** Our Careers Advisers are only available to Priestley College students. Our students can book an appointment during term time only.
Priestley has two careers advisers who can give free and independent advice to our students about their futures.
Ian and Amy are based in the Learning Resource Centre where they hold one-to-one interviews and group discussions about careers.
In 2021 Priestley College had its matrix accreditation renewed for a third time in recognition of the quality of the advice, guidance and support it offers students.
The successful inspection meant Priestley met the internationally-recognised standard and received praise for the impartial advice it offers for, among other things, careers. Among the college’s many strengths, the inspector said, was its impressive partnerships with employers, universities and local schools.
“To receive this seal of approval is something we are very proud of as a college,” said Assistant Principal Mark Eccleston.
During the four-day inspection more than 61 members of staff were interviewed as well as 16 students and three partner agencies.
Explore how courses lead to careers
Many of you will already have a career in mind and might be wondering what are the best subjects to study in order to achieve your goals?
Well you can now use our Explore feature to work this out.
Hit the Explore button to access this tool which will allow you to input the job sector you wish to enter and filter by key word to find a more specific job role.
You can find out what you could earn in roles as diverse as airline pilot and zoologist while at the same time discovering what are the best courses that will help you progress into these areas.
Once you’ve carried out your own research feel free to book an interview with a careers adviser for more individual guidance.
Click here for the full Careers Programme
At Priestley College we understand the nature of employment in the UK and beyond is constantly changing, with an increasingly competitive job market and rising university fees and the ‘gig’ economy.
In order to help inspire our students to meet the challenges set by these changes, we aim to provide a comprehensive package of impartial Careers Education Information, Advice and Guidance.
This CEIAG is available to students during the application process to college, during their studies, and to former students. A Careers Adviser is available for advice and guidance at all college events such as open open events, one-to-one guidance discussions, and during enrolment.
All students have access to high quality CEIAG from experienced staff. This enables them to understand all available options and make informed decisions. It means they can plan their progression from college be that in Higher Education, an apprenticeship option including Higher/ Degree Level Apprenticeships, or some other progression route.
Relevant Labour Market Information is made available to all students and the college sits on the Local Enterprise Partnership’s Data and Labour Intelligence Market Steering Group. This group draws on data sources including national databases (eg. Nomis and Employers’ Skills Survey), local data sources (e.g. EMSI Analyst toolkit and the ESFA data cube) and employers, to inform local skills and education priorities.
Career pathway and progression information is available on each course/subject page of the college’s website, allowing students and parents to research LMI directly relating to their existing or future study programmes and career aspirations. This is also promoted positively through tutorials and research tools that all students have access to including Unifrog and the college website
The college CEIAG work is led by Assistant Principal Mark Eccleston (Student Support Services) who is the Careers Leader and also sits on the college’s Senior Leadership Team. The team underpinning this work includes the following individuals:
- Adam Bird – Head of Marketing & Communications (including Admissions and IAG functions)
- Chris Lee – Senior Tutor responsible for Progression
- Ian Edge – Careers Adviser
- Amy Heald – Careers Adviser
- Pam Gardner – Industry Placement Coordinator
- Ruth Saastamoinen – Work Related Learning and WEX Project Post
The eight Gatsby benchmarks outline current best practice in CEIAG and as a college we are committed to ensuring our provision meets and exceeds these benchmarks. We are keen to ensure the opportunities and support we provide for students on all our programmes of study are of the very highest standard.
Much of this work takes place through the weekly tutorial system where the colleges Personal Development Programme (PDP) is delivered to students, and is recorded and evaluated using the Unifrog system (see below). In addition, we organise a programme of work experience, a series of speakers, workshops and visits throughout the academic year to provide students with the latest information about the local, national and international labour market, as well as specialist presentations from representatives of many professions and university departments.
CEIAG best practice is shared via The Challenge Academy Trust inter-school CEIAG Hub. As a member of TCAT the college takes advantage of its partnership with Oxford University to ensure all students are challenged to reach their full potential. In addition, there are regular presentations about volunteering opportunities, which for many students are a crucial way of confirming their career ideas. The full programme is available above.
Advice and guidance is available from our two qualified and experienced Careers Advisers who hold a Level 6 Diploma in Careers Guidance, and are available in person, as well as via telephone and email every day, to offer one-to-one impartial guidance to students and their parents / carers, typical areas for discussion include;
- Long-term career choice
- Subject combinations
- University applications
- Student finance
- Apprenticeship & training opportunities
- Job search techniques
- Professional CV and letter writing
The college careers advisers deliver sessions within the Personal Development Programme to support our team of progress and personal tutors. There is a referral process between all college tutors and the careers advisers to identify students at the point when they will most benefit from one-to-one advice, as well as those at risk of having their college place withdrawn in order to prevent them from becoming NEET.
Careers advisers also liaise with a range of statutory agencies and partners such as the local authority ‘Warrington Life’ team to support students on completion of their studies at college.
All our classroom and individual careers work is supported and enhanced by a wide range of online resources including a Careers Padlet and Google Classroom pages, which all our students can access via any internet enabled device. This contains a wide range of resources, including labour market information, for students to use as part of their own career development.
The college self-assesses its CEIAG internally using quality assessment tools including the Careers and Enterprise Company ‘Compass’ tool and its own Gatsby criteria recording systems. The Operations Management Team ensure that CEIAG is embedded across all faculty and pastoral areas of the college.
The fully integrated nature of the college’s work in relation to CEIAG has been recognised by the external quality assurance awarding and reaccreditation of the Matrix quality standard for information advice and guidance services since 2013.
The college also uses the compass careers benchmark tool to regularly evaluate the CEIAG activities and are working towards the Quality in Careers Standard/The Careers Mark.
Introduction
This policy statement sets out the College’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to students at the College for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the College’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.
Student Entitlement
All students are entitled:
- To find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point;
- To hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through focused events including career fairs/activities, provider visits, group discussions and taster events;
- To understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.
Management of provider access requests
Procedure
A provider wishing to request access should contact:
Mark Eccleston, Careers Leader
Email: m.eccleston@priestley.ac.uk
Telephone: 01925 633591
Opportunities for access
Several events, integrated into the college’s careers programme offer providers an opportunity to come into College to speak to students or parents. These include our Guest Speakers Programme, work experience activities, Apprenticeship ICS Programme events, National Apprenticeship Week (employer talks/workshops), mock assessment centres, Alter Higher progression parent’s seminar, Futures You Week, our World of Work programme, and World of Work Programme and Careers Fair.
Please speak to our Careers Leader to identify the most suitable opportunity for you.
Premises and facilities
The College will make classrooms or private meeting rooms available for discussions between the provider and students, as appropriate to the activity. The College will also seek to make available any equipment to support provider presentations. This will all be discussed and agreed in advance of the visit with the Careers Leader or a member of their team.
Providers are welcome to leave a copy of their prospectus or other relevant literature at the Careers & Employability Hub in the College Learning Resource Centre. The Learning Resource Centre is available to all students throughout the College day.
Has your job or career prospects been negatively impacted by Covid-19? Are you fed up searching for jobs and learning opportunities on lots of different websites? Cheshire & Warrington Opportunities is your digital front door to thousands of local jobs, apprenticeships and courses > Cheshire and Warrington Opportunities
Cheshire and Warrington Pledge, hosted by the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) host interactive online live broadcasts aimed at students aged 11-18 years.
The sessions bring a host of Cheshire and Warrington based employers, universities, colleges and training providers who will talk about careers, employability skills and training pathways and young people have the chance to ask questions in real time through the live chat functionality to interact with the speakers safely.
We would encourage you to schedule these sessions into your week and where possible watch these sessions live, however these will remain on the site for 12 months and questions can be submitted after broadcast. For more information and to see the initial schedule of sessions visit PLEDGE
Industry Insights
Industry Insights are a series of sector-specific virtual workshops and webinars for young people in Cheshire & Warrington > Industry Insights
Learn Lounge by Springpod have lined up an amazing set of speakers to help inspire and support you because your future doesn’t have to wait for things to return to normal.
Get full details and list of speakers below, everyone from polar explorers to football managers and TV hosts.
The Careers & Enterprise Company is the national network set up to inspire and prepare young people for the fast-changing world of work. Its role is to connect schools and colleges, employers and careers programme providers to create high-impact careers opportunities for young people across England.
Some of the possible career paths you could take are highlighted in these Careers & Enterprise videos. At Priestley we are keen to help students find the right path for them whether that be university, employment or an apprenticeship.
Jack an apprentice at Willmott Dixon
Bailey fulfils ambition to become a carpenter
Rebecca and Katie excel in engineering
Meet Alex, a bright and brilliant apprentice in the Cabinet Office
Callum’s apprenticeship led to a brilliant career
Mia on how she became a Campaign Planner
Dr Radha Modgil, GP and Broadcaster
Alexandra, graduate scheme at Tesco
Chris Jones, Managing Director of Think Specialist Recruitment discusses what young people might expect and how graduates and school leavers can make their mark with employers > Read the article
Working Options in Education have prepared a jam-packed schedule of virtual career sessions for young people to join at the click of a button. It is a welcome resource during this time > Working Options
The Higher Horizons website has lots of useful resources including:
- All About Apprenticeships (Level 2 / 3 for Post 16s)
- Higher and Degree Apprenticeships Explained (As it says on the tin!)
- The Art of Interviewing (A guide to different types of interviews with some practice tasks)
- Guide to Application Forms (Focused on job applications, with some practice tasks for CV writing, supporting statements etc.)
Please fill out the feedback form whenever you complete one of the sections. Go to > Higher Horizons
It’s good to know all the options available from aged 16, whether your child is just discovering their favourite subjects, getting ready to make their GCSE choices, or well on the way to completing this stage of study. The more information your child has on what they can do next, through ongoing conversations, the easier big decisions at the key milestones will be.
Go to Talking Futures for more information.
Students are being coached through the tutorial programme to use Unifrog as a diary of their experiences, skills and activities that they have whilst at Priestley College.
It is an award-winning online platform which will help our students to make intelligent choices about their future, while allowing tutors to track their progress. Students will be able to use Unifrog for both apprenticeship and university searches and the platform can be used in conjunction with the UCAS website.
This may include any university contact via presentations that may take place in college, or taster days, work experience, competitions, assignments that have developed specific skills, sports teams, enrichment activities even DofE. Click here to sign in.
Set up parental access to Unifrog
This is very useful if you want to see what the system does, help your child to research options or just take a look at what is available in higher education. You will not be given access to your child’s account, but you will be able to access the system and make use of it.
Step 1: open Unifrog
Step 2: this screen will appear, click on SIGN IN FOR THE FIRST TIME
Step 3: this screen will appear. In the FORM CODE put parentpriestley (as shown) and fill in the rest:
The fully integrated nature of the college’s work in relation to CEIAG has been recognised by the external quality assurance awarding and reaccreditation of the Matrix quality standard for information advice and guidance services since 2013.
In order to provide students with the most up to date information advice and guidance we also work with the following organisations:
My Path video resource
You can find out more about a wide variety of careers from My Path’s collection of video profiles. You can see the full list in the following link and we’ve picked out a few below that might be of interest > My Path
PARAMEDIC
URBAN DESIGNER
SPORTS COACH
ACTUARY
FIREFIGHTER
JOURNALIST
What's The Point?
What’s The Point Careers have prepared a series of videos to show how subjects and various skills fit into the workplace. You can view them all at the following link and there are some examples below > What’s The Point Careers
How roleplay is used in the workplace
How persuasive writing is important
Transferable skills in history
How vocal projection is relevant
How facial expressions can be used in the workplace
How strength is important in the workplace
National Careers Service
You can use the National Careers Service search engine to look for different types of learning opportunities.
