Careers
At Lotus Academy we are committed to providing students with personalised and independent advice and guidance, to prepare for life beyond school. We will provide ‘real life’ experiences for students to enable them to make informed choices. Our planned programme of activities through Preparation for Adulthood lessons, PSHE lessons and Careers specific days/activities/visits prepare students for their own future pathways, enable them to plan for future careers and sustain employability throughout their lives.
We will support students by responding to their needs and interests, opening doors to experiences and opportunities that help them to progress and achieve success.
We will ensure a careers curriculum where learning takes place through engaging activities that are appropriate to student’s stages of career learning, planning and development.
Ours students will receive a CEIAG provision which meets professional standards of practice and is person-centred, aspirational and impartial. The programme will raise aspirations, challenge stereotyping and promote equality and diversity.
End points:
- Have the life skills to be able to make informed choices.
- Develop social skills to be successful at interview and in the world of work.
- Be able to solve problems in a social or work context.
- Understand what opportunities are available to them.
- Be confident in own abilities and set own aspirational targets.
Aspects of careers learning at Lotus Academy:
Personal and Social Development through the curriculum
Life Skills through the curriculum
Active Citizenship
Careers Guidance
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Encounters
The school has links with the Careers Enterprise, See it be it team, Job centre plus and local businesses to enable students to:
These activities are designed to boost their confidence, improve self-esteem, attainment, behaviour and attendance. These skills and personal qualities support the young people to achieve more, both at school, and in the future.
Post 16 Destinations/transition
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We monitor the impact of our curriculum and student offer on Compass+ with support from the Careers Enterprise. Please see our most recent evaluation against the Gatsby Benchmarks, these are completed and actioned termly:
We track student progress on our Preparation for Adulthood and Careers tracker that is regularly shared with students and their families.
Our careers lead is Adele Hetherington, Assistant Head for Personal Development, she can be contacted at ahetherington@hphm.org.
Our careers advisors in school are Qamar Nawaz qamar.nawaz@sheffield.gov.uk, and Jennifer Hallam jhallam@nexusmat.org. They will ensure each child in school has access to impartial careers advice and strive to be part of the Annual review process in Year 10 and year 11 to support with transition to post-16.
Provider access legislation
The updated provider access legislation (PAL) has now been enacted. It specifies schools must provide at least four encounters throughout KS3 and 4 for all students: Two encounters for pupils during the ‘first key phase’ (year 8 or 9) and two encounters for pupils during the ‘second key phase’ (year 10 or 11). At Lotus Academy we do this through a variety of activities. We have strong links with The Careers & Enterprise Company and the Sheffield See it Be it team, who support us in finding appropriate volunteers for in school activities such as ‘Mock interviews’, ‘Guess my job’ and ‘Careers speaker sessions’. Throughout KS3, students will visit work place settings and in KS4, students visit multiple Post-16 settings offering a range of qualifications and educational pathways, alongside additional work place settings and careers fairs. We do activities within school for National Careers week and National Apprenticeships week including assemblies and guest speakers from KS2 upwards to support understanding and learning.
If you are an employer who would like to work with us or a parent/carer with any questions please email Adele Hetherington (Careers Lead) at ahetherington@hphm.org.
Useful links
Please see below a list of useful links for those thinking about post-16 settings in our local area:
Open Days || The Sheffield College
Nacro Education Sheffield | Vocational Training | Nacro
About Sheaf Training | Lifelong Learning and Skills
Open Events - Rotherham College
Open Days 2024/2025 | Barnsley College
Careers success stories
Over the last 2 years we have had students enter the Big Challenge, an enterprise competition open to all Y7-Y9 students in Sheffield. Each team has the opportunity to design and grow a business from a £25 start up loan. Through the hard work of one of our young entrepreneurs he has won multiple awards and opportunities for his company ‘Torched Views’.