Building a better world of work. Together.
Education and business. Better together.
The White Horse Federation believes that when schools and businesses work together, everybody benefits. By partnering with employers across our region, we’re creating opportunities that produce the best possible outcomes for young people.
And when our children have access to the opportunities and experiences they need to succeed, everybody shares in the result – local people, local businesses, and the local economy.
Corporate Partnerships
Smart businesses invest in people, and there’s no better investment to make than in the workforce of tomorrow. A business of any size can contribute positively to the development of young people – and enjoy the return on investment when those young people become future employees and apprentices.
CSR Opportunities
Research shows that companies who take on social responsibilities outperform their counterparts over time. What’s more, offering your staff exciting ways to give back to their community gives you a competitive advantage over other employers. Build your standing in the local community while helping young people on their path to success.
Devizes School
Preparing All Students for Life After School
For many years, the UK schooling system has been biased towards academic proficiency, placing an ever-increasing importance on achieving the highest grades possible. The result is a reduction in the employability skills of secondary school leavers and a wealth of young people who are unsure about how their knowledge and skills translate into the working world.
At Devizes, we want to become a school that prepares all students for the next stage of their lives, whether that involves further education, an apprenticeship, or a full-time job. Your business could help us make the difference.
The Challenge /Inspiring brighter futures
Every student at our school holds a unique future in their hands depending on their aptitudes, and desires. It is our job to make sure our careers provision inspires them to follow a suitable path. With your help, we can guide our students to brighter futures.
The Solution /Aspiring opportunities
As part of our careers support, we want to bring more tailored learning opportunities to students and better prepare them for the world of work.
We want to do this to inspire our students, raise their aspirations, and provide first-hand experience of the careers available to them. These three aims are expanded into a variety of goals.
We aim to raise awareness of the career pathways available to students after they leave school and help them develop a vision of their long-term future. They will:
- Be able to define and describe core educational pathways and careers.
- Create a map for one or more pathways and/or careers.
- Be able to describe key local industries based on LMI (labour market information)..
- Develop a knowledge and awareness of employability skills and why they are needed though curriculum programmes and tutorial activities recorded in a digital careers portfolio.
Their developing career knowledge will mean students aspire to progress into appropriate pathways.They will create a progression map for their post-16 options to demonstrate their understanding of the requirements to achieve this. Additionally, students will:
- Participate in career-focused developmental activities recorded in their portfolio.
- Create a progression map, developed from their vision map, identifying objectives and actions (including skills and qualifications) necessary to progress into a chosen career.
We aim to give students first-hand experience in a variety of careers to help them discover their talents and choose a path that is right for them. There will also be opportunities for students to build and nurture relationships with education providers and employers like you. Through the curriculum, students will:
- Experience and be able to describe the demands and rigours of different pathways.
- Experience at least one interaction with employers and/or education or training providers during each year spent at Devizes School.
- Create a CV and/or personal statement summarising the skills and experiences they’ve developed while at our school. This will be tailored toward their chosen post-school pathway and recorded in their careers portfolio.
The New Method
A blended approach
By making the changes outlined below, our curriculum will be made more suitable for students of all abilities.
- Our curriculum has a blended approach, offering some students increased academic rigour, others a more vocational focus, and a small number the opportunity to pursue less traditional qualifications and a more hands-on approach to learning.
- Key employability skills are embedded within all subjects and lessons, and departments highlight the areas of teaching where these skills are addressed. This shows students the relevance of their learning, enables them to discuss transferable skills learned at school during future job interviews, and makes them more capable employees for businesses like yours. The table below shows the skills we are focusing on:
Hard Skills | Soft Skills |
---|---|
Coding | Commercial Awareness |
Customer Service | Communication |
CV Writing | Confidence |
Financial Capability | Initiative |
Interview Techniques | Leadership |
Letter Writing | Negotiation |
Microsoft Office | Organisation |
Presentation & Public Speaking | Teamwork |
Project & Business Management | Perseverance & Resilience |
Proofreading | Problem Solving |
Typing | Working Under Pressure |
Students will also be given opportunities to develop their skills in the following channels:
Tutor Time
All our students take part in weekly tutor time, with activities based around one of our school’s core values.
Lunch and After-school Provision
Various opportunities for development will be provided through access to the following activities:
- Cadets
- Duke of Edinburgh
- F1 Challenge
- The Ryman National Enterprise Challenge
Off-timetable Days
Taking place routinely throughout the year, these days will be dedicated to careers advice, exploring jobs and careers paths using specific software, and improving CV writing and interview technique.
With the involvement of businesses, new events will be added to the calendar to afford students the experience of meeting and interacting with employers and local companies. These events include:
- Careers fairs.
- One-to-one mentor meetings with professional volunteers.
- Lunchtime careers club, where businesses are invited to discuss aspirations and different careers with students.
- Whole-school and year group assemblies led by employers.
- Work taster sessions and formal work experience.
- Reward and sponsored award presentations recognising students’ achievements and successes.
With the school now set up to deliver remote learning, we are also well-equipped to support the involvement of business partners on a remote basis.
How to Contribute
For more information about how your business can help mould the workforce of the future:
01380 724886
or email: [email protected]
To maximise the impact of our careers support on our students, we require businesses to contribute toward some of the most important activities. Whether you offer time, expertise, or resources, your business will be investing in the future workforce and demonstrating a fierce commitment to the education of young people.
Over the past year, we’ve developed the full capacity to work remotely with business partners to deliver enrichment to our students. While initially introduced as a necessary measure due to the pandemic, the benefits of working with our students remotely remain.
Through remote working, you can help influence our students as the workers of tomorrow at minimum time and financial cost. More details about how you can work remotely with us are included below.
In the PDFs below, you will find information about each activity, the benefits your involvement will have, and how you can get involved
You can also contribute to our careers provision remotely. Through the work of our IT team, the majority of the activities listed above can also be carried out remotely via video conferencing software. For example, we have hosted guest assembly speakers in individual classrooms via video call and are even organising remote work experience for all of years 10 and 12 this year.
Working remotely with our students not only saves you time, travel expenses, and administrative work, it also helps our students get accustomed to how remote working themselves, a useful skill as more and more businesses adopt this approach.
If you’d like to contribute remotely, get in touch by calling 01380 724886 or email devizes_sc[email protected], and we can discuss the possibilities.