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Bensham Manor Careers Offer

Bensham Manor pupils develop careers’ skills through Skills for Life lessons, interviews with professionals, work experience and meeting a range of professionals. Pupils are taught how lessons relate to careers and pupils are constantly encouraged to think about the career they are interested in and the skills required for this career. 

The Bensham team work tirelessly to provide our pupils with meaningful work experience opportunities and we maintain supportive and engaging relationships with a number of external organisations and local businesses.  We are always looking for additional opportunities to inspire and educate our students about the world of work. If you think you could help Bensham pupils,  please contact:

barriemurphy@benshammanor.com or elaineeaton@benshammanor.com

We receive lots of encouraging feedback from the different employers we work with. Below are a few examples from those working within Marketing, the Home Office and Network Rail:

“The students were a joy to speak to and work with. We discussed passions and hard work and why both are important to further your career and personal development…”

“I really enjoyed the time with the class who were all really engaged throughout. I got asked lots of interesting and pertinent questions related to my current and previous jobs.”

“I wish them all good luck with their future careers and maybe one day working with one or two of them.”

At Bensham Manor, we also ask for feedback from pupils following the work experiences they have. Here are some of the things they had to say:

“I enjoyed learning how to fix the car.”

“It improved my social skills and it has helped me to be organised when working.”

“I got a lot of positive feedback from people that work there.”

We utilise the experience of our governors and measure our careers programme using The Careers and Enterprise Company Self-Evaluation Tool, against the Gatsby Benchmarks. We also liaise with The South London Careers Hub to gain their expert advice on the career service we provide and to see if there is anything we can do to develop our careers offer.

Additional information for students, parents, carers and staff:

You can visit: successatschool.org for more information about current careers, as well as labour markets and future study options. You can also find out more information about careers through The National Careers Service at nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/explore-careers. This site lets you explore jobs by sector and makes you aware of the qualifications or skills required. Using icould you can hear people talking about different jobs.  You can find out about T level courses that blend learning in the classroom with practical real work experience by clicking on the link.  Although written for teachers, you can find lots of useful information about Careers under the Careers section on the London Labour Market Information site.

At springpod.com you can try a career or course virtually for free.  At prospects.ac.uk you can take a quiz to help you choose a career path and at ucas.com you will find details of courses and apprenticeships.

Young Croydon provides a youth service that offers a range of support, such as one-to-one support, education, training and jobs, a youth forum and special programmes and activities for young people. This is the web address: croydon.gov.uk/young-croydon

If you like any of the content you explore or have additional suggestions please let Mr Murphy know.

Some information about how we review our Careers offer

So, how do we at Bensham Manor measure and assess the impact of the careers programme we provide to pupils? 

School Office staff and the school’s Family Support Worker – Matthew Keane keep in touch with colleges to track pupils’ progress in their college education. 

Staff assess the impact of the careers programme in many different ways including: 

  • The knowledge gained by students can be measured by their qualifications in accredited courses 

  • The students level of engagement in the various Work Experiences offered by the school 

  • The aspirations of students, discussed on an annual basis as part of the EHCP review process 

  • Students displaying greater knowledge of the world of work 

  • Students learning about their own strengths and areas for development 

  • The level of questioning from students regarding the world of work

  • By gathering the views and feedback from all stakeholders including parents and carers, governors and any other individuals or organisation involved in our Careers process

  • Through regular meetings with the South London Careers Hub and networking with other Careers Leaders.

Statutory requirements and recommendations 

The careers provision at Bensham Manor School is in line with the statutory guidance developed by the Department for Education, which refers to Section 42A and 45A of the Education Act 1997. This states that all schools should provide independent careers guidance from Years 8 -13 and that this guidance should: 

  • Be impartial 

  • Include information on a range of pathways, including apprenticeships 

  • Be adaptive to the needs of the pupil. In addition, the school is compliant with the careers guidance that the government set out for delivery from 5 January 2018: ‘Careers Guidance and Inspiration for young people in schools.’ This states that all schools must give education and training providers the opportunity to talk to students about approved technical qualifications and apprenticeships. Students in Years 9 & 11 will have individual careers interviews, conducted by careers advisers from the Education Development Trust.

Providers Access Policy Statement Introduction 

This policy statement sets out the school’s arrangements for managing the access of providers to pupils at the school for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer. This complies with the school’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.

Pupil entitlement 

All pupils in years 8-13 are entitled: 

  • To find out about technical education qualifications and apprenticeships opportunities, as part of a careers programme which provides information on the full range of education and training options available at each transition point; 

  • To hear from a range of local providers about the opportunities they offer, including technical education and apprenticeships – through options events, assemblies and group discussions and taster events; 

  • To understand how to make applications for the full range of academic and technical courses.

For pupils of compulsory school age these encounters are mandatory and there will be a minimum of two encounters for pupils during the ‘first key phase’ (year 8 to 9) and two encounters for pupils during the ‘second key phase’ (year 10 to 11). For pupils in the ‘third key phase’ (year 12 to 13), particularly those that have not yet decided on their next steps, there are two more provider encounters available during this period, which are optional for pupils to attend. 

These provider encounters will be either onsite or online, depending on the availability of the provider, but will be scheduled during the main school hours and the provider will be given a reasonable amount of time to, as a minimum:

•   Share information about both the provider and the approved technical education qualification and apprenticeships that the provider offers.

•   Explain what career routes those options could lead to

•   Provide insights into what it might be like to learn or train with that provider (including the opportunity to meet staff and pupils from the provider)

•   Answer questions from pupils.

Click on this link to see the Careers and Providers Access Opportunities at Bensham Manor for 2023-24

Please see last year’s too Careers and Providers Access Opportunities at Bensham Manor for 2022-23

The following link will show you the destination of our Leavers in 2023

Management of Provider Access Requests Procedure: 

A provider wishing to request access should contact Kirstie Byrne, Deputy Headteacher or Barrie Murphy – Careers Programme Leader, Telephone: 0208 684 0116; 

Email: kirstiebyrne@benshammanor.com  or barriemurphy@benshammanor.com

Opportunities for access 

Bensham Manor offers a comprehensive Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance programme. Please speak to Barrie Murphy to identify the most suitable opportunity for you. We will make a suitable space available for discussions between the provider and students, as appropriate to the activity. 

Where possible, we will make ICT and other specialist equipment available to support provider presentations. This will all be discussed and agreed in advance of the visit. Providers are welcome to leave a copy of their prospectus or other relevant course literature with the Careers Leader so that they can be displayed in the Careers Section of Bensham’s school library.

This information will be reviewed by the 15th September 2025.

Careers and Skills for Life