Careers education

The Dixons Middleton Academy careers programme aims to provide all students with regular access to employers, expert guidance and workplace experiences to support students in making informed and educated decisions about their next steps.

To help in keeping our students' aspirations on track, we provide them with careers education right from the start of their journey with us, this is in part delivered by our personal values curriculum which is delivered in Years 7-10.

Our aims

The Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) is a means of providing all our young people with personalised support on learning and work pathways such as GCSE / A levels, T levels, traineeships, apprenticeships and employment with training especially with Year 9 options and Post 16 destinations. 

Information for employers

We are keen to engage with employers and the wider community to support our delivery of our careers education programme and and work with our enterprise advisor who works for Rodo Ltd. You could support the school either by helping with a My Futures event at the school such as our careers networking event, by offering a visit at your place of work or by offering work experience.

Careers, education, information, advice and guidance (C.E.I.A.G) provision

The fast changing world of work demands that as a school we aim to support all our students in making a successful transition from education to employment. In addition, we assist our young people to identify and embark on careers opportunities that will unlock their full potential.

The provider access legislation (occasionally referred to as the ‘Baker Clause’) requires all schools and academies to provide opportunities for a range of education and training providers to access all Year 8 to 13 students to inform them about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships. Our provision meets this clause and is guided by the Gatsby Benchmark.

Our programme is guided by the 2021 Careers Statutory Guidance and places at its heart the eight Gatsby benchmarks. These eight standards are seen as the blue print for what a high quality careers programme should look like. Throughout a student’s career at MTS they will have a vast array of careers related events, experiences and encounters in order to develop their aspirations and career wellbeing.

Overall to satisfy the benchmarks our students will:

• have access to a stable and structured careers programme that is continually evaluated

• by the age of 14 (Year r9) have accessed and used information about careers pathways and labour market information to inform future study options

• be able to access systematic records of advice and targets

• by the age of 14 (Year 9) have had the opportunity to learn how STEM subjects help support people gain entry to a wide range of careers

• participate in at least one meaningful encounter with an employer every year from 7-11

• by the age of 16 (Year 11) have had at least one experience of a workplace

• by the age of 16 (Year 11) have had a meaningful encounter with a provider of the full range of learning opportunities

• by the age of 16 (Year 11) have had at least one interview with a specialist careers advisor

Measuring the impact of our careers provision

We benefit from support from our Rochdale Enterprise Mentor from the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to ensure we provide effective careers education, information, advice and guidance which meets all the criteria of the Gatsby Benchmarks and government statutory guidance. 

We meet regularly to complete compass evaluations and discuss ways in which our careers programme can be improved. We are also in the process of re-accrediting ourselves again with the Inspiring IAG Award for Quality in Careers Standard. This creates a national level of standardisation for our careers provision.

Our career events are evaluated internally with student questionnaires, responses are then considered to make future improvements, and inform new events.

Next review

The next review of our careers programme will take place in June 2026.

Our current Gatsby Benchmark progress can be viewed here.