Every School and Provider should have an embedded programme of careers education and guidance that is known and understood by pupils, parents and carers, staff, governors, employers and other agencies.
- Every School and Provider should have a stable, structured careers programme that has the explicit backing of governors, the headteacher and the senior management team, and has an identified and appropriately trained careers leader responsible for it.
- The careers programme should be tailored to the needs of pupils, sequenced appropriately, underpinned by learning outcomes and linked to the whole-school development plan. It should also set out how parents and carers will be engaged throughout.
- The careers programme should be published on the school’s website and communicated in ways that enable pupils, parents and carers, staff and employers to access, and understand it.
- The programme should be regularly evaluated using feedback from pupils, parents and carers, teachers and other staff who support pupils, careers advisers and employers, to increase its impact.
Resources to help achieve this benchmark:
| Resource | Description | Links & Downloads | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strategy - Careers Statutory Guidance (updated May 2025) | Careers guidance and access for education and training providers Statutory guidance for schools and guidance for further education colleges and sixth form colleges | Download |
| 2 | CEC at a glance guide to new Statutory Guidance | Easy to read summary of new guidance | Download |
| 3 | Strategy - CEC Resource Directory | CEC Gatsby Benchmark 1 overview and links to resources | CEC Resource Directory |
| 4 | Strategy - CEC My Skills My Future (D & I) | This programme has been collated from resources across our partners and network to support young people with SEND under the 2 groups identified in the SEND toolkit. It contains lessons around employability skill development , employer projects and engagement videos all to support young people in their next steps. | Download |
| 5 | Strategy - The SEND Gatsby Benchmark Toolkit (D & I) | Practical Information and Guidance for Schools, Special Schools and Colleges | Download |
| 6 | Strategy - Guidance on completing a strategic careers plan | This resource helps Careers Leaders create a strategic careers plan that ensures the careers provision: Has explicit backing of governors, the headteacher and the senior management team Is linked to the whole school, special school or college development plan. | Download |
| 7 | Strategy - Additional Evaluation Resources | Additional resources to support Career Leaders implement meaningful evaluation of the school Careers delivery including Annual Checklist, How to evaluate gathered information & an example of an evaluation of parental engagement. | Download |
| 8 | Strategy - Governor Presentation | If you are looking to get greater Career Governor support, then download the suggested template for a Career Governor Meeting. | Download |
| 9 | Strategy - BM1 How you evaluate your Careers Programme with Parents and Carers | A Leading The Way case study provided by Mel Avery, Keswick School. | Download |
| 10 | Strategy - Diversity & Inclusion Careers Health Check (D & I) | Inclusive (SEND) Careers Health Check Checklist | Download |
| 11 | Strategy - Compass for special schools guidance and questions (D & I) | This offline version of the Compass for special schools questions can help you to gather the information you need. The online tool allows you to save an evaluation and return to it later. At the end of the evaluation it will also show you a breakdown of your results by Gatsby Benchmark. | Download |
| 12 | Strategy - Feedback/Evaluation form templates | A suite of 5 downloadable Feedback/Evaluation questionnaires for use with Employers, Parents, Staff & Students. | Download |
| 13 | Preparing for OFSTED Webinar | Listen to Rachel Green from the Careers and Enterprise Company give an overview of how Careers fits into the Ofsted Inspection Framework as well as sharing the latest experiences from schools and colleges recently inspected. | Listen |
| 14 | The Role of a Careers Leader | A video describing the role of a Careers Leader at Queen Elizabeth School | Watch video |
| 15 | Careers at Lunesdale Trust | Cathy Harrison and team explain in this video how the Lunesdale Trust deliver their careers education programme | Watch video |
| 16 | Web Audit Resources - Parent/Carer Information | A template to assist with developing a schools website to meet the Gatsby Benchmark 1 requirements. If you choose to use these they will need to be personalised and have parts deleted as required. | Download |
| 17 | Web Audit Resources - Employers Information | A template to assist with developing a schools website to meet the Gatsby Benchmark 1 requirements. If you choose to use these they will need to be personalised and have parts deleted as required. | Download |
| 18 | Web Audit Resources - Staff/Teacher Information | A template to assist with developing a schools website to meet the Gatsby Benchmark 1 requirements. If you choose to use these they will need to be personalised and have parts deleted as required. | Download |
| 19 | Web Audit Resources - Provider Access Statement | A template to assist with developing a schools website to meet the Gatsby Benchmark 1 requirements. If you choose to use these they will need to be personalised and have parts deleted as required. | Download |
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