Higham Ferrers school delighted with national award

Staff and students at The Ferrers School are delighted to have been awarded the prestigious Quality in Careers Standard, the national quality award for careers.

The award, which was accredited through the local awarding body, Cambridgeshire County Council, celebrates the school’s high-quality careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG).

In the report given to the school, the assessor praised leaders for their 'comprehensive careers programme that supports students in accessing a full range of learning opportunities.'

This was facilitated through the school’s ‘raising aspiration plan’ which has achieved effective leadership, management and promotion of CEIAG.

The assessor commented: “There is a significant amount of external careers guidance support provided throughout the key stages.

"All students get academic mentoring, which includes tutors discussing students’ career/future plans, alongside academic progress.”

Embedding careers in subject learning was seen as a real strength for the school.

The assessor said|: “Careers related learning is embedded in the curriculum areas.

"For instance, the science department provide a range of careers activities, eg Year 9 biology providing microscopy, skills and anatomy that link to medical and research career opportunities and chemistry topics link to include chemical engineering and pharmacology.

"Each curriculum area has a ‘Careers Champion’ who helps promote careers related learning and acts as a link for employer engagement activities.”

Angela Smith, principal of The Ferrers School which is part of the Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust (CMAT), said: “We know that providing a high quality careers education plays an essential role in enabling our students to become the confident, motivated, aspirational and high achieving young people we know they can be.

"We are therefore delighted to have the quality of the careers education we provide recognised with this award.

“This achievement is an acknowledgement of the hard work of our amazing staff who go above and beyond to provide a host of workshops, talks and careers events, on top of dedicated one-to-one support for the individual needs of every student.

"I would like to thank them all for everything they do.”

To achieve the award, The Ferrers School followed an extensive assessment process where specific standards had to be met.

This was demonstrated through evidence submitted by the careers department and an onsite evaluation by an external assessor, followed by a moderation to confirm the judgements made.

The award, which is valid for a period of three years, has also provided The Ferrers School with signed certification from Cambridgeshire County Council, which will be used as a reminder of the school’s unyielding commitment to student success.

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