During the Seven Year Learning Journey here at St Albans Girls' School, STAGS Careers prepares students for their future in modern Britain as resilient citizens that are able to achieve their own personal goals, while having the skills to adapt to the changing demands of the economy.  We embed essential employability skills and character virtues across all elements of our curriculum, both in and out of the classroom, so that our students are fully prepared for their next steps.

The Careers Lead at STAGS is Jessica Flint, Deputy Headteacher. 

The STAGS Governor with oversight of Careers is Vicky Pearlman.

Careers and Enterprise Events for the Academic Year 2024-2025

We welcome support from the local community, colleges and training providers at our events. We are always keen to invite providers of education and training routes into school to talk to our students, including FE colleges, other education providers and organisations offering apprenticeship and training opportunities. Please contact us about Careers Education at STAGS, by emailing careers@stags.herts.sch.uk or calling 01727 853134. 

DATE	ACTIVITY
27 September 2024	Year 7 Enterprise Morning
4-9 November 2024	Green Careers Week - a school wide focus on exploring sustainable careers across the curriculum
January 2025	Year 11 Mock Interview Day  Year 9, 10 & 11 assemblies from West Herts & Oaklands College  Year 11 Explorer Event at Oaklands College
10-15 February 2025	National Apprenticeships Week Employer encounters during which apprentices lead assemblies across all year groups
3-7 March 2025	National Careers Week Curriculum based focus on employability skills and career pathways across all year groups.
7 March 2025, 8-12 noon	Years 8 & 12 Inspiring Women Event
4 June 2025 30th June 2025	Year 7 Work Shadowing or Careers Day Generation St Albans Careers Fair (all families)
3-4 July 2025 7-11 July 2025	Year 12 Professional Placement Year 12 Progression Pathway Year 10 Work Experience Week Year 9 Enterprise Event

As can be seen above, each year we offer a careers fair that students from all year groups and their families are invited to attend. The careers fair is also open to students from our Sixth Form Consortium Schools.

If you would like to assist with a careers event or to share your own career journey with our students, please contact us by emailing careers@stags.herts.sch.uk.

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How is Careers, Employability and Enterprise Education taught at St Albans Girls' School?

St Albans Girls' School has fully implemented the eight Gatsby Benchmarks through specific lessons within the PSHE, Personal Development and the Post 16 Step Up curricula. This is complimented by a range of wider curriculum learning opportunities and forms a coherent and robust seven year learning journey that meets all eight Gatsby benchmarks and ensures students are provided with access to information about a range of next step options from higher and further education providers and employers. 

The eight Gatsby benchmarks of Good Career Guidance:

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

We work closely with Services for Young People (formally YC Hertfordshire), to provide 1:1 impartial career guidance interviews for students in Years 9-13 with a Level 6 Qualified Careers Guidance Advisor.  This support is in addition to meetings with Form Tutors, Directors of Learning and one-to-one yearly progression meetings with a member of the Senior Leadership Team to support students with their next steps and onward pathway decisions.

To enhance our provision, we also work closely with the Careers and Enterprise Company and an Enterprise Advisor who reviews our Careers, Employability and Enterprise provision to ensure we are fully meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks and the demands of the Provider Access Legislation.

Additionally, our programme is reviewed annually and further mapped against the requirements of the Careers Development Institute Framework and the Hertfordshire Skills Framework.

How do we assess the quality of our programme?

We assess the quality of our programme in several ways. 

1. Feedback from Students, Parents and Employers is gathered after each of our events 
2. Against the Gatsby Benchmarks using Compass+ with the assistance of our Enterprise Advisors and the Careers and Enterprise Company who act as critical friends 
3. The successful destinations of both our Year 11 and Year 13 students (please see destinations trend documents below which also contains retention data)

Please use the links below for more information about Careers and Careers Education in the local area:

Careers Pilot - Parent Zone

Local Labour Market Information investigation tool

Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal

Enterprise Education Opportunities at St Albans Girls' School

Students across all key stages have the the opportunity to take part in enrichment opportunities to widen their employability and enterprise skills.

For 2024-2025 our enterprise opportunities are:

• Year 7 students take part in a transition Employability Skills event in September
• Year 8 students can take part in the  10X Challenge in February-March
• All Year 9 students take part in the First Give programme within PSHE lessons
• Students in Years 10 and 11 take on the leadership roles in the St Albans Rotary Interact Club
• Year 12 students can take part in the Young Enterprise Company Programme

In addition to the formal enterprise challenges, students can work as a form group to run stalls to raise funds for their House Charity throughout the school year, but particularly at our Winter Fair.

Our policies on Careers, Employability and Enterprise and Work Experience as well as our Provider Access Statement/Policy can be found here