Careers
Careers Site Last Updated: January 2026 (reviewed annually)
- Mrs H Barnes – Headteacher
- Mrs E Owen – Assistant Headteacher /Head of Sixth Form
- Mrs L Phillips – Careers Co-ordinator
Providers, parents/carers and students should contact Mrs L Phillips by email or phone regarding any career education-related enquiry. Please see contact details below:
Email address: lph@stbernards.southend.sch.uk
Phone number: 01702 343583
Careers Vision STATEMENT
Our vision is that each student actively engages in setting their careers goals, having been provided with relevant and current careers information and guidance. We pride ourselves in our personalised and tailored approach, so students make informed choices to improve life chances.
Our careers strategy is inclusive and aspirational. Our current objectives are tracking Career Education Information Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) impact, increasing parental engagement, and ensuring every teacher supports career learning.
POLICY and provider acesss
Our policies (last reviewed and updated in September 2025) can be accessed here:
SBHS Provider Access Policy September 2025
MEASURING IMPACT
The impact of careers provision is regularly evaluated using Compass+ against the Gatsby Benchmarks, supported by a Careers Internal Leadership review, Future Skills Questionnaires and feedback from students, staff, parents/carers, and partners.
Careers curriculum (GB1)
Our Careers Programme supports us to meet the eight Gatsby benchmarks of Good Career Guidance : Gatsby Benchmarks | Good Career Guidance | Gatsby Education
It is delivered through five strands: Careers in Form Time; PSHE, Careers in the Curriculum, super-curricular careers encounters; and meaningful workplace/employer experiences. Students are encouraged to use Unifrog.
Careers Learning Journey: SBHS Careers_learning_journey
Careers Programme: Careers Programme 2025-2026
Career and Labour Market Information (GB2)
Career boards display up-to-date information, with Labour Market Insights discussed in PSHE and Form Time. Southend Labour Market Information: Southend-on-Sea
addressing the needs of each pupil (GB3)
Students receive at least two impartial careers guidance sessions with targeted advice. We also offer one-to-one support in collaboration with SENCo and the Local Authority.
Careers in the curriculum (GB4)
Teachers link subjects to career pathways supported by Career Boards, Unifrog and National Careers Week activities. Resources: My Learning My Future
ENCOUNTERS WITH EMPlOYERS AND EMPLOYEES (GB5)
We invite guest speakers, including alumni, to come in and talk about their further education and careers experiences.
Finding Futures Careers Fair
Students prepare, interact meaningfully, and reflect on with employer encounters in sectors of interest to them during our annual Fair. Past participants include Basildon University Hospital, IBM, National Grid, the RAF, universities, and local employers.
The fair will take place on Wednesday 22 April 2026 (9:10am to 1:30pm). Contact Mrs L. Phillips by Friday 28 February if you wish to take part.
eXPERIENCES OF THE wORKPLACE (GB6)
Students have opportunities to gain experience with employers. We run enterprise partnerships, career enrichment activities, and host talks from DWP and Apprenticeship Providers. Key Stage 3 students build employability via enrichment, trips, and Duty Student work. We welcome support with student work placements. If interested contact Mrs L Phillips.
Work Experience Weeks
· Year 10 – March 2nd - March 6th, 2026
· Year 12 – June 29th – July 3rd, 2026
ENcOUNTERS WITH FURTHER AND HIGHER EDUCATION (GB6)
We offer university insight days, arrange for Year 12 to visit the UCAS Super fair. We host visits from colleges and universities, including USP, South Essex College, the University of Essex, Kent, and East Anglia.
Personal Guidance (GB8)
All students have access to independent, impartial careers advice from Mrs L Phillips who provides at least two guidance sessions at key transition points. Drop-in sessions are also offered.
Careerometer (LMI for All)
This Career-o-meter can be used to explore and compare key information about occupations and help you learn about different occupations and identify potential careers. It provides access to a selection of UK headline data relating to pay, weekly hours of work and future employment prospects for different occupations, as well as description of the occupation.
Instructions:
- Simply type in the title of the job you are interested in and the widget provides a series of options from which you can select the most relevant to you
- You can then look up another two occupations and compare
- You can also select ‘display the UK average’ and compare the information with the occupation you have selected
- Be aware that this is national average data, but you can use it to help you get a bigger picture of the potential opportunities on offer when used in conjunction with our own Industry, Job Area, Job Ideas and Organisation profiles here on ‘icanbea...’.