• Programme Leader: Mrs Sharon Breach
• Email: sharonbreach@ficedu.org
• Telephone: +44 (01394) 282388

Our careers lessons are linked to ‘The Gatsby Benchmarks’ to provide a stable careers programme at FIC:

• Learning from the careers and labour market information
• Addressing the needs of each pupil.
• Linking curriculum learning to careers
• Encounters with employers and employees
• Experiences of workplaces
• Encounters with Further and Higher Education.
• Personal guidance

Our ‘Access Provider Policy’ can be viewed from our main Policies page.

How we measure and assess the impact of the careers programme on students:

The school will assess the impact of its careers programme on our students by completing an annual student survey and analysing destinations data in line with activities that they have taken part in at school. In addition, the views of students and parents will be surveyed after key events.

Furthermore, we link our programme to The Department for Education and OFSTED recommendations, and review and update our provision through feedback, evaluation and the Compass Audit tool, which is endorsed by the Careers and Enterprise Company and the New Anglia Careers Hub. The Careers and Enterprise company is an external organisation that supports schools to ensure they are following the DFEs newly devised Careers Strategy. The following information is an extract taken from this guidance:

“The careers strategy sets out that every school and academy providing secondary education should use the Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s Benchmarks to develop and improve their careers provision. This statutory guidance has been restructured around the Benchmarks with information on what schools need to do to meet each one. The Gatsby Benchmarks are not a statutory framework but by adopting them, schools can be confident that they are fulfilling their legal duties: the existing duties to secure independent careers guidance and provide opportunities to a range of providers to inform pupils about technical education qualifications or apprenticeships and the new duty to publish information about the careers programme on the school website.”

KS3 Careers Units of Work

Students in KS3 also participate in a Community Work programme, which introduces them to supporting local and global communities.    

KS4 Careers Units of Work

Year 11 students have access to an independent, professional Career Guidance Counsellor, during the Autumn or Spring Term, to help set realistic career goals, suggest suitable universities for specific courses, and to advise on work experience opportunities locally.  

Year 12 Careers Units of Work

Students have access in Year 12 to an independent, professional Career Guidance Counsellor, preferably during the Autumn Term, to help set realistic career goals, suggest suitable universities for specific courses, and to advise on work experience opportunities locally.  

Year 13 Careers Units of Work

Students have access in Year 13 to an independent, professional Career Guidance Counsellor, to help set realistic career goals, suggest suitable universities for specific courses, and advise on work experience opportunities locally.