Careers & Work Related Learning

This section of the website is intended for Students, Parents/Carers, Teachers and Employers wanting to find out more about our Careers Education programme.

At Longdean School we seek to help students make informed choices and transitions affecting their future education, training and employment. Specifically, we are concerned with promoting self-awareness, self-development and personal assessment.

It aims to prepare young people for their working lives by enabling them to review previous transitions, their interests, aptitudes and preferred approaches to learning and to identify targets for developing skills to prepare for future choices and transition. The programme enables young people to develop the career management skills of decision-making, action planning and self-presentation.

You can contact Careers at Longdean 

email      Careers@Longdean.herts.sch.uk

phone     01442 205 754

Key Stage 3

We aim to:

  • Develop the skills and confidence needed to make realistic and informed decisions about KS4 courses.
  • Develop an understanding of self in relation to future roles and an understanding of work, training and continued education. This will be aided by a Year 9 work shadowing day.
  • Improve self-awareness through encouraging the students to review their own interests, aptitude and preferred approaches to learning and preferred subjects.
  • Develop an understanding of Equal Opportunities and to understand that every subject and almost every occupation is open to both men and women, but also be aware of the difficulties to overcome in wishing to choose a subject/occupation traditionally regarded as being the preserve of members of the other gender.
  • Develop an understanding of the world of work and widen their knowledge of what different jobs entail.
  • Increase their awareness of Higher Education Opportunities.
  • To develop a transferable skill set that prepares students for the demands of the various workplace skills that may be asked of them in their employment career.
Key Stage 4 and 5

We aim to:

  • Develop the skills and confidence to make realistic and informed decisions about their future beyond compulsory schooling.
  • Develop the skills necessary to manage the transition from KS4/5 into Sixth Form, College, University, apprenticeships or employment.
  • Further develop an understanding of self in relation to future roles and an understanding of the place of work, training and continued education in society.
  • Further develop self-awareness and the ability to identify strengths and achievements.
  • Support students in understanding how to write a CV and its importance in the interview process. This will be aided by our mock interview programme.
  • Encourage research skills so they can find out the information they need to make career choices.
  • Explore a career and how some of the key skills are important in particular jobs.
  • Increase awareness of patterns of destinations for school leavers at 16 and 18/19 and be aware of local market information. Also, to understand the changing nature of work and highlight local opportunities.
  • Encourage the entrepreneurial skills of setting up, running, marketing and advertising a new business.
Careers Policies

To find out more about our careers and work related programme, refer to the useful documents.

Careers Activity Plan
Careers Education and Guidance Policy
Provider Access Statement

Guidance for Parents/Carers

Parents and carers play a very significant role in helping students to make informed choices about their study options and their future careers. We encourage parents and carers to discuss these with their child and may find information from The National Careers Services beneficial in this.   

We welcome parents and carers’ input and recommend that you always attend activities at school such as GCSE and A-Level Options’ evenings.  For the most update information on opportunities available to your child please join our social media sites FacebookInstagram and Twitter   

Should you wish to discuss your child’s future options please contact their form tutor in the first instance or our Careers Leader, Miss Patel

Careers Resources

Unifrog

 

Unifrog brings all the available information, such as Post 16 options and apprenticeship opportunities into one single, impartial, user-friendly platform that helps students to make the best choices, and submit the strongest applications.

They also empower teachers and counselors to manage the progression process effectively.

Unifrog will be used for Year 10 work experience and Year 9 work shadowing placement organisation. 

Generation Dacorum Careers Fair

 

All Year 11 students will attend the Generation Dacorum Careers Fair as part of the school day. 

Careers Fair 2023 Booklet 

Sixth Form at Longdean

Longdean offers a wide variety of subjects and facilities for students.

As well as supporting their academic achievement, we provide our sixth-formers with opportunities, through our PSHE and tutoring programmes, careers guidance and enrichment activities, to develop skills beyond the classroom that will benefit them later in life.

For more details see Sixth Form which has more detaisl and the curriculum we offer.

Year 11 Next Steps

 

Longdean School 6th Form

For a full list of courses available and how to apply click [Here]

College

Our local colleges are West Herts College and Oaklands College.  To find out more please see the link below:

West Herts College - https://www.westherts.ac.uk/

West Herts College Presentation slides from 12th October 2023 click [Here].

Oaklands College - https://www.oaklands.ac.uk/

 

Apprenticeships:

To find out more about Apprenticeships and to register please check out the National Careers Service website - Here

 

Careers Services:

For an appointment with Miss Patel in school click here: [Here]

National Careers Services also offers advice and guidance online or on telephone.  Please click the link to find out more: [Here]

 

Updated 02/11/2023