The Henry Box School in West Oxfordshire is an 11-18 comprehensive, including a Sixth Form. It is part of the Mill Academy Trust.

Career Connect adviser Judy provides in-house careers provision three days a week. In line with its aims of raising aspirations and preparing students for life in modern Britain, The Henry Box School places an emphasis on personal development and employer encounters.

“At The Henry Box School we build careers education into our personal development sessions each week. It’s important to us to frame our students’ thinking about their futures in this way,” says Headteacher Wendy Hemmingsley.

“Career Connect took time to get to know us and our context. They understand our vision for a personalised approach to careers.

Employer Engagement

“Employer engagement is always a challenge for schools. In the current climate, a lot of businesses are not able to take young people for Work Experience. We also have a lot of SMEs locally, who don’t have the capacity. However, through Judy’s efforts and relationship building, we have managed to send all Year 10s on placement this year.

“Judy has also engaged employers to take part in mock interviews, which our students have benefited from enormously. Judy places a great deal of attention on creating bespoke events fordifferent year groups and key stages.

“Judy works closely with us on site and builds relationships across the school – she is one of the team. Judy is a real asset, and I have seen her develop even further during her time with us due to the support of her wider Career Connect team.

“We have seen a real benefit in having a careers specialist in school with us, while also knowing that she has the support of a bigger organisation behind her. It’s like we have all of the resources of Career Connect in school with us as well. This gives me real confidence in our careers provision and in meeting Gatsby benchmarks.

“A few months into our contract with Career Connect, we had a visit from Ofsted. Even at this early stage in our relationship, the comments from the inspection were incredibly positive. Going forward, we want to build on our already great work with employers at Key Stages three and four.

Helping Younger Pupils

“The next step is to work with Career Connect to develop our careers education at primary level, as we also have a primary school as part of our Trust. We want to start helping our younger pupils explore the world around them, their skills and passions, and understand how they could use them in the future.”

Ofsted report for Henry Box School (February 2023):

“The school’s personal development and careers programmes are particularly strong. Pupils are very well prepared for their futures in a changing world. They learn about careers and training possibilities, benefiting from contributions from varied partners and employers.”