Senior Careers Support

Year 7 are introduced to careers through an assembly Pupils are introduced to the iCould Buzz Quiz, which allows them to start thinking about their career and discover their personality type (and a corresponding animal!).

Pupils are then encouraged to explore which careers might suit them, using interactive platforms which help them to:

• Discover their strengths and what make them tick
• Understand how others may see them
• Explore subject choices and jobs that could suit them

Additionally, through assemblies and the extensive co-curricular programme, pupils are introduced to different careers from guest speakers and visitors to the school.

Year 8 participate in an Enterprise Day in the Summer term, where they focus on key employability skills such as teamwork and leadership, creativity, commercial awareness, entrepreneurship, time-management, and public speaking.

Year 8 Design Thinking Award

Design Thinking is a human-centered, iterative process that designers use to tackle problems. All Year 8 pupils complete an Award in Design Thinking, which is accredited by EduQual and was designed with the University of Warwick and the Design Thinking consultancy company, Sprint Valley.

Workplaces increasingly require the skills of empathy, collaboration, creativity, and the ability to prototype and respond to feedback. This ground-breaking Award allows pupils to demonstrate these skills, which can be applied beyond the physical design process to all types of design thinking. This approach has been successfully used in organising campaigns, marketing, and charitable projects. McKinsey’s 2018 report suggests that Design Thinking is one of the most requested skills from new employees and Year 8 at Warwick School are the pioneers of the first school’s accredited course in this subject.

Design Thinking | EduQual Level 1 Design Thinking Award | 50 (30GTH)

The aim of qualification is to:

• Encourage students to be compassionate, curious and collaborative in their thinking
• Foster and hone their creativity
• Develop the future ready meta skills that pupils need for the world of work.

Learners must meet all assessment criteria to pass the unit. Pupils are assessed on a final project which tests their ability to do the following:

• Understand and research the challenge
• Interpret data gathered from interviews
• Generate and refine ideas
• Get feedback
• Give a presentation on their work

Unifrog

Unifrog is a superb online resource which offers a ‘one-stop’ platform introduced to Warwick School pupils. It really is never too early to start considering your career ideas, and Year 9 are introduced to Unifrog as part of their PSHEE programme to facilitate their GCSE option choices.

Unifrog offers a single platform for every aspect of higher education. It allows pupils to compare every undergraduate course in the UK, every US university, and undergraduate programme taught in English within Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Pupils can compare UK degree apprenticeships and School Leaver Programmes, FE college courses, and colleges at Oxford and Cambridge.

Unifrog is also the place where pupils can record activities, achievements, and competencies, and then go on to draft the materials needed for applications – whether that is the Common App Essay for US applications or the UCAS Personal Statement. It is intuitive, easy to use and can be accessed on any device.

INVESTIN

We have a strong partnership with INVESTIN, which has facilitated immersive career experience opportunities in 28 industries for pupils aged 12-18. INVESTIN’s purpose is to give pupils the knowledge, experience, and network needed to have a head start in their chosen career.

All pupils participate in engaging workshops during November on the topic of Future Careers, covering:

• Today’s job market
• Your career journey so far
• How to decide on your future career
• How to develop your employability skills

Year 10 PSHEE focuses on identifying skills, developing self-confidence, and beginning to think in depth about the approaching career milestones. This takes the form of half day delivery in the Summer term.

Workshops include:

• Exploring job ideas
• Recognising and building personal skills
• Developing self-confidence
• Identifying their strengths and areas for improvement

Year 10 are introduced to the SACU Online Career Cloud that provides online tools that pupils can use to research their future in a fun way. To kick o the process, pupils complete the simple SACU career quiz. This picture-based quiz then provides three personalised ‘clouds’ to explore all the options available to them that suit their preferences:

• Degree cloud
• Career cloud
• Apprenticeship cloud

Other opportunities to explore possible careers are provided informally through business lunches, where pupils can learn about a specific career by talking to an expert in the field. Our extensive Encounters lecture series provide the opportunity to meet and hear from many speakers, offering insights into their career and giving advice to those just starting out.

Year 10 are also welcome at events for the Medicine and Law Pathways to university.

The beginning of Year 11 Warwick pupils undertake the MyFutureChoice online careers interactive programme. This is a platform that connects pupils with career and study paths.

The rigorous assessments uncover the interests and aptitudes and, using validated psychometric tests, help to evaluate strengths and interests and to facilitate post 16 and 18 career options.

Once the interest-based questionnaire and norm-referenced aptitude tests have been completed, pupils are invited for a 1:1 interview with the Head of Careers and Volunteering.

Work experience

Work experience gives young people the opportunity for involvement in a workplace, helping them to understand how the world of work operates and how it differs to school. Year 11 work experience takes place during the Summer term during June, once all exams have been completed.

Warwick pupils are strongly encouraged to complete work experience and are supported along with their parents to find placements that match their abilities and occupational areas of interest by the careers department.

We support with:

• Health and safety checks
• Setting goals and objectives for the placement
• CV writing
• Cover letters
• Providing contacts from alumni

Warwick School also promotes volunteering opportunities with local primary schools, community centres, charities, hospitals, hospices, National Citizen Service (NCS), and more. The NCS is a voluntary personal and social development programme aimed at 16 and 17 years to volunteer during their summer break and simultaneously develop key skills for employment. NCS is primarily funded by the government, so the full programme charge is £50 for two weeks. NCS annually present the volunteering offer during Year 11 and Year 12 assemblies. Over the years the programme has proved extremely popular with Warwick pupils and the feedback has always been positive.

As an INVESTIN partner school, Year 11 pupils can leverage a discount on their work experience courses. INVESTIN deliver immersive career experiences across 28 different industries, from the ever-popular medicine and law through to more up and coming industries like environmentalism and sport professionalism. These are available in both a live online or in-person format and range from one to 15 days in length throughout the year.

Year 11 pupils are encouraged to take advantage of Encounters lectures, business lunches, and the various university pathway programmes Warwick School offers.