College awarded careers provision accolade

Birkenhead Sixth Form College’s Careers Programme for students has been recognised for its high quality with a national award.

The Quality in Careers Standard is the national quality award for careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) in schools, colleges and work-based learning, and the College’s commitment to ensuring all students have access to a specialist programme dedicated to helping their futures has been rewarded with the accolade, becoming the first sixth form college in the country to achieve the award.

Careers information and advice is built into students’ tutorial programme, but that also sits alongside subject-specific talks and visiting speakers, a weekly drop-in Careers Clinic with career advisor specialists and Futures Day, which sees more than 60 Higher Education providers, apprenticeship opportunities and other organisations visit the College to speak to students.

All students also have accounts with the online careers hub Unifrog, which is a one-stop shop for careers advice, CV help and labour market information.

After carrying out a rigorous assessment including a full College inspection, the lead assessor for the Quality in Careers Standard Award, Cath Wyke, said of the College’s programme: “Many congratulations go to the College’s Careers Leader, Jo Wood, and her team and the Vice Principal, Paula Blakemore, who have worked exceptionally hard to provide a high quality programme which is current and targeted to the needs of every individual student.

“There has been substantial investment by the College in establishing and developing an extended Careers Team throughout the College. The enthusiasm and commitment of this team has helped ensure that the programme is embedded and demonstrates a robust and coherent approach to managing the quality of the College’s provision that is consistent with the Quality in Careers Standard key principles and meets all Gatsby benchmarks.”

For full details of the College’s Careers Programme, click here.