As we move into 2020 it is a good time to

reflect on the achievements of the last year.

During the first part of the last term I spent

time collecting the information relating to our

students Post 16 and Post 18 destinations

Many of our students were able to secure amazing

opportunities in Universities throughout the UK with

some even moving abroad to study in Europe. 84% of

our Sixth Form students went on to study at Higher

Education and four of our previous Year 13’s secured

apprenticeships including an Electrical apprenticeship,

Teaching Assistant apprenticeship, Coaching

apprenticeship and Dentistry Nursing apprenticeship.

Of those who went on to University the most popular

subjects related to Engineering followed by Law. Just

under 50% of our students are enrolling on courses

within the Engineering or Business sectors.

It was interesting to review the students who went on

to study STEAM subjects (including medical related

science). Of the 45% of students who chose STEAM

subjects 28% of the overall numbers were female

students, although these were broadly students who

chose medical related sciences.

I think it is fair to say that, although it is positive that

STEAM subjects are becoming more popular among

students, some further work should be done to

promote STEAM careers to our female students which

has long been a national trend.

The University locations varied around the country

but approximately 50% of students accepted courses

from institutions situated in London and two students

have accepted university places in Europe. Fourteen

students were able to secure places at Russell Group

Universities however 43% secured places at either

Russell Group or TEF Gold institutions.

Of our Year 11 leavers, over 50 % continue to study at

Canons, followed by 45% at Further Education or Sixth

Form Colleges. Of the four students who secured

apprenticeships these included courses in Childcare,

lifeguarding, hairdressing and IT apprenticeships.

From this data I think we can conclude that the

variety of opportunity has been broad but that there

should be key focus on industries that are projected

to show significant growth in the coming decade.

Mrs Christina Reffold,

Canons Careers Leader

CAREERS N e w s l e t t e r

Spring Term 2020

The Canons Apprentice

During the second half of the Autumn Term

KS4 students were invited to participate in an

internal competition as part of our Careers &

Enterprise Club, The Canons Apprentice.

Over the course of the seven weeks, twenty

five students attended the sessions, that were

run in partnership with Balfour Beatty. The

first session was introduced by former con-

testant on Sir Alan Sugars The Apprentice,

Krishna Thakrah, who spoke about her experi-

ences of enterprise and her career. The fol-

lowing sessions were run by representatives

from Balfour Beatty, who set students a pro-

ject to develop a local initiative for the com-

munity in the Harrow Area. Students were en-

gaged and the feedback from the sessions has

been immensely positive.

In the final session on Friday 16th December

students competed by presenting their pro-

jects to the panel of judges to find out if they

had been ‘hired’ or ‘fired’. After some deliber-

ation our judges selected winning group

‘Family Trust’. The winning team have been

invited to visit a luxury Balfour Beatty site for

a work experience day. Certificates of partici-

pation will be given to all those involved.

Step into the NHS

Following on from the popularity of the Step into the NHS competition last year we

launched the competition again to our KS3 students. The competition encourages stu-

dents to explore the multiple careers in the UKs largest employer, the NHS. This year we

have three teams entering the competition. They are required to research roles and

then design a job description and job advert.

Law Employer Engagement Trip

On 11th December our Law Sixth Form students

attended an experience day at Rooks Riders LLP

law firm in the City. The engagement initially

started as an employer led talk to be held at

Canons however the Senior Partner generously

offered the exciting opportunity to host the stu-

dents at his offices.

Computer Science We were very pleased to host speakers from the Tech industry last term who came in to de-

liver subject content talks to our Sixth Form Computer Science Students. We welcomed back

Suraj from WP Maintain to talk about Web Development and the Social Media Exec from

cyber recruitment firm, Beecher Madden, to talk about using social media in business. There

is a trend being set in vocational subjects to engage employers in the curriculum which is an

exciting development for the schools work related learning and careers provision.

New: The Careers Bulletin

Last term we started putting together a newly introduced monthly Careers Bulletin to be distributed

to students and parents via the Edulink App. The Bulletin details the various events and opportuni-

ties taking place outside of Canons. The bulletin is also being used to inform students about work

related learning opportunities internally. Starting next term it will also include an apprenticeship

vacancy snapshot and information about how career paths link to the topics being taught in the cur-

riculum that term. The bulletins are also posted on the Careers Webpage and Facebook.

Personal Development Day

In November the Canons Sixth Form hosted its

very first Personal Development Day for stu-

dent in Year 12 & 13 who were invited to

attend a variety of key Note Speeches and

workshops ranging from topics relating to

studying with the brain, delivered by Inner

Drive, to driving theory introduction; CV work-

shops, from the UKs largest recruiter Adecco,

to personal finance; careers in the digital in-

dustry; what's new with apprenticeships and

everything in between. Students were also

made aware of a range of opportunities out-

side of Canons including the TFL Innovate

Competition and Social Enterprise programme

Wings of Hope.

Schools and colleges are putting more empha-

sis on Personal Development in the response

to the concerns that young people are not

equipped with what they need to succeed.

Canons Sixth Form made the decision to re-

place the traditional PSHE in Sixth Form with

the innovative Personal Development Days

allowing content to be delivered by experts

and students to have autonomy over the

workshops they attend. Feedback from the

day has been positive with students asking for

some subject specific talks next time. Students

have also agreed that they prefer this format

to the previous PSHE Lessons.

Year 11 Taster Day & CIAG

Throughout the Autumn Term our Year 11 stu-

dents had their one to one Careers Guidance

interviews with our external careers advisor. In

addition tot their one hour interview they add-

ed their Post 16 intentions to their Unifrog Ac-

count. This is supported by Careers in PSHE dur-

ing Half Term 2.

On 16th December Year 11 attended their tran-

sition day hosted by our Sixth Form. The event

gives students the opportunity to select taster

sessions in the courses they are interested in

studying.

Work Experience Launch

This Year we have decided to invest in a

new partnership for work experience. Our

new providers are Changing Education who

came in to launch their provision and their

exciting new App to our Year 12’s during

Assembly. Students were told that they

need to start looking for work experience

now, for their placements to take place in

July. The use of technology for work experi-

ence will bring a new dimension to the pro-

gramme for our students to engage with.

DVS Foundation Workshops

Last year we were approached by an organisa-

tion called DVS property who have started a

new initiative to link with schools to deliver

workshops to students who may need motiva-

tion. We were lucky enough to be one of the

first schools they piloted the programme with.

The speakers engaged with our Year 9 students

and worked with them to help to identify their

future goals and aspirations .

STEM Assemblies

This Term we invited two STEM ambassadors in to

deliver STEM assemblies to Years 9 and 10. The year

groups heard about careers related to Epidemiology

and about the search for new planets and stars. We

were able to source these speakers, who spoke about

these fascinating topics, from the STEM Ambassador

Hub.

This Term….. The Spring Term is packed full of more opportunities for students. Over

the next few months we will be organising events for National Appren-

ticeship Week and the Year 7 Careers Day will be held on 11th February.

We will be welcoming representatives from Barclays Life Skills to work

with our Sixth Form Students in January and Canons Sixth Form will be

holding the second Personal Development Day for students. The Canons

Careers Fair will take place on 4th March this year with a new format.

Details of this will be circulated later this month. Later in the term we will

be offering the opportunity for students to take part in our International

Women's Day competition again this year. We will also be coordinating

the trip to the Excel UCAS Fair in March and our Year 13 Sport students

will go out on work experience placements later in February.

“This workshop helped me a lot because now I know what I want to do in the

future”….. Khuleyb, Year 9

Careers Leader Network

The next meeting for the Careers Leader Network will be on Monday 20th January 2020 from 12:30 to 14:00 at Canons High School. The session will be opened by The Careers & Enterprise Company and will be followed by a networking lunch. For more information please con-tact creffold@canons.harrow.sch.uk

Enclosed in this edition of our Spring Term Careers Newsletter is the

newly designed map of the careers and work related learning provision

at Canons High School and Canons Sixth Form