Ben KnocksDeputy Principal, Weston College
At Weston College, we have made embedding a ‘careers not courses’ ethos a senior leadership priority, using the Gatsby Benchmarks as our framework. This has had a huge positive impact on several key areas across the whole college. For example, our focus on bringing careers into every aspect of curriculum learning, as a method of raising aspirations, has seen significant improvements in attendance and attainment, as well as a big improvement in behaviour across the college.
In our last learner survey, 91% of our learners said they are developing the right skills and knowledge to be workplace ready and 96% said they are supported to find the right next steps for them.
This was recognised by Ofsted in our last inspection which highlighted how effectively we prepare learners to make informed choices about next steps that they use to go on to further training, employment and independent living. Ofsted also commended our efforts to ensure that our careers guidance is inclusive for our high needs learners.
Leadership sets the tone
The single most important factor in making careers guidance truly impactful is senior leadership commitment. Our Principal and CEO has set ‘excellence in careers’ as a key priority for the whole staff body. That signal from the top matters enormously. When careers guidance is seen as a core strategic priority, not a compliance exercise, it changes how every staff member approaches their role.
As Deputy Principal, I am also the strategic lead for careers. Having a member of the senior team leading careers guidance sends a clear message to staff, learners and governors about how seriously we take it. Our careers link governor supports and challenges us, holding the SLT accountable.
We’ve also invested in professional development across the careers team. I’ve completed the CEC’s Careers Leader qualification, as has our Head of Careers and Employability, and all careers staff are supported to achieve the Level 6 careers guidance apprenticeship.
A strategy that unifies the whole college
Our college motto, Ready to Learn, Ready for Work, Ready for Life, puts next destinations at the heart of everything we do. Alongside our overall college strategy, we’ve developed a dedicated five-year careers strategy, shaped with input from senior leadership and built around the Gatsby Benchmarks. The mission of ‘making careers everyone’s business’ runs through both strategies.
This alignment of both strategies is crucial. When your careers strategy and your college strategy pull in the same direction, careers guidance stops being a separate programme and starts driving the whole institution forward.
Supporting every learner, especially those at risk of being NEET
Our local area has an above-average percentage of 16-17 year-olds who are NEET. Reducing that gap is a leadership priority, and our careers programme is one of our most powerful tools for doing it. Research from Education and Employers tells us that young people who have four or more meaningful encounters with employers are significantly less likely to become NEET and earn 18% more over their lifetime. So, we set a KPI around this: every student on a 16-19 study programme will receive at least four meaningful employer encounters each year (Benchmark 5).
For learners most at risk, we go further. Our Equity in Education framework employs a graduated model of intervention: shorter learning modules, wrap-around pastoral support and targeted programmes like our work with The King’s Trust. This 13-week programme takes students outside college to build confidence and employability skills before gradually phasing them back into their studies. Careers guidance and pastoral support work as complementary, mutually reinforcing tools.
Embedding careers into the curriculum
Our Career Excellence Hubs are the structural mechanism that makes ‘careers not courses’ a daily reality. Every student is automatically enrolled in a sector-specific hub linked to their subject, where industry engagement, employer projects and work-ready skills are built into their programme alongside their main qualification.
We work with 75 employers who co-design our curriculum by reviewing curriculum design, delivering live briefs, running masterclasses and sense-checking our content against real industry needs. This keeps our curriculum relevant and gives learners direct exposure to what employers actually expect and further cements their career choices while raising aspiration.
Careers guidance as the engine for lasting change
Prioritising the Gatsby Benchmarks has been a real engine for driving up college performance across our wider priority areas — attainment, behaviour and attendance. When your most senior leader makes careers guidance a key priority for every member of staff, the results speak for themselves. Make careers everyone’s business — and watch what happens.
