Careers Education

Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance is an entitlement for all of our Learners from the earliest opportunity. In working on the "Presumption of employability for all," it is imperative that our learners are well-equipped and prepared for their future.

"At Quest Academy, our career's vision is to consistently support and engage every individual pupil to understand and develop their own future pathway, and to confidently raise and achieve their aspirations in an increasingly competitive and ever-changing world."

This vision is rooted in Quest's core values of working together, nurturing individuals, celebrating uniqueness, unlocking potential, and building friendships and memories. We recognise that every learner's journey is unique, and our careers programme is designed to celebrate and empower that individuality.

Through personalised guidance, meaningful encounters with employers and further education, and a strong focus on developing essential life and employability skills, we prepare all Learners to be "Ready for Adulthood."

Quest Academy is an active member of the Coventry and Warwickshire Careers Hub and supports the development of Warwickshire's Future Workforce through the Careers and Enterprise Adviser Network.

 

Our Careers Vision & Approach

Our careers programme is not a standalone strand — it is thoroughly integrated into every area of school life and woven throughout the curriculum. We take a whole school approach to careers education, enabling all Learners to access the information they need to make informed decisions about their futures.

There has never been a time when career's guidance has been as important for young people as it is today. Global opportunities and increasing technological advances will result in young people having several careers during their working life — and potentially working in a career that does not yet exist. With this in mind, we equip our Learners with the skills to manage the choices, changes and transitions ahead of them.

Each learner benefits from a Person-Centred Careers Passport — an Individual Learner Pathway document that tracks and records their aspirations, experiences and progress throughout their time at Quest Academy.

All Learner engagement from careers events and experiences is meticulously recorded on Earwig Floor Books and through our Morrisby career profiling platform, ensuring every young person's journey is captured and celebrated.

Our Careers Team

As set out within the Department for Education's Careers Strategy, Quest Academy has a designated member of our  Team named as our Strategic Careers Lead. James Horne provides the Headteacher and the board of governors with regular updates on our progress and works closely with the Coventry & Warwickshire LEP delivery team, our Enterprise Adviser and local employers to ensure we deliver this strategy.

To contact our Careers Team, please call 01788 593112 or email Hannah.Newman@macintyreacademies.org.

The Family Footings team also supports learners with their next steps, including finding suitable work experience placements and Post-16 transition support.

 

Our Objectives for 2025–2026

The Gatsby Benchmarks

Careers in Our Curriculum: Preparation for Adulthood 

At Quest Academy, careers education is explicitly taught through our Preparation for Adulthood (PfA) long-term curriculum plan. This structured approach ensures every learner, at every stage (Stages 4–11), receives age-appropriate and progressively deeper careers learning embedded directly into their timetabled lessons. Learner progress is evaluated each term as part of ongoing Learner Tracking through Earwig and Morrisby.

Our PfA curriculum is organised into six themed half-terms, each linking directly to careers preparation: 

Learners progress from understanding what a job is (Stage 4) through exploring careers, developing employability skills and understanding labour market information, right through to preparing CVs, attending mock interviews and making informed post-16 decisions (Stage 11). Full details of our PfA Long-Term Plan can be requested from the Careers Team. 

Careers Events Calendar 2025–2026

We believe in providing all our Learners with a wide array of age-appropriate experiences and opportunities. Our dynamic careers calendar offers numerous opportunities for exploration, tailored to Lower School (LS) and Upper School (US). This is a live document, regularly updated as events and experiences are added or completed. 

Careers Programme & Provider Access Policy

This policy sets out the arrangements for managing the access of providers to Learners at the school for the purpose of giving them information about their education or training offer. This complies with the school's legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997 and the updated statutory guidance (2025).

Learner Entitlement

Although the statutory guidance is relevant to learners in Years 7–13, we believe careers start at the earliest opportunity and therefore promote careers whole school. All Learners are entitled to:

• Find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeship opportunities, as part of a careers programme covering the full range of education and training options at each transition point.
• Hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships — through options events, assemblies, group discussions and taster events.
• Understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.

Provider Access Requests

A provider wishing to request access should contact our Family Footings Careers Lead:

Hannah Newman — Tel: 01788 593112 — Email: hannah.newman@macintyreacademies.org

The school will make a suitable space available for discussions between the provider and learners and will make available ICT and other specialist equipment to support provider presentations. Providers are welcome to leave a copy of their prospectus or relevant course literature with the Careers Lead for display. All requests will be given due consideration by Quest Academy and Senior Leadership.

Measuring the Impact of Our Careers Programme

Evaluation of our careers programme is designed to enable us to examine what we do, consider how we can improve it and provide stakeholders with a clear summary of our impact. We do this through:

• Internal in-depth Quality Assurance Programme aligned with whole-school QA.
• External audits via Compass+.
• Support from our designated adviser Steph Parker (Warwickshire Careers Hub), who ensures quality assurance is complete and comprehensive.
• Guidance from Luna Knight (MacIntyre Group Careers Co-ordinator) around compliance.
• Learner progress in Careers lessons evaluated each term through Earwig and Morrisby tracking.
• Learner voice questionnaires gathered after events, career interviews and presentations.
• Learner and parent/carer feedback on the careers strategy — please contact our Strategic Careers Lead to provide feedback.

Post-16 Destinations

Much work is undertaken each year to ensure that our Learners are successful in gaining a positive transition to a Post-16 provider. It is the aim of Quest Academy that all Learners leave school safe in the knowledge that they will be accessing either a local college course, a training provider, an apprenticeship or a supported internship.

Below is an illustrative example of recent Post-16 destinations (names anonymised to protect learner privacy): 

Useful Links & Resources

• The Careers & Enterprise Company
• Gatsby Foundation — Good Career Guidance
• Government Careers Strategy & Statutory Guidance 2025
• National Careers Service
• Warwickshire Skills Hub
• Coventry & Warwickshire LEP
• Warwickshire Apprenticeships
• UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service)

Contact Our Careers Team

📞01788 593112
Mon–Fri, school hours

✉ Hannah.Newman@
macintyreacademies.org

📍Quest Academy
Anderson Avenue
Rugby, CV22 5PE

Careers Hub Member

🏆Coventry & Warwickshire Careers Hub — active member supporting Warwickshire's Future Workforce. Progress tracked via Compass+ and reviewed with our Enterprise Adviser, Steph Parker. 

Morrisby — Career Profiling

All Learners have access to Morrisby, a web-based platform providing aptitude assessments, personality profiling and career matching with hundreds of careers described in detail.

Results inform individual careers guidance conversations and are recorded as part of each learner's Person-Centred Careers Passport. 

 

Get Involved as an Employer

Quest Academy welcomes parental and employer participation in our careers activities. If you would like to:

• Come in as a guest speaker
• Offer a workplace visit
• Support our Careers Fair
• Provide a work experience opportunity

Please contact our Strategic Careers Lead, James Horne, via the school office.