Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men

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Invitation to all Year 9-13 Parent/Carers to virtual information session

On Wednesday 11th June 2025 from 6:00-6:30pm, focused on exploring alternative career pathways for students in key stages 4 and 5.

This session is especially valuable for families' considering options beyond traditional sixth form or university routes.

Our guest speaker, Claire Mackaness from Get Set UK, will be joining us through Ask Apprenticeships to explain more about:

• What apprenticeships are 
• The different levels and sectors available
• How they compare to traditional education pathways
• How students can apply and what support is available 

There will also be a short Q&A session at the end, where you will have the opportunity to ask any questions and gain further insight into the options available. We strongly encourage all parents and carers to attend, as this will help support your child in making informed choices about their future. If you wish to register to attend the session please do so by clicking on the below link.

EVENT DETAILS:

📅 DATE: WEDNESDAY 11^TH JUNE 2025

🕕 TIME: 6:00 – 6:30 PM

💻 LOCATION: VIRTUAL VIA TEAMS REGISTER HERE VIA THE LINK

WE HOPE YOU CAN JOIN US FOR THIS INFORMATIVE SESSION.

Gatsby Benchmark 1 - A stable careers programme

All staff members have access to a Sharepoint Library of Careers resources that is updated regularly.
Careers Programme of Study Document

Gatsby Benchmark 2 - Learning from career and labour market information

 Where next? Discover the best next step for you - Greater Essex Careers Hub
 The booklet includes information about eight different industries that are popular and growing in Essex, as well as progression options for post 16 and 18

Other links

• Careers Videos
• Career advice for parents
• Local LMI videos
• Links to key sectors on Thurrock Opportunities or Essex Opportunities
• National Careers Service
• LMI for all widget
• ICould
• CareerPilot
• Uploading Work Experience on Unifrog
• Parents and caregivers Webinar session: research into options after school
• The Bridge - Where Business and Education meet 
• Targeted Employment (Essex County Council)
• UEA Support for Parents/Carers of Year 12 & 13 Students 

Unifrog

What is Unifrog?
Unifrog is the complete destinations platform – a one-stop-shop for students across KS3, KS4 and KS5 regardless of their interests or academic ability. It is the only place where students can compare every university course, apprenticeship and FE course in the UK as well as university in 30 other countries across the world. This is alongside getting access to labour market information and advice on careers and subjects for all routes".  

Parent Logins
Parents navigate to unifrog.org/code, fill in their details and enter the code which can be obtained by emailing the school office. Parents will then be able to use Unifrog as if they are a student, there is loads of careers resources and support materials on there. The Parent Pack can be found in the Resources Library (here).

Gatsby Benchmark 3 - Addressing the needs of each student

See pupil outcomes here:
Pupil Outcomes KS4
Pupil Outcomes KS5

Gatsby Benchmark 4 - Linking curriculum learning to careers

 See our curriculum information here 

My Learning, My Future inspiration and guidance
Art & Design
Biology
Business
Chemistry
Computer Science
Design Technology
English
Geography
History
Languages
Maths
Physics
Psychology
Sociology
Music
PE
Science
RE

Gatsby Benchmark 5 - Encounters with employers and employees

Career focused assemblies
Students regularly have assemblies led by local employers, some including former students in a wide range of careers.

Work Experience and opportunities
Students have also the opportunity to visit workplaces in the local area facilitated by school trips, our annual 'take your son to work day' which is open to all of year 7 and work experience for all Y10 & Y12 pupils. We give opportunities to all year 8 pupils to carry out the role of duty pupil for a day which involves helping reception with various tasks.

Department led trips and visits
Department led school trips enable students to view careers in action within their chosen subject field in KS3 & KS4.

Mock Interview Days – Year 8 and 10
Year 8 and 10 pupils have the opportunity to have a mock interview with external employers. Could we add in some photos of last year – here is the link to the photos choose ones that may be good.

Career Workshops – National Crime Agency
We have also had in the National Crime Agency who have worked with our year 9 pupils in a workshop activity. Could we add in some photos of last year – here is the link to the photos choose ones that may be good.

Year 12 Online Interviews – Your Game Plan – for National Interview Month in February
Year 12 have the opportunity to sign up for online interviews through ‘Your Game Plan’ which involves pupils having online interviews from industry experts so that they can get used to developing their skills to speak in front of people through a digital platform – they get feedback on how they performed and get some tips on how to improve in the future, this forms part of National Interview Month which takes place in February each year Your Game Plan – Digital learning to shape your future career.

Career Taster Sessions – every Tuesday lunchtime in the Year 12 Careers Centre
We also offer Career Taster Sessions every Tuesday lunchtime in the Year 12 Study Centre in which people from different industries come into talk about a careers focused session – these are open and available to anyone from all year groups. Please see school contact and the digital screens and noticeboards for upcoming attractions.

Gatsby Benchmark 6 - Experiences of workplaces

At St Thomas More High School, we believe in the value of Work Experience in both motivating students and giving a genuine understanding into the world of work. Students can gain important insights into their career interests and values, which will help them with their future decision-making. The skills and attributes gained can be referenced within CV’s, enhance employability and UCAS applications.

 Work Experience PowerPoint 

 Students can use this email template to send to employers.

Take your son to work day (TYSTWD) 
Year 7 students will be offered the chance to go to a work placement with a parent or a trusted adult for the day to gain a real experience of a working day.
More information will be made available to parents in due course.

Take Your Son To Work Day Form

Gatsby Benchmark 7 - Encounters with further and higher education

Y13 Destinations 

 University Open Days

Gatsby Benchmark 8 - Personal guidance

Sixth form and Y11 students will have connexions appointments ; a leading provider of Careers, information advice and guidance for young people in Essex. During the students appointments in Year 11 they will look at options After Year 11 and the careers timetable. 

Online Interview Resources - Greater Essex Careers Hub
Greater Essex Careers Hub has prepared a set of practice online interview resources which are suitable for learners preparing for the online interview process.  Each one focuses on a different, real job and questions are asked by real Essex employers. They follow each question with tips and advice on how to answer well.  There are a number of interactive videos on the website for a number of different employers in the Local Area who can give you advice on how to interview well in the different industries.

https://greateressexcareershub.co.uk/flipbook/where-next/index.html
This is another great resource which can give you some ideas of the different opportunities and career paths that are available when you move onto the next stage in your career.

Our Careers Advisors

Elaine Munson-DeKoning
EMAIL:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Elaine is a Level 6 independent careers advisor from Connexions (who are matrix accredited) and is she is able to give free, impartial advice to any students who wish to book appointments with her.
If you would like to contact her directly please use the email address above – alternatively if you would like to book an appointment then please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Bradley This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abigail Tisdall
EMAIL: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In line with government guidance, St Thomas More School closed to all but children of key workers and vulnerable students on March 20^th 2020.  There was a very small number of students in the current Y13 cohort that met the criteria to continue to attend school.

Overall, students were not present in school for 15 weeks of planned teaching time.  Alternative provision was put in place via remote learning, using google classroom and email, with a few staff using LOOM/ZOOM lessons.  Staff worked hard to maintain a rich learning experience, but online learning cannot replace the experience of the classroom where skills can be rigorously developed and misconceptions addressed and so we are working hard on the recovery curriculum throughout this Autumn term.

Generally, take up of the online provision was good, but as google classroom was not an established way of working within the Sixth Form and this was a learning process for both staff and students.  However, technology was a major barrier for many of our students, who did not have access to laptops or had to share across several family members.  We were able to provide a very limited number of laptops to some students through the bursary, but often students reported that they were completing assignments on their phones or were unable to fully access our provision.

Y12 students were offered two weeks of face to face lessons with their subject teachers.   Attendance was strong, but with a number of multi-generational households with family members who were in the high risk categories, some students were advised to continue to learn from home.

Our normal UCAS launch was able to go ahead in part during the Yr12 keeping in touch days in July and support has been undertaken virtually, we are now able to support students in the normal way in school.

We would normally have undertaken UCAS predicted grade exams in July 2020, we took the decision to undertake these internal assessments at the end of September instead; these internal assessments have been used to support the UCAS predicted grades, but they have been significantly lower than we would usually see in the July of Yr12.