At St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, we recognise that children begin forming ideas about themselves and their future from a very young age. Even in the early years, pupils start to develop aspirations, confidence and beliefs about what they can achieve. As they grow older, these views can already begin to shape their future choices.
We believe it is vital to provide pupils with early knowledge of the world of work, alongside opportunities to develop the skills, attitudes and aspirations that will support their future learning and career readiness. Our careers education aims to broaden pupils’ horizons, challenge stereotypes and help every child to believe in their potential, regardless of background.
Implementation
St Joseph’s has worked in partnership with North East Ambition to strengthen and develop careers learning across the school. Through this collaboration, we embedded the Gatsby Benchmarks to ensure our approach to careers education is well structured, progressive and meaningful.
We use all eight Gatsby Benchmarks to develop and embed a coherent careers curriculum, ensuring pupils receive high quality early guidance and exposure to a wide range of career possibilities. This is not about pupils choosing a future job at an early age; rather, it is about helping them to develop ambition, curiosity and an understanding of the opportunities available to them.
Throughout the curriculum, pupils are introduced to a broad range of careers and influential individuals linked to the topics they are studying. This includes learning about:
- Influential people in the world
- Influential people in the UK
- Influential people in the North East
Pupils also gain an age appropriate understanding of different pathways into work and training, including the skills, qualities and attitudes needed to succeed in further education and the workplace.
Skills Builder
At St Joseph’s, we use the Skills Builder framework to support pupils in developing essential, transferable skills for the world of work. Each curriculum subject is linked to these core skills, which are taught progressively from beginner level towards mastery.
The eight essential skills developed are:
- Listening – receiving, retaining and processing information or ideas
- Speaking – clearly communicating information or ideas
- Problem solving – finding solutions to challenges
- Creativity – using imagination and generating new ideas
- Staying positive – overcoming setbacks and persevering towards goals
- Aiming high – setting clear goals and planning ways to achieve them
- Leadership – supporting and encouraging others to achieve a shared goal
- Teamwork – working cooperatively towards a common purpose
These skills are embedded across the curriculum and enrichment opportunities, supporting pupils to build confidence, resilience and self belief.
Impact
Our careers curriculum encourages pupils to enjoy and value their learning, placing emphasis on understanding why learning is important, not just how it takes place. Pupils are supported to discuss, reflect upon and appreciate the wide range of career opportunities available to them.
Regular discussion, reflection and application of skills help embed understanding. The impact of our careers education is seen in the confidence with which pupils talk about their learning, the aspirations they express, and the way they present, celebrate and engage with their work.
Through this approach, pupils leave St Joseph’s with increased confidence, ambition and a strong foundation of skills to support their next steps in education and beyond.
