Meadow High School Careers Strategy

Meadow High has a holistic approach to its careers programme and is designed to meet the needs of all students to help them with:

  • Independence skills
  • Vocational pathways
  • Supported internships
  • Employer engagement
  • Work experience
  • Business enterprise programme
  • Preparation for work (World of Work) 
  • Transition 

We work in partnership with Education Development Trust, Shaw Trust, Marriott Hotel, JobCentre Plus and the Local Authority. Our independent careers adviser, qualified to level 6/7 is available to all students. Parents/guardians are actively encouraged to attend careers meetings and are invited into school to meet the local providers/colleges and employers.

We offer a differentiated work related curriculum from year 8 to year 14 where the students learn about the world of work including: understanding different job roles; learning about health and safety at a workplace; preparing for interviews; creating CV’s; understanding work relationships and language at work; learning about teamwork, problem solving and communication; knowing your rights and responsibilities at work; exploring job opportunities and preparing for work experience.

During their time at Meadow High School different year groups participate in work experience and work related activities including Vocational Pathways, training sessions with external providers, interviews and other relevant enterprise. The school actively encourages local businesses, colleges, apprenticeship providers and employers to engage with our careers programme and our students are invited to visit employers’ premises as well as local educational providers. Additionally, Year 13 and 14 pupils attend one day a week work experience for the whole of the academic year allowing them to understand the complexities of working life.  Pupils learn about different options available to them when they leave school and how to become more confident and prepared for life beyond Meadow.

We get very good feedback about our students who enjoy working at many different local employers. Examples include:

“Daisy is very comfortable around pupils and has built her confidence to support them in the classroom” - Hayes Park / working as a classroom TA .

“ Lucas is well aware of his routine tasks now and simply gets on with them. He makes his own initiative to find different tasks and makes a good team among other volunteers.” - British Heart Foundation 

“Baldeep always follows instructions and stays focused on a given task. He participates in the conversation appropriately with other adults at work.” - Scope 

 

“Danyal has settled very well at his workplace and is learning the routine tasks.” - Scope 

 

The eight Gatsby benchmarks of Good Career Guidance

We are actively working towards the Gatsby benchmarks:

1. A stable careers programme

2. Learning from career and labour market information

3. Addressing the needs of each pupil

4. Linking curriculum learning to careers

5. Encounters with employers and employees

6. Experiences of workplaces

7. Encounters with further and higher education

8. Personal guidance

The school works with many local employers to ensure that the students have a valuable and supported experience. These include:

Clayton Hotel, Marriott Hotel, Rural Garden Centre, Intu Uxbridge, Hillingdon Hospital, Funky Flowers, Food Bank, Salvation Army,  Ansells garden Centre and Cafe, Dove Tail, Hayes Park School, Hayes Library, Woodland Pharmacy, British Airways, HS2, Prestolite, Suntory, Hasbro,  Local retails shops, Various charity shops, Early years Education settings, Local Care Home, Local Hairdressers and Beauty salons. 

Our supported internship programme (Project Search) is based at the London Heathrow Marriott Hotel and has been very successful with around  80% of students  achieving employment. 

When employment is achieved for students through the supported internship programme, our job coaches offer ongoing support funded through Access to Work.

Some of the comments from employers and parents regarding our Project SEARCH programme include:

Jason 

Quoted by– (Parent)

‘Jason gained a really good job through ‘Project SEARCH’, he is paid really well and is really happy in his role.’

Quote by employer (in Heathrow airport)

‘Jason is a great and hardworking person, we would say one of the most hardworking staff we have employed, we really support Project SEARCH programme and feel proud of having Jason as part of our team’

Shay 

Quoted by Julie (Parent)

‘Shay has learnt new transferable skills at his time on the Project SEARCH programme and his confidence, self-esteem, independence and understanding of the world of work has increased so much, we are delighted to see what he has achieved. As a family we are bursting with pride that Project Search has equipped Shay with the skills to achieve the ultimate goal, to be employed in a job that he enjoys now. I believe Project Search is an absolutely fantastic scheme which helps young people with learning difficulties realise that they are employable and have many worthwhile skills to offer, maybe it just takes them a little longer to learn or they need to learn in a different way and need patient people supporting them’

Rhianna 

Quote from Nicola (Parent)

‘I just wanted to say thank you again for helping Rhianna get her job she is such an amazing young lady and is working so hard she loves every minute of working in her job. She is coping so well with the 12 hour shifts, I am probably the proudest mum ever and it is all thanks to everyone at Project SEARCH for all your help in job searching, taking her to interviews, supporting her and the training you gave her.’

Sharmarke

‘I was excited about a new challenge and opportunity in life when I started… II am proud that I have learnt good time management. I am happy and blessed that I have a full time job as a Cash and Carry Operative which I started on 25th July.’

Dominic

‘I felt quite anxious at the start because I didn’t know what to expect. After a few days I began to loosen up. First I worked in Engineering. I enjoyed working with the team. Next I worked in Finance and HR and the environment suited me better. I have learnt teamwork and my confidence has improved. I’m very happy to be starting a Finance Assistant role at the Marriott on 26th July.’

The Project Search programme along with the skills that are being taught to the students while still in school through in house sessions, work experience, business enterprise and employer engagement are all designed to get the students employment ready and to support their independent living and travel skills.

How many disabled people are in employment? 

Over 3.4 million disabled people are in employment.

Source: Labour Force Survey April to June 2017

Disabled people are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people.

Source: Labour Force Survey April to June 2017

 

Why is employment of disabled people so important?

A 10 percentage point rise in the employment rate amongst disabled adults would contribute an extra £12 billion to the Exchequer by 2030.