Careers
Head of Careers
Mrs Julia Shaw
Email: j.shaw@toynbee.hants.sch.uk
Telephone: 02380 269026
Career Vision
Our careers provision is guided by the core principles set out in the Gatsby Benchmarks which aims to provide excellent careers education to all our pupils:
- To inspire them to be the best they can be
- To meet the needs of each and every pupils in providing them with advice, skills and knowledge to empower them to make informed decisions about their future
- To engage the whole school community in careers education
- To work in partnership with Employers, Colleges, Universities and Education providers
For Careers Guidance Policy and Provider Access Policy - please see the Policy page of this website
Please click on the link below to find an overview of the options available to our young pupils Post 16.
Year 11 Career Options Post 16
All pupils at Toynbee School will follow a planned programme of careers education which is underpinned by the 8 GATSBY Benchmarks, as directed by the Department for Education: Gatsby
All pupils by the end of Year 11 will have had access to impartial careers information, advice and guidance. This is supported by our contract with the Education Business Partnership South: EBP South
Careers guidance and access for education and training providers - GOV.UK
Toynbee Careers Programme
Toynbee Gatsby Benchmark One
Southampton Open Events 2025/2026
Year 7
The Careers programme starts at Toynbee in Year 7 when we ask you to reflect on your skills, goals and targets as well as assess your performance when working individually or in groups.
Year 8 & 9
Exciting times! Now you are able to start shaping your curriculum by choosing your option subjects for your GCSEs. Special events and information evenings are arranged for you and your parents so that you can make these important decisions together. You need to consider what you want to do in the future and keep your options as broad as possible so that you do not cut off any ‘career avenues.’
Year 10
Your GCSEs begin and so do a variety of work based experiences such as Work Experience week. You are also offered the opportunity to attend our 'Careers Fairs’, we provide information on the skills employees are looking for, how to write a CV and prepare for an interview.
REMEMBER to arrange your Work Experience Placement, otherwise you will be in school!
Careers Information Evening
2026 Work Experience Letter for Employers
Unifrog video - How to log a placement
Year 10 - Guide to Unifrog 2025
Year 11
Local sixth form colleges lead assemblies in the Autumn term and all pupils are encouraged to attend taster days and events at the colleges they are thinking of applying to. We also hold an annual ‘Careers Fairs’ in October, so that pupils and parents can consider all the training and apprenticeship routes on offer. Local colleges, employers and apprenticeship providers attend so that you can learn and research your options for 'Post Toynbee life’ as much as possible. You are given support by your tutor, the school Careers Leader, and our 1:1 Careers Advisors to make the transfer from Toynbee to elsewhere as smooth as possible.
Year 11 Careers Options | Rise 360
What are my predicted grades?
How to write a personal statement
53 Questions to ask when visiting colleges
Which College Qualifications are Right for Me?
Careers Year 7 - 11
Please remember that you do not need to wait for school events to plan your future; you can start to think about your aims and goals at any time.
There is an excellent website called ‘National Careers Service’ which is dedicated to helping you get the advice you need to improve your skills and to get on in life. The link is at the top of this page. The website is FREE to use and offers skills health checks so that you can identify your strengths and think about what kind of work is right for you. It also guides you how to build your CV, create an Action Plan and provides a Careers Library with 750 job profiles on different careers. It offers advice on Apprenticeships too and a course finder facility if you want to think about universities.
Useful Career Websites
Unifrog
Unifrog is an online platform designed to support young people make informed decisions about the future. Through the Unifrog website pupils can access a wide range of online tools, including a careers library, CV tool and quizzes to help you explore your interests that might lead to future jobs and explain the pathways into these roles. Every pupil at Toynbee is given access to Unifrog which will help them explore a wide range of careers and their account stays with them as they transition through post-16.
Careers Advice
You can request a Careers interview at any time at Toynbee with our specialist Careers advisor. Whilst you are waiting for an interview you can ring the National Careers website on 0800 100 900 for honest and impartial advice. If you are using a mobile they will call you back so it’s free.
Labour Market Information (LMI) - use the Careerometer
The Careerometer provides you with a quick and easy way to compare jobs across a variety of different areas of work that you may be interested in.
The Careerometer widget provides access to a selection of headline data relating to pay, weekly hours of work and future employment prospects. The data are organised by occupation: simply type in the title of the job you are interested in and the Careerometer will provide you with a series of options from which you can select the most relevant.
https://www.lmiforall.org.uk/careerometer/
The support of our local community is key to the Careers Education that Toynbee School is able to provide. We are so lucky to have the backing of so many willing and enthusiastic employers, keen to get involved with our school calendar of activities every year. Sharing career experiences and providing opportunities to develop employability skills is invaluable to a young person’s progression and we cannot thank our existing partners enough.
Do you work in a business that could help provide work experience or opportunities for our students?
We are always looking for local businesses that are wanting to inspire and educate our students about the world of work and expand and develop our careers programme. If you think you could help us with practise interviews, talks/presentations to students, provide invaluable work experience or any other opportunities that give students the chance to develop core skills and motivation, please contact our Careers Lead – Mrs Julia Shaw j.shaw@toynbee.hants.sch.uk
If you’re an employer and are curious about how you could get involved, we would love to hear from you! There are many ways you could contribute to the Toynbee School community and we are always open to new ideas and opportunities.
Please get in touch!