Employment, unemployment and economic inactivity in Stoke-on-Trent Update: 14th May 2024
Employment Rate	75.0% (ages 16 to 64)
Unemployment Rate	3.9% (ages 16+)
Claimant Count	6.1% (ages 16 to 64)
Economic Activity	21.9% (ages 16 to 64)

Co-op Academy Florence MacWilliams believes that every child can be knowledgeable, articulate and successful. We will have the highest standards for every member of our school community, and we will expect the best from our students in terms of effort, organisation and behaviour. Our curriculum will be knowledge rich and stimulating and our teaching staff will be subject experts who provide high quality teaching, supporting and challenging every child in their care.

At Co-op Academy Florence MacWilliams, colleagues and students will work at PACE, ensuring Pride, Ambition, Care and Excellence for self, school and city.

Rationale and Vision

Co-op Academy Florence MacWilliams is committed to ensuring all of our students have access to highly impartial careers advice and to a range of employers who can support them in considering their future. To help us do this we align our CEIAG Plan to the Gatsby Benchmarks which have been explicitly referenced throughout the DfE’s Careers Strategy (December 2017) the Statutory Guidance for careers (January 2018) and aligns to the delivery of independent careers guidance to Year 8-13 students in accordance with section 42A of the Education Act 1997.

The 8 Gatsby benchmarks are outlined below:

1. A stable careers programme

2. Learning from career and labour market information

3. Addressing the needs of each student

4. Linking curriculum learning to careers

5. Encounters with employers and employees

6. Experience of work places

7. Encounters with further and higher education

8. Personal guidance

The vision for the development of CEIAG across our academy is to provide the very best opportunities to enable our students to make informed and incisive decisions throughout, and beyond, their school life. By using the Gatsby benchmarks as a framework of best practice we have a CEIAG programme that meets the needs of our ever changing cohort of students, providers and labour market landscape. Our plan promotes equality of opportunity, celebrates diversity and challenges stereotypes whilst inspiring, raising aspirations and giving our students an optimistic outlook on life and their place in the world of work.

We are always guided by our Co-op values:

Do what matters most.
Be yourself, always
Show you care
Succeed together

Intent

Our CEIAG programme is both bespoke and unique to our academy and is reviewed on an annual basis to meet our students’ needs based on our monitoring and evaluation processes. We are committed to providing a coherently planned and sequenced programme that reflects our academy’s context and core values.

Our programme is designed to entitle all learners to develop their knowledge, skills, understanding and the cultural capital they need to go on to destinations that meet their aspirations and interests. With this in mind we aim:

To provide impartial and independent advice for all pupils (Gatsby Benchmark 1 - 8)
To contribute to strategies for raising achievement, especially by increasing motivation, attitude to learning and attendance (Gatsby 3)
To support inclusion, challenge stereotyping and promote equality of opportunity (Gatsby Benchmark 3,4)
To encourage participation in continued learning including higher education, further education and apprenticeships (Gatsby Benchmark 7,8)
To develop enterprise and employment skills (Gatsby 2,3)
To provide relevant information and understanding of the wide range of pathways and qualifications available to ensure students make the right choices regarding their post 16/18 options and hence reduce ‘drop out’ from and ‘course switching’ in education and training (Gatsby 3,5,6,7,8)
To contribute to the economic prosperity of individuals and communities (Gatsby 2,5,7)
To meet the needs of all our pupils through appropriate differentiation (Gatsby 3)
To focus students on their future aspirations and opportunities (Gatsby 3,4,8)
To involve parents and carers (Gatsby 1,2,5,6,7)
To support the raising of the participation age and assist with positive destinations for all pupils post 16, 17 and 18 (Gatsby 1,4,8)

To meet the needs of our current cohort of students across each year group (Gatsby 1,3)
To use current LMI to enable students, staff and parents to engage actively with local and national CEIAG information so that they can increase their knowledge and understanding about the world of work. (Gatsby 1,2,3)
To use students’ parents and staff feedback to reflect on our current provision in order to develop our future CEIAG programme (Gatsby 1,2,3)
To provide additional support to specific vulnerable groups such as SEND and pupil premium (Gatsby 1-8)
All stakeholders have a clear understanding of the CEIAG rationale and vision (Gatsby 1)
To monitor and evaluate current provision in order to ensure our programme is quality assured in line with other curriculum areas (Gatsby 1)
To share best practice with other Co-op academies at network events to ensure reflection and development of own programme (Gatsby 1)
To ensure all students actively engage with a CEIAG tracking platform to support them in making informed choices about their Career Development Plan (Gatsby 1,2,3)
To achieve / work towards a Quality in Careers award in recognition of all that our academy offers (Gatsby 1)

Delivery of CEIAG

Our programme is taught via bespoke activities, subject curriculum and extracurricular activities, and a wide range of enrichment activities.

At Co-op Academy Florence MacWilliams students receive careers education through our PACE curriculum. It is set out as below. We may need to adapt this as and when necessary to remain responsive.

Students at our academy also receive weekly CEIAG briefings delivered by academy senior leaders to whole year groups. These careers briefings use our tracking platform, Unifrog, to ensure students always have access to a range of up to date advice and information that links to local LMI. All students have a personal Chromebook to ensure there is no barrier to access this support and guidance. Engagement and progress are tracked.

Our academy has an extensive enrichment programme that makes explicit links to careers. Our enrichment programme is specifically designed and implemented to offer opportunities to our students that they would otherwise not have access to. There is an intrinsic link between the opportunities offered through our enrichment programme and the knowledge, skills and cultural capital needed for them to go on to any destination of choice, thereby unlocking their potential.

CEIAG in Co-op Academy Florence MacWilliams is delivered by a wide range of providers. These include but are not limited to; the Unifrog platform, teachers and support staff, FE Colleges, Universities, visiting speakers, employers and employees. This delivery includes bespoke careers, ambition briefing sessions, assemblies, work visits, work experience, mock interviews, immersion days, careers fairs and via subject curriculum. Our students are supported and encouraged to explore possible pathways they may take in the future, to ensure they have the very best start in life. Our staff receive CPD to support them in embedding employability skills into their subject areas. Our parents can access our academy's website which will provide clear links to a range of CEIAG related events and information about local market information (LMI), UCAS applications and apprenticeships. Parents are also encouraged to attend our family evenings and family forums to receive support, discuss our offer and provide contributions.

Term	Activities	Intended Outcomes
Autumn 2024	Access to Unifrog to support students in creating an individual Career Development Plan. Chromebook provided. (Gatsby 1, 2, 3) Assembly, individual and personal ambition statements created (Gatsby 1,2,3,4) Weekly Careers Ambition briefings (Gatsby 1,2,3,4) PACE curriculum careers lessons HT2 (Gatsby 1,2,3,4) Enrichment careers links made (Gatsby 1,2,3,4,5,6) Guest speaker (1,2,3,4) Visits to Universities (Gatsby 1,3,7) FSQ Community Conversation careers discussion topics (Gatsby 1,2,3,5)	Provide all students with access to LMI, self assessment skills, careers and subjects library. Increase understanding of ambition and have all students explicitly identify their ambition and the steps to achieve their ambition. Provide clear support on the use of the unifrog platform to increase the engagement. Support enterprise and entrepreneurship Discrete careers lessons focussed on an introduction to careers and identifying skills and personal interests. Careers within our electives curriculum and explicit increase in offer of opportunities. Increase ambition and motivation. Exposure to further education in the area Audit the careers programme Promote discussion and critical thinking surrounding careers and ambition
Spring 2024	Access to Unifrog to support students in creating an individual Career Development Plan. Chromebook provided. (Gatsby 1, 2, 3) Weekly Careers Ambition briefings (Gatsby 1,2,3,4) STEM activities (Gatsby 1,2,3,4,5,6) Series of events for national apprenticeship week (Gatsby 1,2,3,4) Series of events for national careers week (Gatsby 1,2,3,4) Apprenticeship speaker (Gatsby 1,2,3,5)	Provide all students with access to LMI, self assessment skills, careers and subjects library. Direct instruction briefings on key concepts to the whole school such as T levels and apprenticeships. Exposure to a wide range of employers and education providers. Careers in the media panel to broaden horizons STEM visitor to provide support about careers in STEM Raise the profile and understanding of apprenticeships across NAW Raise the profile of careers and build on previous learning through events for NCW Increase understanding of apprenticeships and allow students to consider as a pathway
Summer 2024	Access to Unifrog to support students in creating an individual Career Development Plan. Chromebook provided. (Gatsby 1, 2, 3) Weekly Careers Ambition briefings (Gatsby 1,2,3,4) T levels speaker visit (Gatsby 1,2,3,5) Local college speaker (Gatsby 1,2,3,5) PACE curriculum careers and citizenship (Gatsby 1,2,3,4)	Provide all students with access to LMI, self assessment skills, careers and subjects library. Provide explicit links of careers to the curriculum Deepen understanding of T levels. Deepen understanding of local college offer Deepen understanding of money management and the system of law in the UK

Additional Provision

Our CEIAG programme is designed to address the diverse needs of our student body, with a particular focus on supporting vulnerable students, including those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND. Recognising the unique challenges these students may face, our programme is designed to create an inclusive and supportive environment that fosters their personal and professional development and raises ambition. We prioritise early intervention strategies, tailored resources, and individualised support to ensure equitable access to career-related information and opportunities.

Trust Programmes

As part of the Co-op Academies Trust, Co-op Academy Florence MacWilliams takes part in careers based programmes. Year seven students complete the Envision programme based on empowering young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to develop essential skills and confidence through tackling social issues affecting their community. Groups are selected to represent or overrepresent vulnerable and disadvantaged groups proportionately.

Staff will receive;

Annual updates on LMI (Gatsby 1,3,4,5)
Annual feedback on Compass (Gatsby 1)
Directed time to develop CEIAG in the curriculum (Gatsby 1,2,3,4,5,7)
PACE curriculum reviews (Gatsby 1,2,3,4)
Subject curriculum reviews (Gatsby 1,2,3,4)
Wider opportunities linking to CEIAG (Gatsby 1,2,3,4)
Careers resourcing and curriculum mapping (Gatsby 1,2,3,4)

Impact

Measuring the impact of our CEIAG programme supports us to regularly develop it to know that we are making a positive and empowering difference. We value quantitative and qualitative feedback from all stakeholders and ensure our evaluations lead to improvements in our future planning. We undertake internal and external quality assurance to ensure our intent and implementation is in-line with our expectations.

We measure impact in the following ways:

Tracking of Compass over time
Tracking engagement and progress with Unifrog
Feedback and evaluation for all events, both quantitative and qualitative
Increase in attendance / reduction in PA over time
Student and staff voice
Levels of employer engagement
Levels of education provider engagement
Assessment data
NEET figures when available

Useful Websites and Links

As an Academy, we access secure independent, impartial and high-quality careers advice and guidance via Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s Careers Service. This service is matrix accredited and reviewed every year. All students in Year 11 will have access to a 1:1 interview. Parents are welcome to attend these appointments if they wish.

We make sure that students have access to a range of colleges and employers, and training providers.

Careers Advice for Parents aims to give parents an easy-to-read overview of all the essential facts on finding jobs and apprenticeships or choosing further and higher education courses that could make a real difference to their child’s future career prospects.
CASCAID Parents offers a guide to Careers guidance.
Parental Guidance offers advice and information on all aspects of the process of career choice for young people aged 13 to 25.

Other websites you may find useful include:

Universities

UCAS Hub

Russell Group universities

Student finance

University comparison

University ranking tables

University taster days

Apprenticeships

Find an apprenticeship

UCAS Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships