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Careers Guidance
Welcome to St Joan of Arc's Careers Department.
We are immensely proud to have been awarded the prestigious Quality in Careers Standard accredited by Investors in Careers in recognition for outstanding CEIAG - Careers Education, Information Advice and Guidance provision. Our accreditation requires us to be reassessed every three years. The Headteacher and Governors are committed to this process that ought to be concluded in January 2024.
Our careers provision is designed both to help students explore potential career paths and to enable them to identify and articulate the key skills they have developed.
As the students progress through the school our programme encourages self-reflection, helping them recognise and develop the key skills demanded in the workplace and to communicate effectively the extent of their growing skill set to universities and future employers.
Alongside this, students in all years have the opportunity to access the schools careers programme. Our inspiring alumni driven “Slice of Life” talks offer opportunities to hear from a wide variety of professionals and ask plenty of questions. We provide frequent access to employers and highlights include: joa_futures twitter feed; Year 7 Science Inspiration Event; Work Shadowing for Year 8; Year 9 ‘World of Work’ talks; Work Experience in year 12; Year 10 Bridge The Gap programme; and the National Apprenticeship Show at Excel for Year 11 to 13 students.
Schools are legally required to secure independent careers advice for all students and we are committed to providing a planned programme of careers advice and guidance for all pupils in years 7 to 13. We regularly welcome employers and providers of technical education and apprenticeships into school to deliver talks to our pupils.
We use a range of measures to assess the impact of the careers programmes on pupils such as Compass (A career benchmark tool), questionnaires completed by students and parents and data provided by Unifrog. The careers adviser uses this information to ensure the programme offered to pupils at St Joan's is having maximum impact.
Contact the Careers Department:
We work directly with David Ritchie Associates who provide age related engagement activities to enhance our provision and bring students into contact with employers and other education service providers.
If you would like to contact the Careers Department in school please get in touch with our Careers Leader:
David Ritchie
Telephone Number: 01923 773881
Email: dritchie@joa.herts.sch.uk
Further Information on Careers:
If you would like more information on a particular career you can visit www.nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-careers and search for the subject area that is of interest to you.
Future First Scheme:
We are very proud of our Alumni network at St Joan's and regularly welcome former pupils back to school to share their inspiring stories and help inspire current pupils who are making important decisions regarding their future pathways.
Sign up to the St Joan of arc Future First Scheme
For more information on this scheme please visit the JOA Futures Twitter page where you will find up to date careers, higher education and apprenticeship twitter feeds.
Careers Information and Research: