedelsfordschool.org or telephone: 020 8546 9838
Bedelsford School is committed to providing high quality careers guidance and advice. Our Provider Access Policy gives details of how training providers can visit the school to offer eligible students information and advice about career pathways.
Students participate in careers learning opportunities that are carefully tailored to each student’s individual needs and are consistent with the eight Gatsby benchmarks:
- A stable careers programme
- Learning from career and labour market information
- Addressing the needs of each pupil
- Linking curriculum learning to careers
- Encounters with employers and employees
- Experiences of workplaces
- Encounters with further and higher education
- Personal guidance
As a school Bedelsford supports Careers development through meaningful, personalised, work experience opportunities. The school aims for all students in the 14-19 provision to have at least one experience of a workplace before leaving. The school constantly strives to forge links with the local community to support this aim.
Through our existing partnerships with other colleges, professionals and businesses, we deliver bespoke packages of work experience for students. Students are typically supported by school staff during work experience placements but the nature and level of support offered differs based on the needs of each individual pupil. We welcome feedback from students, families, employers and other stakeholders on an ongoing basis, continually refining and improving our offer to individual pupils based on this feedback.
As well as work experience opportunities, Bedelsford supports careers development through close links with a number of local Further Education providers. These include other OCHAT provisions and Nescot. Pupils regularly visit different provisions so that they can experience learning in a different learning environment. Students are encouraged to express a preference in terms of their destinations after leaving Bedelsford through their EHCP and review processes.
In addition to the above, Bedelsford’s career programme provides opportunities for students to regularly access facilities within the local community. We work towards our students being as independent as possible and have strong links with companies such as Whizzkids which helps our learners gain the skills they need to feel confident when travelling within different environments.
Our curriculum also focuses on developing the student’s enterprise skills. All students participate in enterprise through a three-part model of research, manufacturing, pricing and selling. Students participate within different projects throughout their time at school. When students join KS5 they participate in Bedelsford’s 6th form ‘Tea in the Trees’ café enterprise. KS5 students also gain an understanding of earning money as their work and efforts are rewarded with small amounts, which are then used as pocket money when visiting the community.
Pupils in KS5 at Bedelsford will complete an Entry Level Awards in through Ascentis and ASDAN to further support their preparedness for life after Bedelsford.
The effectiveness of our careers programme is measured by retrospective feedback from families, as well as this we follow the progress of our alumni to ensure that the best possible support with transitions can take place and progress can be made.
We also routinely measure the effectiveness of our careers programme against a self-evaluation tool devised by The Careers and Enterprise Company against the Gatsby Benchmarks.
