New Careers Support and grant opportunity for schools

Access to free expert advice on careers strategy, Gatsby benchmarks and careers-related requirements of the new Ofsted framework is one of the forms of new support to be provided by the Council’s Skills for Employment programme for the next academic year. The opportunity to apply for a match-funded grant of up to £3,000 to fund sustainable careers provision is another key form of support available.

The full specification for the Skills for Employment programme was e-mailed to careers lead contacts in schools on 4 June 2019. It was developed following consultation visits with 22 schools between March and May this year when we asked about the main challenges schools face in meeting the requirements of the national careers strategy.

Read the full programme specification.

This is the fifth consecutive year the programme has offered the match-funded £3,000 grants.  After listening to the challenges facing schools we have extended activity and support which may be funded to cover the following:

• Development programmes/projects such as: extending work experience to additional year group; employer engagement and managing contact with them; planning and delivering in-house development sessions for curriculum colleagues; developing Careers resources for curriculum colleagues to use in lessons; planning and ta B
• Careers Programme Management software/ licenses g. to manage all aspects of work experience and related pupil profiling/tracking.
• Preparation for a Careers Quality Award/Accreditation
• Preparation for a Careers Quality Award/Accreditation

Guidance and application forms for the grant are available here:

Capability and Capacity Grant 2019/20 Guidance and Application Form

Skills for Employment Development Project Proposal Form

The deadline for applications is 5pm on 28 June 2019.

Briefing sessions for careers leaders on the new Skills for Employment programme are being held on 18 June 4pm - 5pm at North Leamington School and 19 June 4pm - 5pm at the Nuneaton Academy.The sessions will also include an update from the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) about how the new Warwickshire Careers Hub announced on 20 May will be developed and implemented. The Council’s Skills for Employment programme will work closely with the new hub to ensure the careers support available to schools is as effective as possible and the funding available is used to maximum effect.

If you have any questions about the Skills for Employment programme, please contact glennrobinson@warwickshire.gov.uk