Our careers programme

'Every young person needs high-quality career guidance to make informed decisions about their future. Good career guidance is a necessity for social mobility: those young people without significant social capital or home support to draw upon have the most to gain from high-quality career guidance.' 

Our careers programme uses the Gatsby Benchmarks as its basis – a nationally recognised framework for world-class careers guidance. Its core aim is to provide our students with sufficient information to help them make the right decisions, especially when choosing GCSE subjects, deciding on KS4 Options and identifying post-16 and 18+ pathways. To deliver this we look to APA staff and external volunteers from the professional world to provide our students with exposure to the workplace, up-to-date labour market information and support with developing essential employability skills. 

At APA we have a full time level 6 CIAG qualified careers lead, Ms Rout, who is on hand to assist your child in identifying a range of pathways and opportunities available to them. This is done via curriculum learning, labour market information, supercurricular activities, employer and university engagement, work experience and 1:1 guidance. Our staff and 6th form subject leads also help embed careers education and promote a range of supercurricular activities across the school.

We draw on partnerships from the local and wider community including Mace, Capgemini, Chelsea Foundation, Media for All partners and local NHS trusts to provide a plethora of experiences suited to a range of aptitudes and career aspirations. We work closely with a range of technical and higher educational institutes with the aim of raising aspiration and fair access to university, ​and actively promote and facilitate opportunities for students to engage with these organisations. APA students experience meaningful university encounters from Year 7 all the way through to Year 13. We also support students seeking alternative pathways including apprenticeships up to degree level - with weekly updates on high quality programmes and 1:1 guidance with the applications process. As an Ark School, we are driven by the belief that every child can succeed if they have the right opportunities.