Bensham Manor Careers Offer

Bensham Manor students develop careers’ skills through Skills for Life lessons, interviews with professionals, work experience and meeting a range of professionals. Students are taught how lessons relate to careers and are constantly encouraged to think about the career they are interested in and the skills required for this career.

The Bensham team work tirelessly to provide our students with meaningful work experience opportunities and we maintain supportive and engaging relationships with a number of external organisations and local businesses. We are always looking for additional opportunities to inspire and educate our students about the world of work. If you think you could help Bensham students, please contact:

barriemurphy@benshammanor.com or elaineeaton@benshammanor.com

We receive lots of encouraging feedback from the different employers we work with. Below are a few examples from those working within Marketing, the Home Office and Network Rail:

“The students were a joy to speak to and work with. We discussed passions and hard work and why both are important to further your career and personal development…”

“I really enjoyed the time with the class who were all really engaged throughout. I got asked lots of interesting and pertinent questions related to my current and previous jobs.”

“I wish them all good luck with their future careers and maybe one day working with one or two of them.”

At Bensham Manor, we also ask for feedback from students following the work experiences they have. Here are some of the things they had to say:

“I enjoyed learning how to fix the car.”

“It improved my social skills and it has helped me to be organised when working.”

“I got a lot of positive feedback from people that work there.”

We utilise the experience of our governors and measure our careers programme using The Careers and Enterprise Company Self-Evaluation Tool, Compass, against the Gatsby Benchmarks. We also liaise with The South London Careers Hub to gain their expert advice on the career service we provide and to see if there is anything we can do to develop our careers offer.

Additional Information

You can visit: www.successatschool.org for more information about current careers, as well as labour markets and future study options.

Click on the link to see our current Careers and Skills for Life lessons offer. Lessons and ideas are constantly reviewed and the best fit for our students’ needs is considered. We warmly welcome any feedback on what is delivered and welcome any suggestions from all our Stakeholders.

We are continuing to grow our Bensham Manor Alumni who share their experiences for the benefit of current Bensham students.

Follow this link to find a list of Disability Confident Employers: These organisations work closely with young people in their local areas and may be able to provide excellent opportunities for students with special educational needs. Please make us aware if you know of any more.

How we review our Careers Offer

So, how do we at Bensham Manor measure and assess the impact of the careers programme we provide to our students?

Staff assess the impact of the careers programme in many different ways including:

● The knowledge gained by students upon completion of tailored courses

● The students level of engagement in lessons and the various Work Experiences offered by the school and in conjunction with our parents/carers

● The aspirations of students, discussed on an annual basis as part of the EHCP review process

● Students displaying greater knowledge of the world of work

● Students learning about their own strengths and areas for development

● The level of questioning from students regarding the world of work

Statutory requirements and recommendations

The careers provision at Bensham Manor School is in line with the statutory guidance developed by the Department for Education, which refers to Section 42A and 45A of the Education Act 1997. This states that all schools guidance should:

● be impartial

● include information on a range of pathways, including apprenticeships

● be adapted to the needs of the students. In addition, the school is compliant with: ‘Careers Guidance and Inspiration for young people in schools.’ This states that all schools must give education and training providers the opportunity to talk to students about approved technical qualifications and apprenticeships. Additionally, during Key Stage 3 students will have an individual careers interview, conducted by a qualified Careers Adviser.

Providers Access Policy Statement Introduction

This policy statement sets out the school’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to students at the school for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the school’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.

Pupil entitlement

All students in years 8-13 are entitled:

· to find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point;

· to hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options events, assemblies and group discussions and taster events; · to understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.

Management of Provider Access Requests Procedure

A provider wishing to request access should contact Kirstie Byrne, Deputy Headteacher or Barrie Murphy - Careers Programme Leader, Telephone: 0208 684 0116;

Email: kirstiebyrne@benshammanor.com or barriemurphy@benshammanor.com

Opportunities for access

We encourage visits from employers, employees, all further education providers like colleges and those who offer apprenticeships. Please speak to Barrie Murphy and we will make a suitable space available for discussions between the provider and students, as appropriate to the activity.

Where possible, we will make ICT and other specialist equipment available to support provider presentations. This will all be discussed and agreed in advance of the visit. Providers are welcome to leave a copy of their prospectus or other relevant course literature with the Careers Leader so that they can be displayed in the Careers Section of Bensham Manor’s school library.

This information will be reviewed in September 2026.

Careers Information for Parents

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