Careers

Key Careers Staff

Our designated Careers Leader is Mrs Helen Cox. Mrs Chloe Price leads on workplace and FE/HE encounters and Miss Joely Eyre leads on Careers in the Curriculum. We are also supported by Hertfordshire Services for Young People who run our Year 11 Guidance Meetings.

Our Careers Team can be contacted on careers@croxleydanes.herts.sch.uk/ Tel. 01923 284483.

Who we work with

The following organisations support our Careers Education and IAG provision:

Support from The Careers and Enterprise Company, Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal

We are signed up to The Careers and Enterprise Company – The Enterprise Adviser Network – programme. This is a free provision managed locally by Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership to support us to achieve all 8 Gatsby Benchmarks – a target set by the Department for Education in their Careers Strategy (Dec 2017). Meetings take place termly with the Local Enterprise Partnership to discuss progress.

We are using the Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal (www.hopinto.co.uk) and encourage all students, parents and teachers to use this portal to seek current live job or apprenticeship vacancies within Hertfordshire as well as being a one-stop shop for a variety of information about the Hertfordshire Jobs Market providing information and inspiration about a variety of careers. 

You can also follow HOP via their Social Media platforms as detailed below:

In 2014, Lord Sainsbury’s Gatsby Charitable Foundation published a report by Professor Sir John Holman, Adviser in Education at the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, titled “Good Career Guidance.” The report identified eight benchmarks that are the core dimensions of good careers and enterprise provision in schools:

1. A stable careers programme
2. Learning from career and labour market information
3. Addressing the needs of each pupil
4. Linking curriculum learning to careers
5. Encounters with employers and employees
6. Experiences of workplaces
7. Encounters with further and higher education
8. Personal guidance

The Gatsby Benchmarks have a key role in:

• Raising young people’s aspirations and promoting access to all career pathways
• Enabling all young people to develop the skills and outlook they need to achieve career well-being, including adaptability and resilience
• Underpinning the Department for Education guidance to schools on meeting their statutory responsibility for careers guidance.
• Currently we have fully achieved 3 Benchmarks and partially achieved 5 benchmarks. 
• The Careers Strategy at Croxley Danes School is designed to ensure that all 8 Gatsby Benchmarks are met where possible by the end of each academic year.

The school tracks and measures student engagement in our careers offering using the Unifrog website as well as Compass+, the foremost tool in School Careers provision from the Careers & Enterprise Company which enables clear tracking and reporting of our school provision against the Gatsby Benchmarks. This year, we will be engaging in the Future Skills Questionnaire for the first time with a range of student groups to further gauge student feedback on our in-school careers provision. 

National Careers Education Organisations

 Careers and Enterprise Company

The Gatsby Benchmarks

The Government’s Careers Strategy

Employer Engagement

We recognise the importance in working with local employers in order to support our Careers Education and IAG provision. We are very keen to establish links with employers who will be able to open our students’ eyes to the world of work. 

For this academic year we are seeking employers to support a variety of talks, workshops and careers events. If you are able to support any of these events or would like to work with us in any other way please fill in our volunteer form

Volunteer Form

Student Entitlement  

All students in years 8-13 are entitled:

• To find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeship opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point; 
• 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; 
• 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 Mr Henry Arkill (Careers Lead) Telephone: 01923 284483. Email: careers@croxleydanes.herts.sch.uk

The full Provider Access Policy can be accessed in the Policies section of this website here

Croxley Danes School works with a Hertfordshire Coordinator from the Careers and Enterprise Company. We work together to review our Careers Strategy and Compliance with the Gatsby Benchmarks every term. 

The Baker Clause

Croxley Danes School is fulfilling its statutory requirements in providing students access to University, Technical Colleges, FE colleges and apprenticeship providers through effective whole cohort assemblies and careers-related activities.

Guidance for Parents

Parents play a very significant role in helping students to make informed choices about their study options and decisions about their future careers. Parents should be encouraged to discuss with their child about options and future aspirations. We welcome parents’ input and recommend that you always attend activities at school such as GCSE and A-Level opportunities evenings.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach and we recognise that all students must be able to make informed decisions avoiding pre-conceived ideas or stereotypes. 

Should you wish to discuss your child’s future options please contact their form tutor in the first instance or our Careers Leader using the contact details above.

Finding out further information - links for students, parents and teachers

The Careers Policy and Provider Access Statement available to download below sets out Croxley Danes School’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to students 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.

Student Entitlement

All students in years 8-13 are entitled

• to find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeship opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point;
• 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;
• to understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.

Management of Provider Access Requests

A provider wishing to request access should contact Mr Henry Arkill, Telephone: 01923 284483.  Email: careers@croxleydanes.herts.sch.uk

Full details of our arrangements can be found in the document below.

CAREERS POLICY & PROVIDER ACCESS STATEMENT

The school tracks and measures student engagement in our careers offering using the Unifrog website as well as Compass+, the foremost tool in School Careers provision from the Careers & Enterprise Company which enables clear tracking and reporting of our school provision against the Gatsby Benchmarks. This year, we will be engaging in the Future Skills Questionnaire for the first time with a range of student groups to further gauge student feedback on our in-school careers provision. 

Please see below for a summary of the Careers Programme we will offer for all year groups this academic year (2026-27)

CROXLEY DANES CAREERS PROGRAMME 2026-27

Dear parent / caregiver,

To continue to provide students with outstanding careers guidance and tailored support when choosing their next steps after school, we are using Unifrog: an award-winning, online destinations platform. All students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 now have access to this platform through their school Google logins. There is a tile on our school homepage that they can use to access this. 

What is Unifrog?

Unifrog is designed to support learners in making informed decisions about their futures, with a range of tools that are suitable for all year groups. Each student has their own account that provides a range of information related to their interests and aspirations.

Key features of the platform for students include:

• Psychometric testing quizzes

• Career and subject exploration

• Webinars and interactive short courses

• Self-reflection and portfolio building tools

• Search tools for live apprenticeship and employer opportunities, and university courses

We encourage you to access the platform with your child so that you can see the wide range of resources available. You can create your own parent account where you’ll be able to see what your child is doing on Unifrog and get access to a range of information and updates targeted at parents.

For a parent/carer account to be created on Unifrog please go to www.unifrog.org/parent. You then need to enter the email address that matches what we have on Arbor for you. You’ll also have the option to sign up to Unifrog’s parent newsletter to get expert advice and guidance on supporting your child with their next steps. 

If you have any issues signing in, please contact careers@croxleydanes.herts.sch.uk.

For more information, please go to www.unifrog.org.

As pupils enter the pivotal final year of Key Stage 4, we are committed to ensuring they have all the support and guidance necessary to make informed decisions about their next steps after Year 11.

During the course of Year 11 all students will be offered an individual careers guidance meeting with a trained Careers Advisor from Hertfordshire Services for Young People.

These sessions are an invaluable opportunity for students to discuss further education options, apprenticeships, training, and potential career pathways in a private, supportive environment. Following the meeting students are provided with a personalised action plan which is uploaded onto Unifrog.

If you are a parent of a Year 11 student and believe that your child would benefit from an appointment earlier in the year, please make contact via careers@croxleydanes.herts.sch.uk and we will do our best to accommodate any requests.