Careers News - Term 3

Another busy term with the UCAS deadline at the end of January. Offers from universities are already coming in, including for Medicine and Cambridge as well as multiple other high-tariff universities and courses. The next step, once all offers are received, will be for students to select a ‘Firm’ and ‘Insurance’ choice but they have until 6th June to do this. Some Universities will open their accommodation bookings as early as February and you can apply for a place at your Firm choice once you have confirmed this in UCAS track. As always, advice and guidance is available to all of our Year 13 students to discuss their offers prior to making a final decision.

The Higher Education & Apprenticeship Evening on Wednesday 29th January for all Year 12 students and their parents/carers was well attended. Many thanks to our two visiting speakers: Simba from University of Surrey and Helen from The Education People, who gave excellent talks explaining some of the many opportunities available through University and Apprenticeship routes. We also shared information about how the school will support and guide each student through the research and application process. The handout and presentation slides from the evening have been shared with all students so that anyone who was unable to attend can access the information and gives those in attendance the opportunity to recap on the details.

We also welcomed Jack Davies from The Leigh UTC to speak to our Year 9 assembly and some of our Year 11 students about the alternative qualifications and facilities available at their site in Dartford. T-levels are a new qualification that allows students to specialize and includes 20% of time in a related work experience placement. These are available in Engineering & Digital Design & Development as well as other sectors with different providers across the region.

The next event in the Year 12 Careers Programme is a visit to the UK Universities Search Spring Fair at the University of Kent on Wednesday 30th April. All Year 12 students are recommended to attend.  

Thank you to all the Year 10 students and their parents who have identified a work experience placement and completed the Google Form. It is exciting to see the wide variety of workplace experience that you have planned and I look forward to hearing how you all get on. We will be sending our confirmation forms to employers. Nearer the time, we will provide a work experience preparation session and give students their employer confirmation details and a diary to record their placement experiences.

Jenny Douse, Head of Careers