National acclaim for Futures team

The Blackpool Sixth Futures team who deliver the college’s careers education, information, advice and guidance service (CEIAG) has received national attention for the excellence of their work.  The work of the team and the wider provision the college has to support student progression features in the latest edition of a joint newsletter from The Careers and Enterprise Company and the Association of Colleges.

The article praises the way in which the college has gone about implementing the Gatsby Benchmarks which set national standards for CEIAG, making sure that career planning and employability skills are priorities across the college as a whole.  It highlights the extremely strong partnership the Futures Team have with their local Enterprise Adviser, Lisa Scargill from Inspira, who helps them forge links with industry and access cutting-edge resources, data and activities to boost students’ employability skills. A recent audit of the team’s work graded it as ‘outstanding’.

Additionally, the article mentions the college’s Career Ready programme which won both a regional and a national award last year for its work in linking students with the world of business and providing high-quality mentoring and internships.

Debbi Hodson, the college’s Head of Careers and Learning Resources has recently been recognised by the Career and Enterprise Company as a Career Champion. Career Champions are described by the company and the Gatsby Foundation as ‘brilliant practitioners of careers guidance for young people.’

You can read the full article here 1436_Connect_Spring_Edition_2021_Final-pages-27.

The Futures team (Debbi Hodson pictured above)