It has been a busy and exciting year for careers at WHSG. Our latest self-review shows us to be fully compliant with all 8 Gatsby benchmarks, a measure that schools use to evaluate their careers programme.

Years 9, 11 and 13 have had information in their PSHCE programme about careers to help them with their option choices. Year 8, 10 and 12 will benefit from careers lessons later in the year and Year 7 are being introduced to the UNIFROG package; a careers and subject options tool that the school subscribes to. We have also had a big push with careers in the curriculum and students should have noticed this in lessons, with some class work being linked to a variety of careers paths. Some subjects have had visits from industry as part of their curriculum for example Mott McDonald in technology and Meta in computing.

Our Year 13 interview day in November was a huge success. As well as workshops from Leicester University and ASK, students received a minimum of 2 interviews related to their future plans. We were thankful to the 100 external volunteers, mainly from our parent and alumni community, who joined us to assist with this. Our visitors commented on how impressed they were with our students and how they were able to articulate their passions and experiences. Potential Oxbridge students had a dedicated hub on this day to expose them to the kinds of questions they may face at interview.  Our medical, dental and vet students were put through their paces in a Multiple-Mini Interview event, where they attended six different interviews which tested aspects such as dexterity, ethical awareness and dealing with difficult situations. This event, in October, was again supported by large numbers of external volunteers. Year 9 and 11 have been visited by local Croydon and Coulsdon Colleges, so they are informed about all the qualifications available to them in their next steps.

Upcoming events include Makers of the Future Day for Year 12. Pupils will get information about applying for their next steps and it includes a fair with visitors from universities, apprenticeship providers and employers. The lower school will also have a Makers of the Future Day in the summer. Activities will include visits from employers as well as an opportunity to research career paths they may wish to follow. This was a new event last year - it was very successful and included visits from doctors, lawyers, engineers and professionals from finance and IT amongst others.

A huge part of our careers offer is experiences of the workplace. Year 8 are continuing to spend a day in reception helping the school run smoothly and developing communication and organisation skills and our Year 9s have the opportunity to go to work with friends or family in March. In July, Year 11 and Year 12 will complete their week of work experience. Some of the placements logged already on UNIFROG look amazing such as Sky, Greater Anglia, London Film School, Land Registry and Global Logic. Students have also secured placements at hospitals, dental practices, pharmacy’s, primary schools and working with local MP’s.

Large numbers of our Year 12 students are assisting with our primary outreach programme which again gives them first-hand experience of working within the local community. Activities include supporting students with Maths and English, helping during practical lessons and organising sports events.

Results from the parent survey earlier this show that parents would like more information on where to access careers information and what is in our careers programme. The best place to start in the website and the Wallington Week but we will aim to communicate more often about this with you about what your daughters are doing in terms of careers. Parents have recently been shared logins to the e-Clips platform and UNIFROG logins will soon follow. Please take a look at the excellent resources on these websites and discuss them with your children, as they are using them in school.

As always we would love your feedback and help with our careers programme. Please look out for communications asking for assistance and feel free to contact us directly.