Welcome from the Head of Careers
Given our commitment to teaching young people ‘not just to make a living, but to make a life,’ CAREERS EDUCATION lies at the very heart of the College’s offering, opening students’ eyes to OPPORTUNITIES in the future and HOW TO REALISE their CAREER ambitions.
The Careers Office provides a welcoming environment, offering information on an extensive variety of careers opportunities.
Students from Form 4 onwards also have access to software called Unifrog. This software offers a wide range of opportunities for students to explore as they plan for the future. This includes psychometric careers testing that helps students find careers especially suited to them.
The Higher Education and Careers Department operates an ‘open door’ policy in addition to organised individual interviews with the Head of Careers and Higher Education, Ms Griffiths Plunkett. who has been a university lecturer and as a teacher has experience in this area of advice and guidance.
Ms Griffiths Plunkett
Head of Careers & Higher Education
Pupils in the Sixth Form feel confident in moving to university because of the targeted support they receive from staff during the university application process.
ISI Report 2022
Careers Education
Careers Education begins in the prep school and continues into Form 1 through tutor periods and House assemblies as part of the College’s comprehensive pastoral programme. Thereafter, as students move up through the Senior School, careers information, advice and guidance becomes more focused and tailored to the needs of specific year groups.
The Head of Careers and Higher Education also supports the House tutors in the pastoral programme by providing them with relevant and comprehensive resources and activities to promote discussion and reflection. These discussions may focus on personal development, developing decision-making skills, and the variety of post-18 pathways, such as; higher education choices, the UCAS and applications cycle, apprenticeships, and adapting to an ever-changing world of work.
Form 3: GCSE Options
GCSE options are the focus of the pastoral programme in the Lent Term of Form 3. Full guidance on GCSE subject choices is shared with the students and their families. The Head of Careers and Higher Education addresses Form 3 at relevant tutor period assemblies and invites individual students to see her at agreed lunch-times to discuss any concerns or questions they may have about their GCSE and future Sixth Form and post-eighteen options. This helps students to make well-informed decisions.
Form 4/5: Sixth Form Options
Students complete their Unifrog Careers Profile, a range of psychometric tests and interests questions, at the end of Form 4. Individual discussions about post-16 options take place in Michaelmas Term of Form 5 with the Head of Careers and Higher Education. She can also be consulted on an ongoing individual basis throughout the two-year GCSE programme via school email, ‘drop-in’ lunch-time sessions or mutually agreed meetings in the Careers Office.
Work Experience
We support and encourage work experience, from workshadowing to virtual work experience to professional placements.
The College offers Lower Sixth Form students a professional placement work experience programme, taking place in the Trinity Term.
The programme is extremely beneficial in helping students to focus on their own choices and priorities, at the same time giving them confidence and independence. The experience of working teaches them to interact and take responsibility in an adult setting and it can fill them with enthusiasm and ambition for a particular profession (or, just as usefully, the opposite!). The experience is an advantageous and essential addition on a UCAS application, and students usually report that it is one of the highlights of their year.
We are very grateful to the parents, alumni and other friends of the Columban community who assist in offering placements. We are always eager to follow up offers of help in this area: if you can provide appropriate work experience to a sixth-former for one week, we invite you to contact Ms Griffiths Plunkett, Head of Careers and Higher Education at griffithsplunkett.s@stcolumbascollege.org
Previous Lower Sixth work experience placements include:
- Working at the Big Four companies PWC and KPMG.
- Learning about digital marketing at a leading marketing agency in London.
- Shadowing the Medical Director in ENT Surgery at North Hertfordshire NHS Trust.
- Working for a precision engineering company, making parts for F1 cars.
- Exploring careers in Law at some of the area’s leading Law firms.
University and Apprenticeship Applications
Most Sixth Form students at St Columba’s progress to university after A Levels. The focus of the Sixth Form careers programme is exploring higher education options. This includes traditional university routes and also new areas like degree level apprenticeships. For all areas, external speakers attend the college to give information to students firsthand. Alternative support is also available for students considering employment, training or a further education course at eighteen.
Students in the Lower and Upper Sixth use the specialist search functions available on Unifrog to explore which universities they want to apply to through UCAS. Unifrog also has special search functions for those applying to Oxford and Cambridge and also those applying for courses internationally.
The Head of Careers and Higher Education then has individual discussions with all Lower Sixth students in the Lent Term about their post-18 options and can be consulted on an ongoing basis throughout the Sixth Form. There is additional specialist support for students considering an Oxford or Cambridge University application, and also for those applying to Medicine and Law. This support is offered by Mrs Adair, our Oxbridge and Prestigious University Co-Ordinator.
Lower Sixth Form
Michaelmas Term
- Students receive careers education through the pastoral programme.
- The college actively encourages students to explore virtual work experience opportunities through our digital careers board and students compile reflective journals.
Lent Term
- Unifrog training on how to use software to aid university research.
- ‘Introduction to Higher Education’ Evening for Lower Sixth students and parents.
- Inspiration Day with outside speakers including alumni and contributors from a wide range of organizations.
- Student have one-to-one interviews with Ms Griffiths Plunkett to discuss post-18 pathways, including university or apprenticeship and future career ideas.
Trinity Term
- Students are taken to the UCAS Exhibition to meet representatives from all the leading universities in the UK.
- Students are assisted in selecting appropriate University Open Days and Taster courses.
- Russell Group universities visit the college to explain UCAS application process and degree apprenticeships.
- Students register early onto the UCAS platform in May.
- UCAS referees are assigned and begin to work with students in preparing their personal statements.
- A professional placement is undertaken during term time.
- Students are encouraged to have a first draft personal statement written by the start of the school holidays.
Upper Sixth Form
Michaelmas Term
- Referees support personal statement writing and write references for students.
- Students make selection of 5 UCAS choices with support off tutors and Ms Griffiths Plunkett.
- Interview skills training begins for those who require it.
- Student finance and budgeting sessions are taught.
Lent and Trinity Terms
- Support available for students with university and apprenticeship interviews.
- Mock assessment centre session run for students applying for apprenticeships.
- Students receive their University and/or apprenticeship offers.
- Students apply for Student Finance support.
- Ms Griffiths Plunkett supports students with choosing Firm and Insurance choices.
- From A Level results day, Ms Griffiths Plunkett is available to assist with contacting universities and amending choices in the light of examination outcomes.
