Careers

You might already know what career you would like to pursue when you are older but it is more likely that you don’t yet know what career you would prefer. The fact is that employment experts predict that students leaving school now will have, on average, eight different careers during their working life, at least half of which don’t yet exist, due to the rapidly developing nature of technology and employment opportunities. It is, therefore, worth considering the idea that you might be best trying to decide on a starting career, rather than choosing a career for life.

Some of the best ways to work out a good starting career include:

  • Talking to your parents and their friends about their careers
  • Talking to the Careers Learning Development Manager at school
  • Talking to teachers
  • Gaining meaningful work experience
  • Using online careers tools

Careers Guidance and Work Experience support at The Leigh Academy

  • Mike Williams is our Careers and Work Experience senior leader. He can be contacted via his email address
  • Kim Mace-Baker is the Work Experience Coordinator at The Leigh Academy and she will assist you in finding work experience. She can be contacted via her email address.

The Careers team here at The Leigh Academy strongly believe Post-16 and Post-18 choices are very important in the journey to a stable and happy career. We welcome providers from all technical routes to speak with our students to ensure they progress on the pathway that is right for them. If you are a provider and wish to speak to our students, please follow the process on our Provider Access Statement

How we measure and assess our provision

The Leigh Academy strives to ensure our young people are receiving the most relevant opportunities, led by labour market information, with equality and access to all options in the forefront of our minds. We do this in a number of ways;

We identify and analyse the destinations of our Year 11 and 13 students taking into account their prior attainment. For Year 11 students, we record their intended and actual pathways.

For Year 13 students we identify and analyse whether students:

  • go onto higher education and the range of courses being studied and the universities/colleges being attended
  • go onto an apprenticeship and whether it is at Intermediate, Advanced or Higher (degree) level
  • go onto full-time employment or take a gap year.

Students are sent a survey to complete after each live/virtual careers event which helps us plan for future programmes and ensure we are achieving our aims and outcomes for each year group. An additional survey, available to complete at any time of the year, is promoted on our Careers Bulletin to give our students a voice about what industries or job roles they would like to see more information on and understand the pathways into the sector.

“I have deepened my understanding and knowledge of the work industry- mainly hairdressing. This is through using people and collaborative skills.”

Work Experience at: Pola Hair Studio LTC, 2022

“I found it useful to learn some key features of working in branch banking which I can use to find a job in banking in the future.”

Work Experience at: Natwest Bank, 2022

“Generally I liked my work experience placement. It provided me with an insight into the industrial side of things and showed me the process of how medical stuff is applied, stored and shipped out to be used worldwide and around the UK. It also allowed me to have an insight on stock management and how to improvise if a certain product is out of stock, Diasorin in Dartford was a fun experience!”

Work Experience at: DiaSorin Italia S.p.A. UK Branch, 2022

We value the views of parents/carers on how well we have helped them to support their child or children make rational informed career decisions therefore parents/carers are invited to contact the careers team at The Leigh Academy to discuss this. Click here to contact us.

We work closely with the Careers & Enterprise Company and our Enterprise Coordinator to ensure that our provision provides excellent opportunities for students to prepare for the next stage of their chosen career pathway. We also ask business volunteers to provide feedback on the careers events that they take part in, such as careers talks, presentations and workshops.

In addition, we ask all employers who provide work experience placements, to provide evaluations and testimonials on students and The Leigh Academy.  Read a selection from 2022 below!

“Brilliant, Reliable and always happy to assist.”

Guaranty Trust Bank (UK) Limited, 2022

“It was a pleasure to have your student with us for the week. He showed maturity and a willingness to work on his own and as part of a team. He will do well in his chosen career path. A credit to The Leigh Academy.”

Your Picking Solutions Ltd, 2022

“Your student made The Leigh Academy very proud by representing them here. She was helpful, enthusiastic and very kind. It was a joy to have her for the week, a true natural.”

Rainbow Day Nursery, 2022

“Your student was a brilliant addition to our team here at University Hospital Lewisham. He was punctual, professional and enthusiastic – a winning formula. He displayed brilliant communication skills with both patients and professionals alike, and worked well in a multidisciplinary team in various environments, conducting a range of diagnostic tests. He is confident, a brilliant team player and a hard worker. It was a pleasure having him with us.”

Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, 2022

‘Careerpilot’ is a GREAT website that can help students to explore career options. They can identify future careers – based on their preferences, skills and aptitude – and then find out what qualifications they need and whether they are better off going straight into employment at the end of Post-16, taking an apprenticeship at the end of Year 11 or at the end of Post-16 or going to university after Post-16. This service is FREE and can be accessed at: https://www.careerpilot.org.uk/

Another really useful tool you can use to help you to decide your future is to take a Morrisby Test. While this is not a free service, you pay once and then have lifetime access to the service. This could be really handy, given how many careers experts estimate that students leaving school now are likely to have! You can access Morrisby by visiting: www.morrisby.com.

However you decide what your preferred starting career will be, it’s really important to know what level and type of qualifications you will need to access that career and to then make your Post-16 options accordingly.

Careers Policies

PROVIDER ACCESS STATEMENT STUDENT ENTITLEMENT STATEMENT Leigh Academies trust CEIAG POLICY