The Haven School 6^th Form Curriculum- Pathway To Success

Alongside their English, Maths, PE and PSHE sessions 6^th form students at The Haven also follow a Pathway to success course.  This course enables the students to develop the skills they will need to make the transition into adulthood and to enable them to be able to make a positive contribution to society.

Course objectives can be met through many routes, these include; Vocational Studies BTEC, PE BTEC, ASDAN short courses/PSD, Skill building sessions, work experience and specific pathway sessions in school.

Have a look at what we’re learning this term:

The 5 strands of this course are:

• Independent Travel
• Social skills for the work place
• ICT for employment
• Looking at next steps
• Independent living skills
• Building resilience and self-belief

Careers and the Gatsby Benchmarks

Gatsby Benchmarks – What are They? 

At The Haven we have studied The Gatsby Benchmarks and their relevance to our 6th Form programme of study. The Gatsby Benchmarks are extremely topical at present having been explicitly referenced throughout the DfE’s Careers Strategy (December 2017) and the new Statutory Guidance for careers (January 2018). They have actually been around since 2013. Here we provide a summary of the benchmarks exploring what they are and how they affect schools. The Gatsby Benchmarks originated in a research report (Good Career Guidance) from the Gatsby Foundation in 2013.  The report was commissioned by Lord Sainsbury and Sir John Holman was appointed to lead a research team to focus on international evidence for ‘what works’ in career development.  The research provides a comprehensive study of career development exploring key elements of good career development, the cost per school for good career development and the economic benefit of career development to the economy.  Price Waterhouse Cooper were commissioned to provide the latter and summarised that the cost of every NEET individual to the government is the same amount required to provide the benchmarks to 280 pupils. The overall annual cost to the government for implementing a good careers guidance strategy is £207 million in the first year and £173 million per year thereafter.  The study explored international evidence from The Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong, Ontario- Canada, Finland and Ireland. 

The report found 8 benchmarks of best practice, which are now more commonly known as ‘The Gatsby Benchmarks.’  They are: 

1. A stable careers programme 

2. Learning from career and labour market information 

3. Addressing the needs of each pupil 

4. Linking curriculum learning to careers 

5. Encounters with employers and employees 

6. Experiences of workplaces 

7. Encounters with further and higher education 

8. Personal guidance 

We aim to incorporate all 8 Gatsby Benchmarks in our 6th form pathway.