Careers
At Paddington, we pride ourselves on the rich and varied career experiences our students are exposed to. The Paddington Careers provision is designed to be both personalised as well as broad to ensure all students are able to explore a range of different pathways and industries, whilst also tailoring experiences to students’ personal interests.
Every school year, students at Paddington receive a ‘Careers Entitlement’ which includes: one careers day where students take part in enterprise activities, a trip or a carrousel programme; an external careers speaker; our Paddington Career’s Fair; a PSHE programme and a Provider Access Legislation talk about pathways into the workforce. On top of this, we run many panel speaker and networking events where students are given time to talk with a range of professionals about their industry and work life. For example, we’ve hosted networking events with Sol de Janeiro where students from across the school were able to meet with representatives from across the business to discuss how each of their roles and departments contribute towards the brand; we've had a panel of Tech industry experts from start ups to the legal profession and healthcare tech experts, who spoke about the way tech is revolutionising the world of work; and we'd had a range of employees from The London Stock Exchange give an insight into the many roles available within finance. These are just a few of the events we've organised for our students to ensure their careers education is meaningful, aspirational, broad and bespoke. Students also have the opportunity to apply throughout the year to other careers trips and events that are more tailored to their personal interests such as Urban Planning Workshops, the Burberry London offices and The Sharpe Project where their interests are more clearly defined. This provides students with the ability to gain real world experience from industry experts about which ever career they might be interested in.
As a school with high aspirations, we ensure that every student has the aspiration and ability to attend a university and so to make this a reality we take the whole of Year 8 to visit a Russel Group University so that their ambition can become a reality. Along side this, we work closely with IntoUniversity, a organisation who work closely with young people to develop the confidence and access to higher education. Every KS4 and 5 student has a 1:1 careers interview with bespoke careers advice from a qualified careers advisor and our 6th form provision continues to refine students understanding of their future pathways and destinations through a bespoke leadership programme.
Our Careers ethos and aim are also reflected into our Careers Education and Guidance Policy and our Provider Access Policy.
Our students are therefore able to make more informed choices at key points in their education:
- Year 9 option choices for GCSE
- Year 11 choices for sixth form
- Year 13 higher education, training or apprenticeships
In order to meet the Baker Clause students engage with a range of higher education provision, not just universities. We offer alumni talks from students who have completed apprenticeships alongside delivering sessions and assemblies on the what apprenticeships can offer to our students.
If you are interested in working with Paddington Academy, please reach our to Laura Snow our Director of Careers or Emily Morris, our Careers Leader to discuss any future opportunities with external companies.