City of Peterborough Academy Provider Access Policy

This policy statement sets out the arrangements for managing the access of providers to students for the purpose of giving them information about the provider’s education or training offer.

Pupil Entitlement

All students in years 8 to 13 (11 at CoPA) 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.

In line with the updated Provider Access Legislation, from January 2023, all schools must provide a minimum of six encounters for all students with post 16 providers, as above. This is broken down into key phases: -

1st key phase Year 8 or 9 Two encounters for students that are mandatory for all to attend

2nd key phase Year 10 or 11 Two encounters for students that are mandatory for all to attend

3rd key phase Year 12 or 13 Two encounters that are mandatory for the school to put on but
optional for students to attend

These provider encounters 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 students from the provider)

• answer questions from all students, including our most vulnerable and those with additional learning needs

The City of Peterborough Academy defines an encounter as at least 1 hour, during the academy day.

The academy days runs from 8.40 – 3.00 pm.

This complies with the school’s legal obligations under Section 42B of the Education Act 1997.

As part of our careers programme, we will consider requests from approved training, apprenticeship, technical and vocational education providers, including University Technical Colleges where appropriate, to speak to our students. The City of Peterborough Academy will also approach these providers directly when planning and organising key career related events throughout the school year such as school assemblies, webinars within the curriculum, including live events, careers engagement events and parents evenings. Meaningful encounters may be planned using the Making It Meaningful Checklist.

The quality and impact of careers provision at the City of Peterborough Academy is monitored by our Senior Leadership Team, Trust Wide Advisers for Careers and Employability and the Academy Advisory Council. Access and opportunity to engage with technical, vocational and training providers will form part of this process.

The City of Peterborough Academy has a range of facilities available for providers to use in support of our careers programme. This includes a main hall with tiered seating, smaller canteen hall, sports hall, Y11 study area, Library and multiple classrooms.

Destinations of our students

Last year our year 11 students moved to range of providers in the local area after school (rounded to nearest 0.1%):

Peterborough College 43.7%

Queen Katherine Academy – 20.4%
New College Stamford – 7.7%
St John Fisher – 3.5%
Thomas Deacon Academy – 3.5%
Arthur Mellows Village College – 3.5%

Providers out of area – 3.5%
Youth Dreams Project – 2.8%
Greater Peterborough UTC – 2.8%
Peterborough School 2.8%
Kings – 2.1%

Stanground Academy – 1.4%
Nene Park Academy 0.7%

Opportunities for access  

Several events that are integrated into the academy careers and employability programme, will offer providers an opportunity to come into the academy to speak to students and/or their parents/carers as shown in the table below. If you have other ideas or suggestions please contact us as detailed below.

Year 7	National Careers Week Assembly	Guess the Professional in association with Growth Works.
Year 8	Ben Tucker – Minerva CEO	Stageworks Post-16 Education
Year 9	YDP Scholarship Assembly	ESPA Post-16 Education
Year 10	Apprenticeships in the Army	International Grocery Distribution Apprenticeships
Year 11	Peterborough Regional College	HMCTS – Court Apprenticeships

Management of provider access requests

All requests made by providers should be emailed at least 6 weeks in advance of the expected date of the session.

In the first instance, requests by providers should be sent to: -

Name of Careers Leader: - Mr S Maudsley
Careers Leader email address: - smaudsley@cityofpeterboroughacademy.org
Tel No: - 01733 821440

Please complete this table and copy into email to Careers Leader:

Name of provider requesting access & details of provision	e.g., Peterborough College, Further Education College and Apprenticeship provider for 16–18-year-old students
Contact Name at Provider and Contact Details	Name & Job Title: Email address: Telephone number:
Proposed date, time and length of session
Number of staff who propose to visit	All visitors will be subject to our safeguarding policy. A DBS check will not be required. Our safeguarding policy can be found here.
Aims and objectives of session including year group	e.g., Year 10 Assembly Post 16 Options including entry requirements, courses available, labour market information & sectors relating to courses, positive destinations on completion of courses.
Please demonstrate which Gatsby Benchmarks relate to the session and how (link to information re Gatsby Benchmarks Good Career Guidance \| Education \| Gatsby)	e.g., BM1 After reading Careers Programme, support to further enhance this. BM4 linking GCSE subjects to career related learning and future progression routes. BM7 Provide a meaningful encounter of further education.
Proposed format, timings and duration of session including facilities and equipment required	e.g., One hour assembly, theatre or main hall to accommodate year group. PowerPoint presentation including videos. Questions and answers session for students. Literature to take away following assembly.
Support required from City of Peterborough Academy including staffing	To enable the academy to provide appropriate supervision.

Granting Requests and Refusal of Requests

Once your request has been submitted, the Academy Careers Leader will respond to you within 10 working days. All requests will be given due consideration from the designated Careers Leader and Senior Leadership Team.

Once the request has been granted, we will ask you for a range of information to share with our students and parents before the session. This may be a prospectus, letter, presentation to share with students and parents in advance of your session.

This should include: -

Details of the opportunities you offer including technical education, courses and entry requirements
What is learning like with your institution?
How do you prepare students for their best next step on successful completion of your course/training?
Provide examples of linking courses with careers relating to the labour market and recent positive destinations of students who have completed their learning with you

Requests will be considered against: -

Clashes with other planned activities or visits.
Interruption to preparation for public or internal examinations.
Availability of school staff, space and resources to host the session.
All requests will also be considered in line with the academy Safeguarding policy. For questions on this policy statement or the wider careers programme at City of Peterborough Academy please do not hesitate to contact us.
City of Peterborough Academy will keep a log of all provider requests for access and the outcomes and record on Compass Plus to support the delivery and evaluation of the careers programme.

Opportunities for access

City of Peterborough Academy offers the six provider encounters required by law (marked in bold text) and a number of additional events, integrated into the school careers programme. We will offer providers an opportunity to come into school to speak to students and/or their parents or carers.

This policy statement will be evaluated with the Careers Leader and Trust Wide Advisers for Careers and Employability as part of the Compass Evaluation, 3 times each academic year.

If a provider has reason to make a complaint in relation to this statement, please email Mrs McKeen, Senior Assistant Principal (Personal Development) on a mckeen@cityofpeterboroughacademy.org who will investigate further.

January 2023 (for review January 2024)