Key Careers Staff

Our designated Careers Leader is Mr Henry Arkill and SLT Careers Link member is Miss Cat Webb.

They can be contacted on careers@croxleydanes.herts.sch.uk/ Tel. 01923 284483.

The Governor with responsibility for careers is Carla Watson.

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). We have been matched with Watford FC to help us to work towards the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks. Meetings take place on a regular basis 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 2024.

The school measures and assesses the impact of the careers programme on pupils through termly meetings with a designated Enterprise Co-ordinator from Hertfordshire County Council. We use the national Compass software to aid this evaluation. The school provides an updated Careers Strategy as part of its website Careers pages by the end of every autumn term.

National Careers Education Organisations

 Careers and Enterprise Company

The Gatsby Benchmarks 

The Government’s Careers Strategy

Careers Activity Plan

We deliver a structured Careers and IAG Activity Plan which is reviewed on an annual basis. The key activities scheduled currently are:

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. 

We are building some sustained links with Watford FC  through their support as our Enterprise Adviser. Through this relationship some of our staff will have the opportunity to work with industry experts to develop our curriculums. 

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 David Dwight (Acting Deputy Headteacher) 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 date of the next review is 4th December 2023.

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 our pilot Year 11 Google Classroom for Careers opportunities.

Careers Feedback

We are keen to hear your feedback about how well we have helped you / your child to prepare for their next steps into post 16 and 18 education and training. We would appreciate you investing 5 minutes to complete the following questionnaires. We also have a feedback questionnaire for any external visitors who collaborate on our Careers events such as sessions, events and talks.

Student Careers Feedback

Parent Careers Feedback 

External Careers Feedback 

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. 

Parents may be interested to view the following: https://parentinfo.org/articles/all
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

On Monday 6th February 2023, Careers Lead David Dwight gave an online talk to parents of students in Years 10 and 11 to highlight the wide range of exciting pathways available to students in Hertfordshire. The talk included guidance for parents on how to support and talk to their children about careers, and lots of resources and videos. The slides are available to download in the page downloads below

This 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 David Dwight  (Assistant Headteacher) Telephone: 01923 284483.  Email: ddwight@croxleydanes.herts.sch.uk

Full details of our arrangements can be found in the draft statement below:

CAREERS STRATEGY PROVIDER ACCESS STATEMENT