Careers Education
Mrs Kathy Pickard is our Careers Lead and Advisor and her email address is: katherinepickard@abrahammoss.co.uk
John Williams is the school’s Independent Careers Advisor from Career Connect and provides high quality careers advice to our pupils, parents and carers. His contact details are: john.williams@careerconnect.org.uk
Mrs Pickard also attends EHCP review meetings from year 9-11. She offers information on post 16 and post 18 provisions and support with applications for courses. Her contact details are as above.
Our Careers Guidance Programme and Curriculum
The Government’s careers strategy aims to make sure that all young people in secondary education get a programme of advice and guidance that is stable, structured and delivered by individuals with the right skills and experience.
At AMCS we use the Gatsby Benchmarks, together with the Careers Development Institute (CDI) framework and Careers and Enterprise Company, to prepare and measure the quality of our provision. Links to the CDI framework, the Gatsby benchmarks and our most recent benchmarking results, are given below:
Our most recent evaluation against these benchmarks can be viewed here:
https://compassplus.careersandenterprise.co.uk/public/compass-survey/share/f3135230-2c97-4065-8227-4fe441fa6dff
Information about our careers and lifelong learning activities, together with useful careers resources will be helpful to teachers,pupils, parents, carers and other stakeholders. An overview of our programme of careers and lifelong learning education and guidance can be viewed here:
A stable careers and lifelong learning programme
From Key Stage 3 onwards, careers and lifelong learning forms part of the PSHE, lifeskill and pupil voice programme of study. Details are available in the Careers Programme above.
Learning from career and labour market information (LMI)
In lessons we use specific government websites to gather up-to-date information and learn about and explore live job, college and apprenticeship opportunities. This is supplemented by labour market information from a range of sources, links to which can be found here:
We also provide Post-16 and Post-18 events where providers inform parents and pupils with quality information about future study options.
Addressing the needs of each pupil
Pupils have different amounts of career guidance at different stages of their time with us. Opportunities for advice and support are tailored to the needs of each pupil and our careers programme promotes and supports equality and diversity considerations throughout.
Linking curriculum learning to careers
A range of subject-specific displays, throughout school, highlight the knowledge and skills gained in each subject, alongside jobs and careers that those skills relate to. All subject teachers highlight the relevance of their subjects for future career paths. Departments also celebrate National Careers Week to further highlight career opportunities in their subjects.
https://nationalcareersweek.com/
Encounters with employers and employees
At AMCS we invite employers and employees into school to deliver workshops and talks to our pupils. We also take pupils into a variety of workplaces and careers events to meet employers and employees. Enterprise activities are also embedded in our curriculum through a range of subjects.
We invite past pupils to talk to our current pupils about moving on, careers choices and life experiences since leaving AMCS.
Experience of workplaces
At AMCS we have a work experience programme that starts in KS3, with workplace visits and related experiences.This builds in terms of time and variety of experiences over the three years. In Year 10, all pupils have a 1 week experience placement.
Encounters with further and higher education
Our careers programme is designed to ensure that all pupils understand the full range of learning opportunities that are available to them. This includes both academic and vocational routes and learning in schools, colleges, universities and in the workplace.
Personal guidance
This is provided by our careers advisers, Kathy Pickard and John Williams , for all pupils.
Key Documents
Our Careers Policy, which is reviewed annually, can be viewed here:
The Careers policy will be reviewed in August 2026.
The way in which we address the Provider Access Policy can be viewed here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1y_znm6ztCng3OOBKmf5cb_gKuaJ1L-yBLq7aY1wTmvo/edit?usp=sharing
Employers: Can you help?
We would love to hear from employers who think they might be able to help us deliver our careers programme.
If you think you can help, please contact:
Mrs Pickard on katherinepickard@abrahammoss.co.uk
Parents and Carers: Can you help?
If any parents, carers or friends are willing to give up 30 minutes of their time to talk to a group of pupils or deliver a workshop based on their career or profession we’d love to hear from them. Please contact our Careers Lead Mrs Pickard katherinepickard@abrahammoss.co.uk
If you are able to offer a young person in Year 10 a week’s work experience Mrs Hirst directly: Suzannehirst@abrahammoss.co.uk
We really do appreciate the support of parents and carers who are already doing this for us and we are always looking for quality work placements for our pupils.
Useful resources for career advice
- Useful information for parents around different options and routes for Post 16: