Careers

Welcome

Welcome to the Careers and Life-Long Learning Department. The Careers Centre is at the heart of OHS. Come and visit us soon.

We welcome parents into the department to talk about their own careers and lives. Contact Cathy O’Neill by email by clicking here.

Events

The Careers Event 2012

Emma Bridgewater returned to OHS, her old school, to talk to our students about doing and creating, drawing on her own experience of setting up her company when she was still a young English Literature graduate with only £400 in the bank. She found it tough to enter the male-dominated world of manufacturing but succeeded through a mixture of will power, passion for what she loves doing and for the intensity of creating new ideas within the traditional ceramics industry in Stoke on Trent. Her work and life were inspiring and set us up perfectly for an evening of workshops. The idea behind the OHS Careers event this year was to offer the students a hands-on experience of what it’s like to be involved in the world of work. Rather than just listening to professionals talk about what they do, the students attended two workshops (from a choice of 23) and got stuck in! We had workshops on making a film, a court case (which reached a judgment with a judge and two barristers as guides), acting and Making a Difference amongst many others from Psychology to Landscape Garden Design, Archaeology to Forensics. Here are some of the students’ comments to give a flavour of the evening: ‘The Marketing Mix was AMAZING, interactive, personal and really inspiring.’ ‘I enjoyed being able to get really involved in specific subject areas.’ ‘Fantastic – a really great experience.’ ‘I loved the evening and came away feeling excited about the career possibilities ahead of me – thank you for organising it!’ ‘Was really fun. Definitely do it next year.’ ‘A really unusual and one-off chance to hear about careers.’ ‘I thought it was great!’
Cathy O’Neill
Head of Careers and Life-Long Learning

Careers Fair 2011

The 2011 Careers Fair was a great success with over sixty stall holders in the great spaces of the new build: the Main Hall (One World and The Art of Creation), the Cafeteria (Mind and Body), the Drama Studio foyer (Keeping the Peace) and the Library (The Wig, The Pen and the Pound).The emphasis of the evening (to which girls from Years 9-13 plus parents and friends came along) was on 21st Century and the challenges it brings. Professor Sarah Harper spoke the changing demographic and what that will mean for our students: populations will become ageing ones in all but Africa. What will this mean for our working lives and our relationships? Jonathan Black and Jane Chanaa from the University of Oxford Careers Service gave us great practical ways of getting your dream job. The evening had a real buzz as students explored new ideas for work that they hadn’t thought of before. It was especially good to welcome back former OHS students: Katy Grint who is now a police officer, Portia Dunmore, an interior designer, Chloe Mortensen who is training to be a radiologist and Gemma, her sister, who is UK Director of Crisis Action. We had good feedback from stall holders and students and plenty of new ideas too, which we hope to include in next year’s Fair. We are immensely grateful to all the many parents who took part in the event. We are very fortunate to have such a diverse and talented group of supportive and enthusiastic parents at OHS. Any parents who would like to take part next year or in other Careers events during the year, please email me on C.ONeill@oxf.gdst.net.

Click here to read all the news for Careers.
Personnel and Ethos

Cathy O’Neill was appointed to the post of Head of Careers and Co-ordinator of Lifelong Learning at Oxford High School in 2010, although she was Head of English here for many years. She enters the new role with a real sense of excitement. Angela Finch, in her distinguished career as Head of Careers at OHS, has given Careers a high profile in the last ten years, securing and then sustaining the prestigious Quality Award for Excellence in Careers Education and Guidance.

Cathy is committed to providing our girls with the best possible skills, understanding and knowledge to plan and engage with their own lifelong learning and career development. She comes with a wealth of experience as an English and Drama teacher and a form tutor in all sections of the schools as well as in her previous schools in London. She is an experienced advisor for students applying to university, having recently researched and devised a programme to widen access to top universities. She is a good listener and enjoys learning new things herself.

Now, more than ever, careers will not be for life but instead our daughters will be forging inventive and changing patterns of work and family life and doing jobs that don’t yet exist! They will become, we hope, committed members of their communities and contribute fully to them. All this will mean that they will need qualities of flexibility, stamina, intellectual inventiveness, a willingness to question and a strong urge to work in groups as well as for themselves.

The Careers programme in school will not give her answers to what she should do with her life. Instead we will help her to become confident at knowing herself well and developing her social and imaginative abilities so that she can make her own decisions, not just when she is choosing her university course but throughout her life.

Facilities and Resources

From January 2004 we have enjoyed our newly created Careers Centre which lies firmly in the heart of the school as befits the central role of careers for the future of our students. This is well resourced with computer facilities and up-to-date reference materials relating to careers and Higher Education opportunities. The Centre is available for use by all girls throughout the school day from 08:00 to 18:00. Ms O’Neill’s office is within the Centre and she is available for appointments (sign up on the timetable outside her door or drop her a note or email), or informal drop-in sessions. She is in school every day but works a rather shorter day on Friday. Check the Careers office door for details.

 
Entitlement Statement

Our girls are entitled to, and provided with:

  • Impartial advice and guidance (with referral for specialist support in response to identified need)
  • Comprehensive, clear, accurate and objective information about the full range of learning opportunities open to them
  • Continuous and managed support
  • A planned progressive programme of careers education activities which meet their needs
Curriculum

Specific delivery on careers is through the PSHCE/Tutorial programme. Careers work starts in Year 7 when the girls acquire skills for decision making and action planning, skills which they practise and refine throughout the school. In 2007 we introduced a Careers Day for Year 8 and this is now an established part of our programme. They complete some aspects of The Real Game and make decisions within small community groups. Year 9 follow a short course entitled Preparing for Choices. This supports their GCSE decision making and they use the Kudos programme to match their current interests to possible careers areas. Work-related learning starts in Year 9 when the girls participate in our scheme of Take Our Daughters to Work Day and, in June 2009, we introduced a new initiative of an Enterprise / Enrichment Day for them. Year 10 build on their knowledge of the facilities and resources available to them and we have extended our links with ‘Make Your Mark’ and their enterprise challenges. Year 10 have a Careers Day at the end of the Summer Term which in 2011 took the form of a Pressure Group Day in which students in groups bid for money from the EU. At the start of the Autumn Term in Year 11 there is feedback from the profiling and all girls have two individual interviews as part of the Cambridge Occupational Analysts programme. There is a week of work experience for Y11after their GCSE examinations. In the Sixth Form there is explicit emphasis on the Higher Education process. There is the opportunity to participate in the Cambridge Occupational Analysts’ Centigrade programme and further experiences of the world of work are encouraged.

Investors in Careers

We are proud to hold Investor in Careers Status which was awarded in recognition of our excellence in careers education in October 2005 and re-awarded in November 2008.

The award covers all of the school from year 7 to year 13. A considerable portfolio of evidence is provided and some staff and girls are interviewed.

Our reassessment checked:

  • current and previous Partnership Agreements
  • statements of commitment from Head and Chair of Governors
  • evidence of continuous improvement through regular evaluation, consultation with others, innovative thinking and staff development
  • careers education and guidance policy, entitlement statement and staff development
  • full documentation for Investor in Careers Outcome 7: CEG programme is delivered for all pupils.

It specifically assessed:

  • the aspect of our CEG programme where we feel we excel and which demonstrates our commitment to excellence
  • For 2005 we selected Take Our Daughters To Work Day
  • For 2008 we selected our Year 8 Real Game Day

The overall assessment stated that

Careers Education and Guidance is extremely well organised and documentation was of the highest standard. Evaluation is built into the process and the school benefits from a dedicated Head of Careers who is constantly reviewing her work. Resources such as the careers library and a separate office for interviewing also enhance CEG provision.

Strengths include

  • Dedicated Head of Careers who can provide one to one support as well as a strategic approach to CEG
  • Careers Library resources
  • The Real Game
  • Links with parents to provide work related learning
  • Documentation, including schemes of work and lesson plans
  • My thanks to all involved in this process.

My thanks to all involved in this process.

Cathy O’Neill,
Head of Careers and Life-Long Learning