Sarah Bainbridge, Partnerships Director, Reach Schools
Education shouldn’t just be about excellent academic outcomes, it should also ensure that pupils leave school with the confidence, self belief and skills that they need to enjoy a life of choice and opportunity.
A qualification is just the beginning. Preparing young people for the world of work and the role that they will play helps safeguard a fully functioning society and matters as much as exam results. Young people are more likely to be motivated to learn and engage in school life if they can see how it links with their career goals. Schools need the resources and expertise to support pupils to understand all of the options available, listen to their hopes and dreams, and explain the relevance of the school day to their future. This is vital in supporting a sense of belonging and engagement. Young people need to feel represented, valued and encouraged to perceive themselves as heard and seen. A school that is able to put relationships and careers support at the centre of learning can transform young lives, help to close the skills and attainment gap and contribute towards economic growth.
We have a clear vision at Reach, in our schools and through our sister organisation The Reach Foundation – We want all children to enjoy a life of choice and opportunity, and in order to do that we are increasingly learning that excellent academic outcomes simply aren’t enough. We know that for a young person to go on to live a life of choice and opportunity they need the following four criteria:
- To be safe and well supported, both at home and at school
- To be healthy, both mentally and physically
- To achieve well academically
- To be able to build strong trusting relationships with their communities
As schools we can’t provide all of this alone. So we’ve turned to the power of vibrant collaboration to ensure that our young people can flourish and to level the playing field.
Partnership Matters
Our partnerships with charitable organisations like Careers Ready ensure that our young people have the opportunity to be mentored by employers
We commit wholeheartedly to working in partnership with our community. We do this at every opportunity and at every level, whether it’s with our parents, the Local Authority, other schools, our funders, charitable organisations, housing associations, social services, or local employers and universities.
Our MAT has two intentionally small all through schools in Feltham and a growing sixth form provision. We are in a historically underserved area in the borough of Hounslow, where over 30% of children are living in poverty. It’s imperative that we see careers education as integral to our curriculum to help our pupils realise their aspirations. It’s not that they don’t have aspirations, they absolutely do! They just need support to feel that they fully belong as the protagonist of their future dreams. Our context, like many other state schools, means our young people are sometimes pessimistic about their future career opportunities, compared with their more affluent peers. Career support is essential to level the playing field.
In our sixth form, Feltham College, we collaborate with two leading independent schools, Hampton and Lady Eleanor Holles and over 20 charitable organisations. We have strategic employer partners for careers in law, finance, engineering, healthcare and creative technologies and we work in partnership with three local universities. Our year 12 students have already had the opportunity to meet face to face with over 30 local employers this academic year. We have apprenticeship interventions happening in year 10-13 and workplace visits throughout all of our key stages. These interactions support young people to own their destinies. It helps them understand what the difference between mechanical and electrical engineering is, what the day of an accountant looks like in comparison to that of an investment banker, why a therapeutic radiologist needs different qualifications to a radiographer, and the skills you need to become a hotelier or a construction site manager.
Careers education brings the real-world relevance of school subjects to life. Schools can’t do this in isolation from the working world and the good news is that a lot of work is already happening. Data from the national body for careers education shows that more businesses are partnering with schools and colleges. However, to make sure those partnerships turn into impactful relationships, schools need the funding and capacity to be able to integrate this support into pupils’ learning.
Capacity to Nurture Relationships Matters
We’re fortunate to have a full time careers lead in Tara Joseph
The government could put more pressure on employers and universities to work with schools, and should provide funding for schools to recruit individuals to broker relationships with partners in the employment, further education and third sector. At Reach we fundraise to be able to support this kind of activity and this just isn’t viable for all schools. Partner organisations clearly want to invest in young people and their future but to have a significant impact they need to turn this partnership into a relationship with the school and this requires capacity. The lack of effective collaboration is primarily because state schools are under resourced in almost every area: finding the time to build relationships with partners is tricky, and it needs to be the school that drives the partnership forwards, because they understand the most important part of the ambition – the young person and the context they live within. The government’s launch of Skills England in the autumn, with the ambition to ‘deliver a comprehensive strategy for post-16 education to break down barriers to opportunity’ is a step in the right direction. However, in its attempt to bring businesses together with colleges, universities and training providers, it also needs to involve the school, the only public service that sees young people and families every single day and the institution that fully understands the challenges in nurturing children into a life of opportunity. With all the will in the world, the public and corporate sectors can create ‘think tanks’, write proposals and deliver white papers, but only by implementing tactical and tangible activities will it deliver impact. Our young people deserve direct, tailored support, linked to what the labour market in their local area actually needs. The funding should sit within the school, as should the role of relationship holder. This is hard to do alongside a full teaching timetable: careers and partnership objectives need more time and funding allocated to them.
Supporting Parents is key
Please contact us if you have any questions at all about your child’s post 16 pathway
The workplace has changed dramatically since many parents of teenagers secured their first job. There are industries that have transformed, jobs that have disappeared and a whole new sector emerging in creative technology. Many of us know very little about the world our children will work in. As teachers and parents, we navigate the journey that our children take and then suddenly at 17 years of age, for many of us, it’s like watching the child take a jump into the unknown and not knowing where they are going to land. How can parents help prepare children for post 16 success?
- Equip themselves with knowledge of the new complex world of work
Don’t overlook a child’s interests because you don’t understand them. Being informed about the future of the employment market and how the economy is changing will empower you to chat with your child about their future prospects and help them put their school lessons into context (the World Economic Forum publishes an annual future of employment report). Supporting them to develop a sense that they belong on a pathway will in turn motivate them to participate – that conversation can often be far more powerful than you will ever know.
- Encourage children to do things outside of their comfort zone
Organise for a family friend or work colleague to do a mock interview and give constructive feedback, or support your child to find work experience.
- Recognise their child’s strengths
Help them find interests that play to them. Encourage them to do what they love. It’s a difficult process watching a student embark on a degree that is their parents’’ dream, not their own. The beautiful complexity of the human race means that we are all successful at different things: some children naturally find Maths easier than others, and some minds can write critical essays or create beautiful stories. If we had a nation of workers playing to their strengths there would also be less anxiety and more productivity.
- Cultivate perseverance
We live in a nation where everything is immediate. Gen Z is growing up in a world where the screen has changed the way their attention develops. Encouraging activities to support perseverance will deliver the feeling of achievement through determination and will help prepare children for the journey to securing their dream future. Lack of resilience and perseverance is more often than not the only thing standing in the way of success.
We’re really proud of what our pupils achieve. We were of course delighted with our 2024 A level results being 42% A, A* and our outstanding Ofsted in September, but it’s the destinations that our young people secure – the Apprenticeships with BP, BA, KPMG, the roles at the Met police and as early years practitioners, the Medics, the Midwives and Electricians that really made us and our partners celebrate.
