I wanted to introduce myself as the new Careers lead at Welling School and I will be working with our Careers Co-ordinator, Mrs Brehme, to deliver an excellent programme of careers support for all our students.

We have already introduced one to one careers meetings, with an independent careers officer for our year 11 and 13 students. The year 11 students will need support with making applications for sixth form and colleges, whilst the year 13 students will require guidance on whether to apply for an apprenticeships, study at university or to seek full time employment. This is because we appreciate how complex those decision processes can be and we want our year 11 and 13 students to be confident that they are making the right steps to achieving their life goals.

We appreciate that all parents would also want to discuss the different career pathways available with your child and the subjects they would need to study in order to realise those career ambitions. Therefore, we have updated the Careers link on the school website where you can click on the different sources of information to get specific guidance on school leaver schemes, degrees, apprenticeships and even on volunteering and gap year opportunities.

Bexley are also hosting an apprenticeship event on Monday 6th February 2023, 2 sessions 5.30pm - 7pm and 7pm - 8.30pm. Students have been provided with flyers for the event, but you will need to register at www.bexley.gov.uk/apprenticeshipevent. Further details can be found on our school website.

To ensure that all our students including those at key stage 3 are receiving careers guidance, each department will be discussing the possible career pathways available within their subject areas. Heads of Department will also be presenting to year 9 students in school assemblies about the courses that can be selected at Key stage 4.

This year we have started a careers newsletter for both the students and parent/carer, that will be a monthly edition covering information on specific jobs and educational courses, as well as the successful careers that Welling School students have gone on to achieve. The first edition of the newsletter will be published at the end of this month.

Finally, we will be inviting guest speakers to share their experiences of the industries they are working in and the career pathways they took to achieve their career ambitions. This will hopefully inspire our students to pursue careers that they had not previously considered, or to reinforce their passion for a specific career.

We look forward to working in partnership with you to ensure that your son/daughter is fully supported during their time at Welling School. If you are a parent of a year 7-13 student, we would encourage you to have a conversation with your child to embolden them to start the process of thinking about life after GCSEs and A Levels, enabling us both to work together in tailoring effective careers information and guidance to meet the needs of your child’s aspirations.

To aid these conversations, we have a ‘Let's talk futures’ guide on the school website, which is a series of activities and resources that parents can explore with their children at home and these are categorised into key stages 3, 4 and 5.

If you have any questions about any of the above, then please do not hesitate to contact me on my email address jasminder.sanghera@wellingschool-tkat.org

Yours sincerely

Jas Sanghera

ASSISTANT HEADTEACHER