Careers Education

At Hodge Hill College, our vision is for every student to thrive with confidence, ambition, and a clear sense of purpose. We believe that all young people can achieve excellence when they are inspired to explore their potential and are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and experiences needed to navigate an ever-changing world.

Our careers programme is designed to raise aspirations, challenge stereotypes, and open doors to a wide range of pathways and professions. Through a coherent and progressive programme of experiences—carefully tailored to individual strengths, interests, and needs—students will encounter workplaces, engage with further and higher education institutions, and benefit from personalised guidance that empowers them to make informed and ambitious decisions about their future.

Hodge Hill College is committed to delivering a stable, high-quality careers provision that meets statutory requirements under the Provider Access Legislation (PAL, 2023) and to achieving all eight Gatsby Benchmarks by 2026, ensuring that every student is fully supported to envision, pursue, and realise their future goals.

• Objective 1: Embed the Unifrog platform across all year groups to provide every student with high-quality, impartial information about future study pathways, apprenticeships, and careers, while strengthening their understanding of the local and regional labour market

• Objective 2: Develop a rich programme of meaningful encounters by building a strong network of employers, training providers, and further/higher education institutions, ensuring students experience a wide range of opportunities both within the curriculum and beyond.

• Objective 3: Monitor, track, and evaluate each student’s careers journey—using Unifrog and internal systems—to ensure the programme is impactful, equitable, and responsive to students' evolving needs and aspirations.

Encounters with Further and Higher Education

Students are informed about the various opportunities available in Further & Higher Education, through assemblies from local colleges and universities such as Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College, University College Birmingham and Aston University.

Apprenticeships

We promote apprenticeships by promoting them in general terms, through employers FE & HE institutions.

Careers Fair

The annual Careers Fair is held in Year 11 and is attended by various FE providers such as BMET, Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College, Department for Work & Pensions, Cadbury College, UCB,  and Teamsport .This enables students to speak directly with representatives from colleges and potential future employers within the local labour market.

Work Experience

Year 10 students will take part in work experience during the final two weeks of the academic year each July. This programme includes a pre-placement briefing in school to prepare students for their experience, followed by a post-placement debrief to reflect on their learning and development once their work experience has been completed.

Careers Advisor

By the time students take their external GCSE examinations, all students at Hodge Hill College will have at least 1 interview with a qualified independent careers advisor who will produce a careers action plan for students to work towards.

CEIAG at Hodge Hill is evaluated through a range of measures to ensure its effectiveness. All careers-related activities are reviewed regularly, incorporating feedback from students, staff, parents, and external partners. The careers programme is monitored termly, with Unifrog used to track student engagement, careers interactions, and progress across all year groups, supported by guidance from our Enterprise Coordinator and Enterprise Adviser. In addition, we track students’ Post-16 destinations to ensure they progress into sustained education, employment, or training, offering further support where needed.