St. Clement Danes provides high quality, individualised support and advice for all students about Further Education, Higher Education and Careers. 

This information is designed for students, teachers, parents, and employers

Careers Leader: Mr L Arnold, (Director of Sixth Form/Assistant Headteacher) 

Careers Coordinator: Mrs Melanie Garwood-Evans

Contact details: 01923 284169

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Success, Character, Dignity – Shaping Ambition, Building Employability, Achieving Goals

At St Clement Danes School we believe in preparing students not just for their first job but for a lifetime of opportunity. Our careers education empowers every student to make informed choices, develop essential skills, and embrace their future with confidence.

At St Clement Danes School careers education is a journey, not a single moment—a golden thread running through our students' school experience, building year on year to equip students with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to succeed in an ever-changing world.

We provide meaningful encounters with employers and educators, integrate careers learning across the curriculum, and ensure that all students—regardless of background—have the guidance they need to succeed.

Rooted in our values of ambition, integrity, and resilience, our careers programme supports students in shaping a future where they can thrive and make a meaningful impact on the world.

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The St Clement Danes careers team has ensured that the government’s required Gatsby Benchmarks are securely at the heart of our extensive programme. The eight Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance are as follows:

• A stable careers programme
• Learning from career 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

Regularly, over 80% of our Year 13 students gain places at University, with the vast majority of other students gaining entrance onto a chosen alternative, whether this be apprenticeships, employment or an alternative Higher Education pathway. Students in Year 11 or 13 who prefer to follow a route of employment, apprenticeship or further education are fully supported through application processes by the school’s Careers Team. Mrs Garwood-Evans faciltates a range of interview opportunities in order to ensure students have access to a broad range of advice and guidance, including the use of an external careers advisor.

Every year group has access to a wide range of opportunities to engage with the world of work, as outlined in our Careers Programme found in the download section below. Students are encouraged to use Unifrog to build their own skills portfolio and increase awareness of career pathways from the end of Year 7. There are a number of careers-focused sessions built into all year groups' Personal Development lessons in addition to some whole day events, work shadowing days, access to visiting speakers and individual guidance across a student's time in the school. 

Feedback from parents, students and other stakeholders is very welcome. Please email enquiries@scd.herts.sch.uk, providing a subject title of 'Careers Feedback'. 

St Clement Danes School works closely with the Careers and Enterprise Company and the Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal (HOP). The HOP website can be accessed through the link below. It offers young people the chance to explore jobs and apprenticeships in Hertfordshire, provides further support to make informed career decisions and offers tips on gaining work experience and developing skills.

Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal (HOP) (hopinto.co.uk)

Click here for OTHER links to useful websites on careers, continuing education, employment and more. 

 

The effectiveness of the Careers Guidance provided to our all students can be measured through destination information. COMPASS is a tool also used on a termly basis by the school to evaluate our provision against the Gatsby Benchmarks. An exit survey for school leavers with a section on careers provision is also invaluable in our review of the areas we focus on for continuing improvements and revisions. Please click on the relevant link below for most recent government data regarding our school leavers.

Click Here for Post-16 Destination information

 

Click Here for Post-18 Destination information

Careers in the Sixth Form

The Sixth Form at St. Clement Danes boasts a team of dedicated staff who guide students in their Higher Education applications. Mr L Arnold (Director of Sixth Form and Assistant Headteacher) and Mrs O'Dowd (Assistant Director of Sixth Form) oversee the process from student research into courses and institutions at the beginning of Year 12 to accepting offers at the end of Year 13. UCAS application information is delivered to students through a programme of meetings, Personal Development sessions and outside speakers.

Sixth Form students also have the following opportunities made available to them:

• A series of Personal Development sessions dedicated to post-SCD options and workplace topics and skills
• External speakers from a range of professional backgrounds
• Business Mentoring for selected students: 6-8 sessions with one of our Business mentors, professionals from a range of companies and institutions, who come into school to provide advice and guidance about the world of work
• Work shadowing days for Year 12 students
• Morrisby profiling- psychometric testing for career aptitudes, with follow-up interviews (also made available to Year 11 students).
• Competitive Courses Programme
• Apprenticeships Programme
• Brand You Day - an opportunity for all of our Year 12 students engage with recruitment and interview processes.
• Interview practice

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is the centralised service that students will use to apply to university. For more background information about the process of applying to Higher Education, the easy to navigate site linked to below will have all the latest news and guidance provided by UCAS.

Labour Market Information

Accurate and up-to-date Labour Market Information (LMI) plays a key role in raising aspirations and promoting social mobility and is incoprarated into aspects of our careers education programme.

The Careerometer below provides access to a selection of UK headline data relating to pay, weekly hours of work and future employment prospects for different occupations, as well as description of the occupation.Simply type in the title of the job you are interested in and the widget provides a series of options from which you can select the most relevant to you. You can then look up another two occupations and compare. You can also select ‘display the UK average’ and compare the information with the occupation you have selected.

scd Careers Policy - March 2023