Careers
The team leading the Careers and Futures at The Cooper School are progressive, knowledgeable and supportive, whose endeavours take every student's strengths and builds upon these through their journey at The Cooper School. There are many opportunities to inspire and create a meaningful understanding of the world of work for every child.
Each student is encouraged to take responsibility for their own future with the support of career professionals to help guide and support them in this discovery. Our hope is every student leaving The Cooper School has acquired sufficient skills, qualifications and understanding of the job market to be able to navigate the world independently and with confidence.
We are fortunate to have a diverse local economy representing all manner of sectors around us, but we pride ourselves in being part of the “Knowledge Belt” that runs between Oxford and Cambridge and in which many hi-tech and scientific organisations tend to locate. We reach out to those organisations and share ideas and opportunities to develop our young people to meet the needs of society and local and national employment.
We offer independent Careers advice to all our students in Year 11 and in Post 16, this might be around future pathways or career ideas. The team uses powerful tools to help students to become more self aware of their strengths and development needs to unlock career opportunities. Through our programme of careers education, each student is equipped with all the possibilities to make good and informed decisions about their futures. We support students to open doors and opportunities and appreciate the world of work to be independent and confident citizens.
Careers Policy
Provider Access Policy
Introduction
This policy statement sets out the school’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to pupils at the school for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the school’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.
Pupil entitlement
All pupils in years 8-13 are entitled:
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to find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point;
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to hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options events, assemblies and group discussions and taster events;
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to understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.
Management of provider access requests
Procedure
A provider wishing to request access should contact Sam Baker, Careers Lead
Telephone: 01869 242121
Email: sbaker@thecooperschool.co.uk
Opportunities for access
A number of events, integrated into the school careers programme, will offer providers an opportunity to come into school to speak to pupils and/or their parents/carers:
Our Careers Team
Lucy Katz - Governor with Responsibility for Careers and Futures
Sam Baker - Assistant Headteacher, Careers Leader and SLT link for Careers and Futures - careers@thecooperschool.co.uk
Helen Lewis - Careers In The Classroom: hlewis@thecooperschool.co.uk
Enterprise Advisor
Aileen Peverell - Senior Facilities Manager, Facilities Management, University of Oxford
Careers In The Classroom
At the Cooper School we have many different opportunities for all our students to ‘work hard’ and ‘dream big’ when it comes to their futures and careers. Here is Mrs. Lewis, our 'Careers In The. Classroom' lead, discussing just some of the careers opportunities we provide for our students.
Career Tools
Here are a selection of helpful tools anyone can access to help them navigate their way around the job market.
Diagnostic/Personality tools
National Careers Service - Skills Assessment
Post 16 Pathways
To understand your options at the end of year 11, these resources might be helpful:
T Levels
T Levels are a brand-new, 2-year qualification that you can do as an alternative to A levels, other post-16 courses or an apprenticeship.
They bring classroom learning and an extended industry placement together on a course designed with businesses and employers.
Useful Video to watch about T levels here
Find out About T Levels here
Abingdon & Witney College T levels here
Banbury & Bicester College T level here
Find other places offering T levels here
How to use labour market information (LMI) to help make career decisions
Labour Market Information (LMI) is the name for facts and figures about jobs and employment. The information is used to give an overall picture of the past, present and future of work. The labour market is the term used to describe the amount of people working and looking for work, and the amount of jobs.
LMI can help you understand:
- What a job involves on a day to day basis
- Which jobs are growing or decling - for example, it is predicted that the amount of nurses will rise, but the amount of printers will fall
- What qualifications aor skills you might need to do a job
- How much you might earn
- How your interests and skills are relevant to particular jobs
- What jobs there are in your region
Read some research by Warwick University as to why LMI is so important to research and understand here
Here are some sources of LMI you may wish to research to help you with your Career choices.
OXLEP Local Labour Market Information
STEM Enrichment & Careers
Click HERE to find out about the opportunities we provide for our students to learn about STEM related careers.
Labour Market Information
Presentation to Students - November 2023
My Future Career
Presentation to Year 9 Students - December 2022