Education, Training and Employment

We want you to support you to reach your career goals and aspirations, we recognise that there are lots of education pathways and routes to success and want to support and encourage you to explore all options to make sure you make the choice that is right for you.

Role of Virtual school

The Virtual School will work with you and your key professionals to discuss your support needs, and how best we can work together to support you through your further education journey as part of your Personal Education Plan (PEP) meetings and pathway planning to help you set out goals for your future and provide advice and guidance about destination planning. This may include signposting you for careers guidance, CV writing, supporting you with job/apprenticeship hunting, or step-by-step planning for university if that is your goal.

The WAYUP! is an innovative new game that helps students make better, more informed choices about their future.

Home Page - TheWayUp!

If you are looking for work, education or training your PA will sign post, you to the relevant person who can help. This may be the job centre, careers guidance service at college or online resources.

We will offer opportunities for work experience, apprenticeships and employment within the council.

Looking for Work

Job Centres have a Single Point of Contact (SPOC) who work with the Leaving Care Team to help care leavers.

Jobcentre Plus provides in-person and online resources to help people who are looking for jobs. They also offer information about training opportunities for people who have been unemployed for a long time. If you're interested in starting a business, they can help you with applying for a New Enterprise Allowance

Contact Jobcentre Plus: How to contact Jobcentre Plus - GOV.UK

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeships offer young people a way of getting qualifications while earning money, working alongside knowledgeable staff and gaining experience. Many apprenticeships lead to highly skilled careers.

An apprenticeship can start at any level, but some options may require a previous qualification, for example:

English or maths GCSE(s)

Further training in English or maths to demonstrate the apprentice meets the necessary level.

There are four levels of apprenticeships, and each level has an equivalent educational level, they can take one to five years to complete dependent on the level you begin at.

• An intermediate apprenticeship at level 2 is equivalent to five GCSE passes.
• An advanced apprenticeship at level 3 is equivalent to two A Level passes.
• A higher apprenticeship at levels 4, 5, 6 and 7 is equivalent to a foundation degree and above.
• A degree apprenticeship at levels 6 and 7 is equivalent to a bachelor's or master's degree.

 Become an apprentice: How apprenticeships work - GOV.UK

University

If you choose to go to university, we will provide advice and guidance with higher education, for example: UCAS application, personal statement, student finance, campus visits and assist you in the transition to university.

As a care leaver, you would be considered as an independent student, which means you would get the full loan amount based on where you study. You may also be entitled to a bursary from the University.

You will receive a HE bursary from us totalling £2,000 per academic year to help with university costs.

We may be able to help you with costs towards somewhere to live during university holidays if you need to move out of your university accommodation.

Your PA will help you access guidance from Home - Buttle UK and  supported with a referrals to Sutton Trust, Become/Propel, Care Leavers Covenant and UCAS as they also all offer additional layers of support for HE.