Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance

Our Careers Lead is Tracey Robinson: you can contact her via the School Office

High-quality careers guidance is important for all children and young people, including those in special schools.  It can help to address social inequality by helping children, young people and their families understand the full range of options available to them, and how they can make the most of them.  Young people with SEND are less likely than their peers to be in sustained education, employment or training, meaning high-quality careers guidance is particularly important for these young people.

Current guidance on careers

The National Careers Strategy and statutory guidance highlight the importance of careers guidance for children and young people with SEND and make it clear that all young people should be helped to achieve their aspirations and build a career.

The statutory guidance on careers was strengthened from January 2023 to specify a minimum number of ‘meaningful encounters’, and how and when they should take place.  All maintained schools and academies must provide 6 encounters with a provider of technical education or apprenticeships for learners in Years 8 to 13.

As well as adopting the Gatsby benchmarks, the National Careers Strategy highlights the importance of careers guidance for young people with SEND being aspirational, personalised and well-informed. The Gatsby Foundation and Careers Enterprise Company (CEC) have also published good practice guides, which aim to support special schools in applying the Gatsby benchmarks to their setting

The eight Gatsby Benchmarks serve as a framework for world-class careers provision and have been adopted as part of the Government’s Careers Strategy, statutory guidance for schools and guidance for colleges.  In addition, The Careers & Enterprise Company now supports the implementation of the Benchmarks in education with a national network of support, resources and targeted funding.

The eight Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance are:

1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance

Click here to explore each Benchmark in detail.

Employers supporting Humberston Park School with engagement activities.

Employer Engagement

Are you an employer? How can you get involved?

If you are able to offer work experience opportunities within your business setting, or you could give up some of your time to deliver a talk, demonstration or workshop to our pupils and students about your business, we would be delighted to hear from you!

We are also looking at workplace encounters and visits. If you are able to help us in any way please get in touch. Please email Tracey Robinson  robinsont@hpark.org.uk

We develop our functional and work related skills and enhance employability skills such as:-

• Communication and Interaction
• Independence
• Following Instructions
• Time and handling money
• Problem Solving
• Life skills including travel training

Work Experience

We currently provide internal work experience opportunities within classrooms, the hygiene team, clerical work and catering. We regularly hold coffee mornings and events, giving opportunities to further develop our skills within hospitality, and run a variety of enterprise projects throughout the year. We are committed to providing a range of opportunities and experiences for our pupils and are constantly striving to develop these. We are working hard to create links with the community and create possibilities and chances for success.

The Careers Programme is updated annually in February.

Feedback is sought via regular surveys from staff, students and parents/carers.

Careers Education PAL Policy 2024

Humberston Park School Strategic Careers Plan 2025-2026

Statement of Purpose for Careers at HPS

▪ Pupils will be taken on a meaningful journey throughout their time at Humberston Park School, being provided with opportunities which support them to discover, learn and explore the skills for life, work and independence.