CAREERS AND
WORLD OF WORK

Challenge - Aspire - Network

Careers and future aspirations are an integral part of student life at Royal Wootton Bassett Academy, where we are passionate about holistically developing our students.

Students CAN:

Challenge themselves and be challenged to develop independence and key employability skills across the curriculum through our integrated careers programme.

Aspire to become Leaders of their own futures, through our accessible and ever evolving careers programme, high quality careers guidance and up to date LMI, leading to well informed choices.

Build and utilise their Network through meaningful encounters with a wide range of employers and education providers, to learn about careers pathways; to inspire decision making and become life ready.

Our programme is built around the 8 Gatsby benchmarks, which are:

A stable careers programme
Learning from careers and labour market information
Addressing the needs of each student
Linking curriculum learning to careers
Encounters with employers and employees
Experiences of workplaces
Encounters with further and higher education
Personal guidance

For more detail, please see Gatsby Benchmarks explained in this report published in November 2024.

Quality Assurance within our Careers Programme

We strive to constantly review and reflect on all our processes ensuring that we provide the best experience for all our students. Our Careers programme is no exception to this as we evaluate our provision regularly using the Compass+ evaluation tool, scoring above National Average in many benchmarks. In July 2024 we were delighted to have retained the National Quality in Careers Standard using the Career Mark approach, provided by Complete Careers.

At RWBA we do not want to stop there, so we are currently writing a 3-year Careers Strategy, supported by Teach First, to elevate the programme even further. As such the careers programme is currently being reviewed. Activities we offer are listed below:

Careers Activities

Please note:

These events/activities might change during the year due to unforeseen circumstances
Access to the Careers Adviser starts from Y7 via drop in sessions
For further information regarding the programme please see here

Destinations Data

Our Y11 and Y13 students from 2023-24 progressed to a range of different providers after leaving RWBA.

Y11 post-16 destinations included:

Royal Wootton Bassett 6th Form

New College Swindon

Wiltshire College

Kingsbury Green Academy 6th Form

Apprenticeships

Commonweal 6th Form

Great Western Academy

Green Labyrinth

Hartpury College

Loughborough College

To view Year 13 post-18 destinations please see here

Meet the Careers Team

Ms L Hunnex - Careers Leader and Qualified Careers Adviser
Mr D Storey SLT Careers Link
Mrs S Vaughn – Deputy Head of Sixth Form
Ms K Beard – Careers School Governor
Ms A Samways – Enterprise Coordinator, Swindon and Wiltshire Careers Hub (Enterprise coordinators are trained professionals who work clusters of schools and colleges to build careers plans and make connections with local and national employers)

Leeanne Hunnex has a Post Graduate Diploma in Career Guidance (Part 1&2), and can support students future planning by offering information, advice and guidance.

The Careers Hub is based in the Art & Music corridor.

LHunnex@rwba.ascendlearningtrust.org.uk

01793 841958

Careers Policy

Resources for Parents

Provider Access Policy Statement

Resources for Students

Careerometer

You can use this to compare different jobs, salaries, working hours. Click the dotted square. Type in the first career that you think you might be interested in and select from the drop-down list, then add your second and third choices to see the comparisons

At RWBA we are committed to provide meaningful encounters with approved providers of a full range of learning opportunities including 6th Forms, colleges, higher education, Independent Training Providers and technical education.

For further information please see the Provider Access Policy Statement, for further information please contact lhunnex@rwba.ascendlearningtrust.org.uk

This legislation will become a key mechanism to further help learners understand and take up not just apprenticeships, but wider technical education options such as T-levels and Higher Technical Qualifications.

RWBA Alumni