ConnectED is Futures' Connexions online news service for CEIAG practitioners and educators in Nottinghamshire.Futures Apprenticeship Agency continues to generate new vacancies for local young people in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. To keep up to date with all of Futures&8217; latest apprenticeships, students (16-18 years old), their parents and schools can now follow us on Twitter @Futures_AA. Our agency was in the news recently, receiving a mention in the Evening Post feature on how the County Council were doubling their apprenticeships and pledging to help young people into work by creating 25 apprenticeships over the next year as part of the Post's 'Get Notts Working' campaign. More Apprenticeship Agency information: Vacancies and more from SortItOnline/FAA More on the agency and employing an apprenticehttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=585Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:02:05 GMT20120419020205Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:02:05 GMT20120419020205Thu, 19 Apr 2012 14:02:05 GMT20120419020205There has been a lot of Career Mark activity of late with assessment successes and significant developments of the award itself. In the next issue we will bring you news about a number of our recent, Nottinghamshire Career Mark successes, but it is Career Mark&8217;s profile as a national award that continues to be inspiring. This has been demonstrated recently by further successes across the country in Wiltshire and Hull, with more imminent! The significant changes we have made to the Career Mark award reflect the national policy changes following the new the 2011 Education Act, which have seen:- the end of Connexions- careers education and work experience no longer being statutory and- the provision of independent, impartial careers guidance becoming the responsibility of schools. You should have recently received statutory guidance from the DfE on your new responsibilities as a result of this new legislation. In turn, Career Mark has had to respond to the new legislation by making changes to the standards, assessment, the charging structure and the management and support arrangements. Further details are being sent to schools, colleges and providers and will be available on the Career Mark website. Below is a snapshot of some of the main changes and improvements&8230; -The standards: changes for the Career Mark 6 standards are being kept to a minimum, plus performance indicators reflect the new legislative changes and some inconsistencies have been removed and so the standards should be more relevant and straightforward; - Assessment: this is shortening from three to two years, with a single assessment process and single assessor, plus simpler and shorter re-assessments; - Support: in addition to our expert consultants, there is a significant upgrade of the Career Mark website (new look web-site live, more new features to follow) and we will be introducing a member&8217;s forum, a newsletter and members consultations; - Charges: we are introducing anannual membership fee (entitling access to new support services), there will be a slight price increase for CM assessment, but a new, much simpler and cheaper revalidation process. Further details and transition arrangements have been outlined in the letters to providers and on the Career mark website, but to finish, it&8217;s also worth highlighting the positive reference to careers quality awards made by John Hayes (Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning) recently: &8220;I am pleased to welcome the establishment of the Quality in Careers Standard. The standard will provide national validation of the quality awards used by schools; colleges and work based learning providers to demonstrate they are offering strong support to young people through careers education, information, advice and guidance. This is a really good example of an initiative which will help providers to do their best for all their learners.&8221; The &8216;Quality in Careers Standard&8217; is a standard which careers quality awards, such as Career Mark, must attain. We&8217;re delighted that Career Mark is one of only 13 in the country to be registered. We hope that this and all the improvements outlined above show the value of Career Mark in these changing times. Want to know more? E-mail or call Gary Longden &8211; Tel: 0115 960 1542http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=582Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:29:17 GMT20120418042917Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:29:17 GMT20120418042917Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:17:04 GMT20120418051704Whilst this month saw the end of the national Connexions brand for young people and many local guidance and employability services disappearing in other parts of the country, the City and County councils here are continuing to back this important work through Futures Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. Futures is very proud of our &8216;Connexions&8217; achievements over the past decade. Working in close partnership with schools and colleges and the City and County councils, we have helped thousands of local teenagers make the most of their lives and &8216;aspire and progress&8217; successfully through education and training into meaningful employment and careers. Of particular note recently is our national reputation for being &8216;best in class&8217; at tackling youth unemployment and keeping down the number of young people who find themselves not in education, employment or training, or &8216;NEET&8217;. Futures continues to deliver a complete, all-age, employability advice service, including work experience and employability programmes, careers guidance or targeted support for young people in many schools and free careers advice to adults. Further free, local support includes the What Next Fair and the online &8216;career planner&8217;, Passportfolio. We&8217;re also generating many new apprenticeships through our &8216;Futures Apprenticeship Agency&8217;, giving 16-19 year olds the chance to develop practical skills, achieve nationally recognised qualifications and earn as they learn. So, whilst the loss of Connexions funding does now mean that schools are responsible for buying careers guidance for their students - see the statutory guidance piece elsewhere in this newsletter &8211; Futures still deliver an array of local support services and it&8217;s clear that many schools are recognising the key role that experienced and skilled careers advice can play in engaging their students to look beyond school and improve their focus on results. Futures Nottingham and Nottinghamshire is thriving and continuing to deliver an expanding range of services to young people, parents, adults and businesses in the city and county and help as many local people as possible into more positive futures.- Find out more about Futures&8217; education services More news to follow next month!http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=580Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:59:28 GMT20120418025928Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:59:28 GMT20120418025928Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:14:02 GMT20120418051402Many thanks to those schools and colleges who have taken advantage of &8216;Parents Today&8217;, our new, free careers and employability service for your parents and carers. &8216;Parents Today&8217; was launched in March to provide an innovative way of enabling you to provide free support to parents and you can view our first edition here. We also invite ideas from providers on what services we can include in &8216;Parents Today&8217; and some of the suggestions we&8217;ve received so far include providing a PDF version (we've done this now!) and information on internships, holiday work, &8216;not getting the grades you&8217;d expected&8217;, work experience preparation, exams revision and support and student finance!(all good suggestions and we&8217;ll do our best!) There are more details of the ways you can use this service here on the Futures&8217; website or you can e-mail Sheron Hambly.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=574Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:10:40 GMT20120417021040Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:10:40 GMT20120417021040Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:20:56 GMT20120418052056In just 3 months Passportfolio has quadrupled the number of users as students nationally take up the benefits of this online career planner. Recent statistics show wide use in areas like Bristol, North East Lincs, Leicester and London, in addition to known activity hotspots like the Thames Valley and the South West. The personal strengths quizzes, skills section and the webfolio (our online record of achievement or ePortfolio) are proving the most popular parts of site. Building on the success of the options@18 zone, we will soon be launching a new world of work section with up to date information about work and training options, interview tips and an employability skills quiz. This new employability module is closely integrated with Careersbox the national careers film library, a free careers resource showing real people doing real jobs. Young people will be able to search the database of hundreds of films about work with ease from their Passportfolio account. The world of work zone will also be linked into Skills Explorer, another free teaching resource helping students discover a range of careers and job opportunities for school leavers, apprentices and graduates. Passportfolio is a free online careers planner which offers a CV builder, action planner as well as these other fantastic resources. Young people can set up an account today by going to www.passportfolio.com. For more information about the site or to ask about training and other support resources available to schools, colleges and providers please contact us at Passportfolio@futuresnn.co.uk .http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=573Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:09:49 GMT20120417020949Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:09:49 GMT20120417020949Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:25:09 GMT20120418052509The new career and work-related learning framework from ACEG can help schools plan integrated and effective employability programmes for their students and offers some direction for schools following the recent removal of statutory duties. The framework offers a consolidation of progression learning outcomes for students aged 7 to 19 and incorporates career education and work related learning.You can download the framework from the CEGNET website.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=572Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:08:50 GMT20120417020850Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:08:50 GMT20120417020850Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:08:50 GMT20120417020850If you venture down to the South West or maybe up to Humberside you may see a familiar looking publication. The What Work magazine format has recently been developed for these other regions, where schools will receive bulk printed copies for their students. What Work In Notts has also been updated for Nottinghamshire and will be published online in May; look out for more sector information as well as useful stats and advice for young people and the magazine comes with accompanying lesson plans. We have also produced customised, local What Work magazines for Nottinghamshire districts and so you could get together with other schools in your area to request a tailored district version with focussed local information. For further details and prices or if you&8217;re interested in printed copies please contact helen.janota@futuresnn.co.ukhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=571Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:07:08 GMT20120417020708Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:07:08 GMT20120417020708Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:07:08 GMT20120417020708Last month we had an enjoyable day at Kirkby College&8217;s Ambitious in Ashfield event supported by Ashfield District Council. Over 100 Year 9 students glimpsed into the world of work through a series of workshops which included meeting employers, local labour market information and construction activities. The idea of the event was to help them think about employability skills and the types of opportunities available to them and the students really enjoyed their day.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=570Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:06:19 GMT20120417020619Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:06:19 GMT20120417020619Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:07:17 GMT20120417020717We have recently delivered a series of very successful workshops in Broxtowe and Ashfield districts using Google Earth maps to show students in Years 8, 9 and 10 where the local job opportunities are. The &8216;On the map&8217; activity really gets the students thinking about opportunities and skills and provides valuable information on looking for work in their local area. The &8216;Careers Cloud&8217; activity gets students to use their creativity to develop their understanding of STEM jobs and the employability skills needed for those jobs. If you would like a similar workshop for your area then please contact ushttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=569Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:04:13 GMT20120417020413Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:04:13 GMT20120417020413Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:28:04 GMT20120418052804Preparations for the What Next Fair continue with bookings for the school sessions rolling in and exhibitors taking up the invitation to attend. Since the initial schools invitation went out in February we&8217;ve already received bookings from 12 schools for sessions for their students on Wednesday 10th October. Although that means we already have over 1100 students attending, there is still plenty of availability. Don&8217;t forget too that this year the fair is also open to Year 12 and 13 students during the day, as well as year 11s. We aim to have a range of exhibitors who will be able to support students who are exploring other ways of funding their post-18 education such as sponsored degrees, higher apprenticeships and &8216;A&8217; level traineeships. To book a session for your students, please email the What Next team on whatnext@futuresnn.co.uk or phone 0115 9601571. The exhibitor invites were sent out in March and since then we&8217;ve been busy taking bookings. You can check the exhibitors who have booked so far here on SortItOnline. If you would like to exhibit or advertise at the event, you can find out more at www.futuresnn.co.uk/whatnexthttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=568Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:02:22 GMT20120417020222Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:02:22 GMT20120417020222Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:35:02 GMT20120418053502Removing the duty on schools to provide a careers education programme and the responsibility on local authorities to provide a careers guidance service, the &8216;Education Act 2011&8217; still emphasises the importance of schools preparing their students for a successful adult life and this is reflected in the guidance: &8216;Schools have a role to play in supporting their pupils to make well informed and realistic decisions by providing access to impartial and independent information and guidance about the range of education and training options that are most likely to help young people achieve their ambitions.&8217; The DfE&8217;s statutory guidance issued on 26th March explains more fully these new responsibilities to secure careers guidance and replaces &8216;The Education Bill &8211; changes to the delivery of careers guidance&8217; which was issued to schools in April 2011. It applies to secondary schools, special schools and PRUs, whilst Academies and Free Schools will be subject to the same requirements through their funding agreements and Ofsted will be undertaking a thematic review during the coming academic year. Where can I download the statutory guidance? Statutory guidance on the DfE website What does the guidance say in a nutshell? &183; It places schools under a duty to secure access to independent careers guidance for pupils in Y9-11 from September 2012; &183; Schools should fund careers guidance from their overall budgets, including the pupil premium; &183; Guidance must be impartial and promote the best interests of the pupils and include information on 16-18 education and training options, including apprenticeships and other work-based education or training options; &183; Supporting pupils will become increasingly more important with RPA (the raising participation age); &183; Schools must secure external careers guidance but have the freedom to decide on the most appropriate forms of independent careers guidance for their pupils; &183; Schools should secure access to independent face-to-face careers guidance where it is the most suitable support, in particular for disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs, learning difficulties or disabilities; - Holders of the Matrix Standard have met the national quality standards for careers guidance providers and information about providers who hold the standard will be made available to schools; &183; Schools may work individually or in consortia/partnership to procure face-to-face services; &183; Consider a range of wider careers activities (such as employer and provider engagement); &183; Establishing and maintaining links with local post-16 learning providers can improve impartiality, including further education colleges, university technical colleges, work-based training providers and higher education; &183; Pupils with special educational needs or disabilities should receive advice about all mainstream opportunities on offer as well as the full range of specialist provision that is available; &183; Schools should work with local authorities to support them in carrying out their duties to: 1. provide SEN support services and section 139A assessments; 2. encourage, enable and assist young people&8217;s participation in education or training (Section 68 of the Education and Skills Act 2008); 3. assist the most vulnerable young people and those at risk of disengaging with education or work; 4. check that 16 and 17 year olds have received an offer of a suitable place in post-16 education or training; 5. track young people&8217;s participation through the local Client Caseload Information System (CCIS) to identify those at risk of not participating or in need of targeted support; 6. record young people&8217;s post-16 plans and the offers they receive. What are the key actions my school should take? &183; Check immediately with your local authority to find out what transition arrangements it has put in place to meet the careers guidance needs of your pupils from April to September 2012; &183; Discuss with your local authority how you will work together to carry out the key responsibilities that you both have from September; &183; Clarify your strategy for procuring and securing independent and impartial careers guidance; &183; Check whether the careers adviser is professionally qualified; &183; Assess whether your proposed arrangements are robust and sustainable, and provide adequate access (e.g. in the holidays); &183; Explore your scope for acting in partnership with other schools and providers; &183; Review arrangements for managing and delivering careers guidance and non-statutory careers and work-related education in the curriculum; &183; Review your arrangements for the funding of careers guidance in 2012-13 school budget; &183; Review the annual programme of careers education to meet the particular needs of your pupils; &183; Review your links with local learning providers to ensure all parties act impartially and in the best interests of the pupil; &183; Plan how you will manage delivery, quality and standards. Consider gaining the Career Mark quality award. Go to this article with more details on Futures website The statutory guidance on the DfE website If you would like any further advice, please get in touch. Gary Longdenhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=567Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:55:16 GMT20120417015516Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:55:16 GMT20120417015516Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:38:02 GMT20120418053802With the implementation of the new Education Act due from April we are now beginning to receive clarification of how the Government intends it to be implemented and applied. The latest bit of clarification came from John Hayes MP (Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning when speaking at the opening of the new campus at Skelmersdale for the West Lancashire College last week. Speaking about quality awards for Careers Education he stated: &8220;I am pleased to welcome the establishment of the Quality in Careers Standard. The standard will provide national validation of the quality awards used by schools, colleges and work based learning providers to demonstrate they are offering strong support to young people through careers education, information, advice and guidance. This is a really good example of an initiative which will help providers to do their best for all their learners.&8221; The Minister expressed his pleasure to hear that ten of England's Quality Awards for CEIAG had already committed to work towards the national validation. Career Mark was the first of those 10 awards to register commitment. Most significantly, the Minister also clarified the role of schools in managing and delivering careers guidance from September. "The new statutory guidance to schools on Section 29 of the Education Act 2011 will underline the new legal duty on schools to secure independent and impartial careers advice and guidance. It will not be sufficient for schools to employ their own careers professional, good though they may be, and then rely on signposting to a website, excellent as that may be. Young people benefit from face-to-face careers guidance. As Lord Hill said in the House of Lords during the passage of the Education Bill, 'Pupils can benefit enormously from support offered in person that raises their aspirations and leads them onto a successful path.'" Speaking at the Institute of Career Guidance conference for schools, in Somerset on 13th March, on commissioning careers guidance, Paul Chubb formally announced the Minister's statement and commented: "This statement is most timely as we await the promised Statutory Guidance. The Minister has been specific about what will be required to be sufficient to satisfy the new duty. In-house provision (critical as it is to enable young people to gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to make decisions wisely about their future learning and work pathway) must be complemented by external specialist support. The Quality in Careers Consortium Board acknowledges the changes to statutory duties affecting careers education and guidance arising out of the Education Act, 2011 which come into effect in September this year. Schools will then have a new duty to &8216;secure independent careers guidance&8217; for their pupils and students. We believe that this will be most effective when these three things coexist in a school: &8226; Its overall CEIAG programme is quality assured against one of the dedicated Quality Awards available and that Award should meet the QiCS national validation. &8226; The school builds upon its internal programme by securing specialist careers advice and guidance services from an external provider, close to the labour market and therefore able to assist young people to make informed choices &8211; such a provider should meet the accepted &8216;industry standard&8217; for advice and guidance on learning and work, the matrix Standard. &8226; The externally secured provider of careers guidance should employ professional careers advisers who are occupationally competent to professional standards &8211; as determined by the Careers Profession Alliance&8221;. Meanwhile, here in Nottinghamshire plans are already in place for the transition from April. A targeted service for your school&8217;s most vulnerable students will be funded by both local authorities and contingency plans are in place to provide a service to this summer&8217;s school leavers. However, from September responsibility for careers guidance passes directly to schools and Futures have already been in informal discussions with most schools about providing a service from September. This clarification from the Minister provides a sense of urgency to the decisions faced by schools to secure independent and impartial careers guidance. More on Futures&8217; careers guidancehttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=544Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:33:51 GMT20120316093351Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:33:51 GMT20120316093351Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:28:09 GMT20120316122809With the demise of the Connexions service, Futures are still committed to doing all we can to help parents and careers help their sons and daughters with the complex decisions and transitions that face them. With this in mind, February saw the launch of a new initiative, &8216;Parents Today&8217;, a free online support and news service for local parents. Although the service is available on theparentpoint.com website, we&8217;re also inviting schools to raise awareness of this support as a way of extending a helping hand to your parents and carers and showing your commitment to positive futures for your students. Schools can either forward an e-mail to parents or include a PDF of the newsletter with parent mailings. For more information on how to get involved, please e-mail Sheron Hambly or call on: 0115 960 1560&12288; We would also welcome ideas and suggestions for content for future newsletters.Take a look at Parents Today&8230;http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=529Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:10:55 GMT20120305011055Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:10:55 GMT20120305011055Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:02:13 GMT20120305030213TES Growing Ambitions is an appealing website with career pathways, an A-Z of careers, FAQs and much more support for careers professionals and students. It aims to &8216;provide information and advice for teachers and careers professionals to help channel the aspirations of young people. The website hosts a rich bank of multimedia resources that can be downloaded and used in lessons to help students make informed choices about their future&8217;.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=528Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:06:16 GMT20120305010616Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:06:16 GMT20120305010616Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:03:52 GMT20120305030352Companies and charities will be paid more than &163;2,000 for every jobless young person they place in employment or education, Nick Clegg announced on February 21st. Full details of this scheme, part of the Youth Contract, are yet to emerge, but the Government has pledged to focus on the development of opportunities for 16-17 year olds who are &8216;NEET&8217; and have no GCSEs A-C. This is an attempt to head off the long term disengagement that people often suffer following early experiences of long term unemployment. Citing the myriad problems that teenagers face, including teenage pregnancy, truancy, health problems and a lack of GCSEs, the Deputy Prime Minister said, "Sitting at home with nothing to do when you're so young can knock the stuffing out of you for years. We urgently need to step up efforts to ensure some of our most troubled teenagers have the skills, confidence and opportunities to succeed. It is a tragedy for the young people involved - a ticking time bomb for the economy and our society as a whole." The government is only interested in &8216;results&8217; and so organisations will be given no official remit to follow and the government are specifically looking for innovative ideas. Charities and businesses will receive an initial payment for taking on a young person, followed by additional funds when they start an apprenticeship, progress through a training programme or stay in a job for a sustained period of time, thought to be at least a year. More from the DfE websitehttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=527Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:49:24 GMT20120305124924Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:49:24 GMT20120305124924Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:49:24 GMT20120305124924The planning for 2012&8217;s What Next Fair is now well underway for the expanded event at Harvey Hadden Stadium in Nottingham on the 9th and 10th October. Following the recent invites to schools to attend on the 10th, we&8217;ve already had taken a number of bookings and would like to remind schools that whilst the event will include the usual wide range of exhibitors offering opportunities to your Year 11 students, we are also expanding the provision for post-16 students with a focus on alternatives to traditional HE, such as post 18 apprenticeships, and sponsored full and part time degrees. So, now, schools are welcome to bring any of your students from Years 11, 12 and 13 to the event on October 10th. As in previous years, the two evenings will be open to the public and last year saw excellent attendance from parents with students in the evenings. News for Exhibitors We are pleased to confirm that there will be no price increase for exhibitors for 2012. Costs for exhibitor stands and advertising are being pegged at 2011 prices. Formal invites will be sent out to exhibitors later this month. Transport to the fair&8230; Due in part to the withdrawal of Aimhigher funding for transport, there was a slight drop in student numbers during the day last year and unfortunately, we are in the same funding position this year. However, there are two potential ways forward with transport costs if you are thinking of attending: - hopefully it is early enough in the year to look at securing funding from your SLT or perhaps collaborate with other schools in your area; - If you&8217;re a City school buying services from Nottingham City LA, you may be able to access funding for transport to the event. Funding is limited and will be awarded on a first come first served basis. Please contact us to find out more. Finally, we are very grateful to the two local authorities and the Board of Futures for their continued support and to all our exhibitors who support the event through their financial contributions. Without them and schools&8217; continued support in attending the event, we could not continue to offer young people and their parents this chance to explore their future at a time when they are facing difficult challenges in finding learning and employment opportunities. We hope you can again bring students along, take a stand to promote your organisation or promote the event to your students and parents. For more details or any enquiries, please:e-mail whatnext@futuresnn.co.uk or CALL 0115 960 1571.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=526Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:27:35 GMT20120305122735Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:27:35 GMT20120305122735Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:40:42 GMT20120305034042With high youth unemployment and concerns about tuition fees and the career management and skills development of the UK workforce, there&8217;s perhaps never been a more important time for the careers community to rally round and shout up! Well, &8216;National Careers Week&8217; (March 5th- 9th) aims to be a &8216;national celebration of all things careers education and guidance&8217;, with a high profile spotlight on &8216;careers&8217; issues and services. There is a particular emphasis on the array of free resources and services available both to individuals and learning organisations and many of these can be found on the event&8217;s website, where our own Passportfolio has been showcased as one of the resources now openly available to anyone in the UK. Furthermore, with schools now required to purchase or provide their own careers guidance, this focus on free services provides a timely opportunity for Futures to again remind local schools of our free support services. Essentially, Futures are still trying to offer a foundation stone of provision to underpin the wider support to your students. Our services provide reliable and flexible resources that can be plugged into your programme, modules and events. Our free online services combine the best local advice integrated with many of the other free national online sources and so, together, provide a one stop progression hub for you and your students. The free websites that you and your students and parents can still access are: - Passportfolio.com (incorporating the local prospectus, MyChoiceNotts.com): free, online career planner with Options@18 and Extra Support modules - SortItOnline.com: progression information site, incorporating Fetch (the best of the web for careers), &8216;World of Work&8217; LMI, national sites and online videos - TheParentPoint.com: free advice and support for local parents and careers -&12288;&12288;&12288; In addition, other free services include: Progression support for students at the What Next Fair (October) Word on Work LMI Blog &8211; get regular updates on the latest local and national trends and happenings in your inbox What Work &8211; local LMI guide, web version available from SortItOnline Parents Today &8211; new careers support service for parents and carers So, when the National Careers Week&8217;s spotlight is on the careers community&8217;s free services, we hope that our websites, news services and events continue to offer reliable support in the local push to ensure brighter futures for our young people.&12288;http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=525Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:24:11 GMT20120305122411Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:24:11 GMT20120305122411Mon, 05 Mar 2012 13:19:53 GMT20120305011953One in three schools have no plans to fulfil their new duty to provide careers advice for their pupils, a new survey by the Institute of Career Guidance (ICG) has found. &8216;Facing Up to The Future&8217; explores how the demise of Connexions and the legal duty for schools to "secure access to independent and impartial" careers guidance is impacting on young people&8217;s futures. Although 98 per cent of respondents believed face-to-face guidance is "very important" or "quite important", less than half said their school is planning to purchase impartial career guidance services from external careers guidance providers or independent careers advisers. All of this means that the closure of Connexions services had adversely affected four out of five of the 238 schools surveyed, half of which now have a "reduced" or "seriously reduced" careers service for pupils, with 13% saying they had no plans to provide any guidance services. Sarah Finnegan-Dehn, the ICG president, warned that websites and helplines should not replace face-to-face guidance for young people, claiming that "a postcode lottery is developing in England with schools free to decide about the scope, extent and quality of the career education, guidance and support their pupils need and how it should be accessed". "It is baffling to think that funding cannot be made available to ensure that young people who need help to think about their future plans are given the opportunity to access careers guidance from a qualified careers adviser. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the provision of external, independent and impartial career guidance continues to be funded by the public sector." Among the ICG&8217;s recommendations were calls for schools to: avoid approaches that risk the &8216;horizons of some young people being narrow and their aspirations limited through paucity of support to identify opportunities, to find the best pathways for them and work out how to achieve their potential&8217;; &8216;ensure that there are suitably qualified careers professionals that can provide high quality careers guidance&8217;. More on this report from the ICG An interesting counter-point to this report came recently from Nick Gibb, Minister of State for Schools, towards the end of a parliamentary response to a question from Frank Field about whether there were plans for academy schools without post-16 provision to establish post-16 courses within the academy itself to ensure that all Year 11 pupils participate in education or training post-16. Mr Gibb responded that &8216;Raising the participation age &8230;does not mean that young people will be required to stay at school. Young people will be required to participate in education or training but can choose to do so through a number of routes: full-time education, which may be at a school but also at a college or otherwise; an apprenticeship, or full-time work with part-time education alongside. There is no expectation that any schools, including academies, will need to establish post-16 courses unless they wanted to do so. It is for local authorities to identify the educational needs of young people in its area, and the needs of employers, and to ensure this is reflected in the provision that is made available&8217;. Then, emphasising the Government expectations for school-based guidance, Nick Gibb went on to say&8230; &8216;From September, schools will be placed under a duty to secure access to independent and impartial careers guidance on the full range of 16 to 18 education and training options so that young people will be given clear advice and supported onto the post-16 provision which is most appropriate for them&8217;.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=524Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:24:45 GMT20120305112445Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:24:45 GMT20120305112445Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:10:04 GMT20120305031004Our course leaders have a vast wealth of practical insights and experience of advising organisations how to effectively manage safety risks and resources. Ensure safety in your workplace using the latest advice and techniques with Futures&8217; flexible and great value IOSH-approved course. The four day training covers all the key health and safety requirements, provides practical solutions and includes a variety of learning resources. All at the bargain price of &163;365. You would be welcome on our course in April (18th, 19th, 25th, 26th), but we can also deliver courses on dates to suit you and your staff at either our or your own premises. Read more...http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=523Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:21:51 GMT20120305112151Mon, 05 Mar 2012 11:21:51 GMT20120305112151Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:08:05 GMT20120305030805At a time of significant change and major announcements for the world of CEIAG, Career Mark is going through a number of improvements to respond to the new legislative requirements. I&8217;ll briefly outline these later in this article, but, first of all let&8217;s celebrate a bit of good news, as locally many of our schools are powering ahead with Career Mark: congratulations to South Wolds, Selston and Elizabethan High, all of whom at the time of writing have passed their health-check and are just waiting for their on-site assessments; these are being closely followed by Tuxford, National, Ashfield, Quarrydale and White Hills Park, all of whom are nearly ready for assessment. Well done to you all!&12288; And further afield I&8217;m very pleased to report that Career Mark now has a national profile. Ever since its inception in 1995 Career Mark has concentrated on its East Midlands heartland, but now we have schools in East Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Surrey and London all signed up and achieving our award. These schools could have chosen their own local awards but by choosing Carer Mark they recognise that ours is a cut above the rest.&12288; This obviously pleases us and I hope it makes all our Career Mark schools proud to have an award which has a national following. The recently published Education Act has had a big impact on Career Mark. First of all, the changes to careers education and guidance have required Career Mark to update its standards. Secondly, the closure of the Connexions Service has required Career Mark to alter its arrangements for supporting schools. Finally, Career Mark itself, along with all the other quality awards, now has to pass its own quality award, the &8216;Quality in Careers Standard&8217;. Let&8217;s have a look at each of these changes in turn... Updating the Standards The new Education Act transfers responsibility for providing impartial careers education and guidance from local authorities to schools and, closely linked to this, comes the closure of the Connexions Service to schools from April 2012. From September, schools will be free to choose for themselves who they contract with to deliver impartial careers guidance. This has necessitated changes to both the &8216;Management&8217; and &8216;Advice and Guidance&8217; Standards. Furthermore, throughout the standards all reference to Connexions has been removed.&12288; So, from September we will be implementing Career Mark 6. Don&8217;t be too alarmed though! We have kept the changes to a minimum and the format and framework remains unchanged. So, if you are part way though CM 5, it&8217;s very easy to transfer to CM 6. Support to Schools Throughout Career Mark&8217;s long history specialist support has been available from expert staff from, firstly, within the Careers Service and, latterly, from Connexions. With the closure of Connexions we have been forced to have a re &8211;think. We are in the process of significantly overhauling the Career Mark website to provide more online support to schools. The new site will feature on-line tutorials, an email help line and a members&8217; forum so that you can help each other. For those organisations still wanting to access individual support, Career Mark will maintain a central team of assessors and advisers. Unfortunately the withdrawal of statutory funding for this area of work means that you will have to pay for this support.&12288;&12288; The &8216;Quality in Careers Standard&8217; As part of the new Education Act the Government has introduced a quality assurance process for all careers quality awards. Career Mark has just registered its intention to apply for assessment. So now we know exactly what it&8217;s like to be in your shoes! We are currently writing our storyboard and creating a portfolio of evidence. &8230;and an update on Career Mark management All these changes have prompted a total overhaul of the Career Mark structures. Firstly, Career Mark is now centralised in Nottingham, here in Futures HQ, which should be great news for our local providers.&12288; &12288; Secondly, we are introducing a completely new membership and pricing structure. The biggest change is the simplification and reduced cost of revalidation (I hear loud cheers from all Career Mark schools for this). We will be consulting on these proposals very shortly. Thirdly, we have introduced a Career Mark Gold Award for any organisation which achieves Career Mark for the 3rd time. This is in recognition of their outstanding commitment to providing the highest quality careers programmes over many years. So, it&8217;s certainly a busy time for Career Mark and you can keep up to date with all the news and latest support at: www.careermark.co.ukhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=522Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:58:10 GMT20120305105810Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:58:10 GMT20120305105810Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:28:30 GMT20120307112830The National Career Guidance Show NorthSaviles Hall, Opposite the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds23 February 2012 Returning for a second successful year, The National Career Guidance Show North is the leading event for career professionals, taking place in Leeds on 23 February 2012. Free to visit, The National Career Guidance Show North gives visitors: &8226; Popular and relevant seminars all CPD certified by the Institute of Career Guidance &8226; Over 50 offering the latest careers resources and information from a range of industries, including www.passportfolio.com your free online careers planner &8226; A chance to network and share best practice with colleagues from across the UK Ideal for practitioners, advisers, teachers, managers, career guidance students and policy makers; working with young people and adults in all aspects of career guidance. The National Career Guidance Show North will help visitors find the resources they need to provide a professional service for their clients and students. Organisations including sector skills councils, employers, training and education providers and examination boards will be there to meet visitors in a relaxed, informal environment. Passportfolio is located at stand 33 and will be there to offer advice on how this free online careers planner can support your organisation. There are also similar events being held in London and Edinburgh. Visit www.nationalcareerguidanceshow.com/site/14/Welcome.html to find out more about the event, or www.passportfolio.com to find out more about Passportfolio.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=474Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:02:26 GMT20120118040226Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:02:26 GMT20120118040226Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:24:34 GMT20120119042434This year&8217;s Apprenticeship Week takes place from Mon 6th &8211; Friday 10th February. The event raises the profile of apprenticeships amongst employers, individuals, teachers, parents and the media. For more on what&8217;s happening and ways to get involved go to the &8216;Apprenticeships.org&8217; website.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=473Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:19:53 GMT20120117031953Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:19:53 GMT20120117031953Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:53:29 GMT20120119045329With high youth unemployment, &8216;careers&8217; services cuts in many parts of the UK and concerns about the career management and skills development of the UK workforce, there&8217;s perhaps never been a more important time for the careers community to rally round and shout up! The &8216;National Careers Week&8217; (March 5th- 9th) aims to be a &8216;national celebration of all things careers education and guidance&8217;. We&8217;ll keep you posted with further news about local and national careers happenings!http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=472Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:17:50 GMT20120117031750Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:17:50 GMT20120117031750Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:25:10 GMT20120119042510The &8216;Year in Industry&8217; Midlands Recruitment Event is taking place at Derby&8217;s Pride Park in February, 2012. Students must have already been shortlisted for interview and need to book to attend - more event info or More about &8216;The Year In Industry&8217;.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=471Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:16:47 GMT20120117031647Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:16:47 GMT20120117031647Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:12:12 GMT20120119051212It&8217;s good to see the national &8216;ICT in CEG&8217; Conference and Exhibition returning to the schedule for 2012. This event always proves popular and this year sees keynote speakers David Andrews, OBE, and Paul Chubb of Careers England, line up alongside the promised and usually packed programme of workshops, presentations and exhibitions. The emphasis is always on practical innovation and each of the two days has a specific focus, &8216;post-16 and adults&8217; and &8216;key stages 3 & 4&8217;. Key themes include webinars and careers, time management in the virtual world, &8216;Facebook&8217; in Careers, VLE/MLE compliant CEIAG support systems and digital careers information. Exhibitors include Career Mark, Investors in Careers, Matrix and Passportfolio.&8232;Event details: 1st - 2nd March, Monkbar Hotel, York&8232;More information: Visit www.cegnet.co.uk/ictinceiaghttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=470Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:15:03 GMT20120117031503Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:15:03 GMT20120117031503Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:15:03 GMT20120117031503Just before Christmas we had the great news that What Next will go ahead in 2012. We have booked Harvey Hadden Stadium in Nottingham for the 9th and 10th October and invites will be going out to schools and exhibitors in the next few weeks. As in previous years, there will be two evenings open to the public, whilst schools will be invited to attend with their students during the day on the 10th. Whilst the event will include the usual wide range of exhibitors offering opportunities to your Year 11 students, we are also aiming to greatly expand the provision for post-16 students with a focus on alternatives to traditional HE, such as post 18 apprenticeships, and sponsored full and part time degrees. So, now, schools are welcome to bring any of your students from Years 11, 12 and 13 to the event on October 10th.Although we had excellent numbers of parents attending in the evening, the 2011 Fair saw a fall in the number of students attending during the day. This was due in part to the withdrawal of Aimhigher funding for transport and unfortunately we are in the same position this year. However, if you are thinking of attending, hopefully it is early enough in the year to look at securing funding from your SLT or perhaps collaborate with other schools in your area.We had more 6th forms exhibiting last year than ever before and have already had new advance bookings for 2012. If your school hasn&8217;t attended before and you&8217;d like to find out more please get in touch with us (0115 960 1571).We are very grateful to the two local authorities and the Board of Futures for their continued support and to all our exhibitors who support the event through their financial contributions. Without them and schools&8217; continued support in attending the event, we could not continue to offer young people and their parents this chance to explore their future at a time when they are facing difficult challenges in finding learning and employment opportunities.We hope you can again bring students along, take a stand to promote your organisation or promote the event to your students and parents.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=469Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:12:55 GMT20120117031255Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:12:55 GMT20120117031255Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:09:15 GMT20120119050915Work has now concluded on creating the new over-arching standard for careers awards. The &8216;Quality in Careers Standard&8217; (QiCS) should receive ministerial approval shortly. All current awards, including Career Mark, must meet this standard if they wish to continue. A QiCS Council has been formed and we anticipate that first quality award accreditations will take place in spring. Career Mark is currently preparing its portfolio for assessment and expects to be amongst the first to be approved. The Career Mark management team is confident of meeting the standard: one of its staff sat on the Task Group creating the standard and, on paper, in its current format, it does meet all the requirements of the standard. The good news for our schools is that this process itself raises the standard for quality awards in careers guidance. The Government thinks they are a good idea and will say so when it launches the QiCS. So, schools nationwide can be assured that by working towards a QiCS quality-assured award, such as Career Mark, they will be achieving an award which is nationally acclaimed. We know too that QiCS is in consultation with Ofsted on how they will accommodate the standard within their inspections.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=468Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:10:33 GMT20120117031033Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:10:33 GMT20120117031033Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:08:09 GMT20120119050809The DfE is in the final stages of producing statutory guidance for schools covering their new responsibilities for CEIAG. The final guidance note should be published within the next month or so. It will advise schools on what they will need to put in place to secure independent impartial CEIAG from next September when the new legislative responsibilities come into force. Following publication e-connected will feature a full editorial, helping you to work through the implications of the new responsibilities.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=467Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:08:05 GMT20120117030805Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:08:05 GMT20120117030805Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:06:55 GMT20120119050655Our virtual library and e-careers education course received great feedback and so we&8217;ve decided to offer the course again! Thank you to the 19 teachers and librarians who attended our recent Careers Information in a Digital Age workshop. We had some great feedback and an added bonus to the day was the opportunity to network with others doing similar work. Participants found the &8216;hands on&8217; session particularly useful - the chance to spend time researching tools online (like cartoon makers, mind maps and more) is a rare treat for most of us these days! For those of you who couldn&8217;t make the workshop, we are very pleased to be able to announce a repeat day in the spring if you&8217;d like to update your knowledge on Web2.0, how it can engage young learners and building a virtual library, please get in touch. Please note: the workshop is also ideal for subject teachers, as the careers element is only a small part of what we will learn on the day. Please e-mail info@futuresNN.co.uk if you&8217;d like us to contact you with the course details.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=438Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:31:25 GMT20111207123125Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:31:25 GMT20111207123125Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:23:36 GMT20111212122336You can now keep up to date with employability news and hear about good practice by following us on Twitter. So, you could be the first to hear about local events, national strategy and professional support and awareness direct to e-mail or your mobile! What&8217;s more, our facebook page for young people (or their parents, careers, teachers and advisers!) now has lots of fans and we use it to put out useful information to teenagers about vacancies, new opportunities, the world of work, important deadlines, local events from providers and other useful news. As you know, using facebook means that we are able to get important &8216;progression and opportunity&8217; messages out to teenagers in the space they regularly use. You could be a fan too or link your students and parents to these Facebook updates on your own website (even if you and they can&8217;t access it in your learning organisation). Here&8217;s where you can find us&8230; Facebook: www.facebook.com/cnxnotts Twitter: www.twitter.com/Futures_NNhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=435Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:15:45 GMT20111202041545Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:15:45 GMT20111202041545Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:11:47 GMT20111207121147www.passportfolio.com our unique, comprehensive online careers planner has now been launched nationally. After the site&8217;s success in Nottinghamshire, nearly twenty local authority areas are already planning to introduce this fantastic free resource to their schools and young people. The site has been updated to include the latest national information about options and careers, and now links to the local prospectus for each area. New Post 18 zone A new post 18 zone has also been added, with up to date information about tuition fees, part time study, apprenticeships, study abroad and much more. Ideal for 6th form, college, adult learners or younger students planning their next steps. Go to www.passportfolio.com/post18 to find out more. Passportfolio for Foundation Learners On top of the CV builder, skills diagnostics, online record of achievement and action planner, we have now embellished site with a new, more accessible version of Passportfolio for students on Foundation Learning. Called &8216;Passportfolio Extra&8217;, this specially designed site contains specific qualifications and options information as well as a learning styles quiz designed for students studying at Level One and below. Supporting Career Mark One of the most complete packages around, Passportfolio can help schools, colleges and providers to meet many of the Career Mark (or other careers quality award) standards. Contact us (Passportfolio@futuresnn.co.uk) for more details about how Passportfolio can help you with this. No licence fees We&8217;ve taken the decision to provide this high quality careers and IAG resource for free to young people, schools, colleges and providers. You don&8217;t need to pay for yearly licences and can access staff training from just &163;150 per half day. Training includes everything you need to get started on the site including support resources and access to monitor your students&8217; progress. To find out more about Passportfolio or to ask about training, contact us at: Passportfolio@futuresnn.co.ukhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=434Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:10:40 GMT20111202031040Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:10:40 GMT20111202031040Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:21:44 GMT20111212122144AllAboutCareers www.allaboutcareers.com This is a social careers information website for 16-24 year olds so it covers graduate employment as well as providing careers information for school leavers. I like its style. You can filter the information depending on your stage, so for the sectors, once you&8217;ve chosen one of the 24 work areas you can select the stage your at for appropriate info. As far as &8216;job profiles&8217; go, the text is not as dry as Jobs4U was and offers far more interactive searching along chosen career paths. The forums are great for peer to peer advice and related news, features, case studies and blogs add new viewpoints from those immersed in those fields. The only thing I&8217;d say is that it takes quite a few clicks to get to the actual job descriptions &8211; if you think you know the job title, better to use the search field. Other useful features include UCAS info and writing personal statements, CV tips, why work experience is important, apprenticeships and much more. If you sign up you can get your own, personalised careers information feed and you can do the careers matching test and join in the forums. Helen Janotahttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=433Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:06:54 GMT20111202030654Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:06:54 GMT20111202030654Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:26:06 GMT20111205102606We&8217;re constantly hearing from policy makers and employers about how young people need to improve their employability skills to succeed in an increasingly competitive education and employment market. We also know that an awareness of the world of work can help young people understand the skills, attitudes and qualifications they need to be successful in their future lives and therefore lead to increased motivation and improved attainment. To help you get an insight into the latest developments and discover new ideas on how to deliver employability skills and careers and labour market information, Futures are pleased to invite you to an event in February that will also help you better support your students&8217; achievement and progression. Who should attend: Careers co-ordinators, work experience/work related learning co-ordinators/ subject teachers with an interest in careers, sixth form staff, SLT with curriculum responsibilities and progress leaders. Date: February 28th, 2012 - 9.00 arrival - 9.30 start 12.30Venue: Newstead Miners Welfare The programme will include: - a focus on employability: an interpretation of latest policy developments, including an employer perspective - a choice of 2 practical good practice workshops - lunch and networking The cost for the event will be &163;55 You will be able to choose from the following workshops: Employability &8220;Employers are looking for people with the core literacy, numeracy and employability skills required for any role &8211; basic common sense, an understanding of the workplace disciplines around attendance and timekeeping and the ability to behave and interact appropriately with colleagues in the workplace environment.&8221; (CBI, Action for Jobs) Hear from local employers representing growth businesses in Nottinghamshire, find out what they are looking for in new recruits and how they can help you shape and develop the skills of the future workforce. Passportfolio &8211; your students&8217; digital connection to the future! Free, high quality comprehensive online progression planning and IAG for young people. Find out how this fantastic free resource can support your establishment in helping students plan and manage their future. A good introduction for new users, or, update on latest developments for current users of the site. LMI The labour market is changing at a rapid pace. Update your knowledge with the latest information and data on the changing world of work and the skills and qualifications that young people need for employment. Includes engaging ways of introducing labour market information to young people. Using IT to deliver careers information in a digital age The potential of new technologies to engage young people with careers information is huge. This workshop will help you to feel more confident about using Web2.0 technology to deliver careers information in the classroom. Includes an introduction to young people&8217;s learning and information behaviour in a digital environment. Connecting to the Future! Motivating your students to achieve by exploring the links between subjects and careers, with a focus on local, regional and national Labour Market Information. Work experience - A life changing experience? How work experience can raise aspiration and lead to achievement for your students. Explore the value of work experience placements and consider how recent policy changes might affect your policies in school. We will explore best practice, building relationships with employers and how work experience can support learners with special educational needs and those on vocational pathways. To register your interest or find out more, please email us now!http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=432Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:45:53 GMT20111202024553Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:45:53 GMT20111202024553Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:28:02 GMT20111205102802Employers and educators appear to be in agreement about the value of meaningful, high quality work placements for young people to help them make positive transitions in learning and work. Employers are going so far as to call for the right to work experience to be retained&8230;&8220;We recommend the Department for Education retains the right to work experience for all 14-16 year-olds in England. The right should not just be maintained: government in all parts of the UK should go further to ensure work experience is a must-do for schools, with schools measured on the quality of preparation, the experience itself and reflective learning after the event.&8221; (CBI Action for Jobs 2011). There is good reason for this. Work experience delivers learning at a deep level as it is experience based; young people learn through direct contact with adults in a real workplace and undertake real work. It can be a life-changing experience for many young people, increasing their self confidence and maturity and having a subsequent impact on their motivation and attainment in school. The changes in funding for work experience therefore present schools with a real challenge &8211; how to continue to deliver the same level of learning to as many students as possible. Some schools may be considering the option of expanding their use of simulated work based scenarios and virtual learning. These activities have a place in any quality careers education/work-related learning or personal development programme but there are key points to consider: &183; In simulations, young people still occupy the role of students, usually in a group of peers, rather than as an &8220;adult at work&8221;. While skills can be developed and experiences put into context, the scope for learning through an actual work placement can be much greater. &183; There is a risk of lost fidelity with work simulations, as they can provide a limited and false view of reality, for example the ease of setting up and running a business. &183; Simulations are valuable in providing students with experiences of roles that they would not be able to access through work experience. &183; Simulations offer relatively controlled opportunities for career learning. However, it is also possible to control learning outcomes for work experience through accreditation programmes. In many schools, the lack of work experience will remove the practical aspect of careers education and work-related learning programmes, which are often closely linked; mock interviews will have less value without an immediate link to work and other lessons may become increasingly academic. Ironically some schools may now find they have an additional week for their careers education programme if they are not sending students on work experience. However, in the words of one Nottinghamshire careers-co-ordinator &8220;it would take more than five days worth of lessons to deliver anywhere near the same level of learning as a five day work experience placement&8221;. Want to find out more about work experience in Nottinghamshire?Call: 0115 960 1571 or check out our Education and Learning Prospectushttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=431Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:23:25 GMT20111202022325Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:23:25 GMT20111202022325Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:28:35 GMT20111205102835Introduction The Education Bill completed its passage through Parliament in mid November and will be implemented from 1st April 2012. It has seismic consequences for the way that careers education, careers guidance and work related learning are delivered. Four parts of the Bill are of particular interest to those with responsibility for the development of employability skills of students in school: From September 2012, work experience will no longer be a statutory responsibility; From September 2012, careers education will no longer be a statutory responsibility; From April 2012, the Connexions Service to schools nationwide will close and schools will become responsible for ensuring that all their students have access to impartial, independent careers guidance; From September 2012 schools will be accountable for a &8216;destination measure&8217; of pupil progression. In Government terminology these changes are &8216;permissive&8217;. This means that although the Government is removing the statutory responsibility on schools it still expects schools to undertake them. The Government is merely &8216;permitting&8217; schools to exercise their own discretion as to how they implement them to best suit their own local circumstances. In short the Government is removing the statute but not the expectation. Let&8217;s have a look in a bit more detail&8230; Work Experience For the past 10 years or so the entire structure of work experience nationwide has been organised to accommodate the mass participation of KS4 students. Education Business Partnerships were created and funded by the Government to support this. In Nottinghamshire, Education Business Futures (formerly NEBA), arranged some 19,000 work experience placements each year that were accessed by schools, resulting in some 12,000 KS4 students participating in work experience. From April 2011 the Government subsidy for work experience was withdrawn, resulting in an immediate price increase. From September 2012, work experience opportunities will be entirely at head-teachers&8217; discretion. Careers Education Careers Education is currently a statutory responsibility from Year 7-11. This responsibility will no longer apply from September 2012, from which point it will be entirely at the discretion of head-teachers. However, the Government is still stating that schools should take responsibility for the career development of their students, merely that it is not the Governments job to instruct schools to do it. As if to emphasise this, the Government will increase the status of careers education quality awards, such as CareerMark, by requiring awards to be nationally accredited. Impartial, Independent Careers Guidance Since April 2003 the Connexions Service (and before that the Careers Service) has been provided from central government funding to support young people&8217;s inclusion, progression planning and employability skills development. This has been done in partnership with various organisations including schools. Although the Coalition Government believes that young people should acquire employability skills and believes in the partnership approach to young people&8217;s career development, it no longer sees this as a Government responsibility to fund or direct this. So, from April 2012, the Connexions Service to schools will close and schools will become personally responsible for ensuring that all their students have access to impartial, independent careers guidance. This must be done in partnership with an external provider, which schools will be required to purchase. We are still waiting for clarification of any specific minimum requirements. However, it is clear that schools will be given considerable discretion as to what they purchase, how much they purchase and who they purchase from. Destination Measure The Government intends putting in place two destination measures for schools, one at the end of Key Stage 4 and one at the end of Key Stage 5. The measures will show the destination of students in the year after they leave school or their post-16 provider. This will be &8216;aggregated data&8217; and will not drill down to individual pupil destinations. At the same time, the existing responsibility placed on local authorities for NEET statistics will remain. There is a close fit between destination statistics and NEET statistics and it is not clear how these two responsibilities will align. What this means for Connexions in Nottinghamshire? Given that &8216;Futures&8217; holds the contract for the delivery of the Connexions service, for the work experience service and for supporting schools to deliver high quality careers education, these legislative changes will have a significant impact on the company. In some parts of the country equivalent organisations have already closed, or are planning to close from April 2012. This is not the case for Futures. The impending legislative changes will impact significantly on our &8216;modus operandi&8217;, but the company does remain robust and solvent. Futures is wholly owned by Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council and both remain committed to its continued existence. Futures is a &8216;not for profit&8217; company and does not seek to exploit any individual or organisation for commercial gain. Futures operates according to the core ethical principles defined by our professional lead body, we hold the MATRIX standard, the Investors in People standard and the Award for Education Business Excellence. Moreover, Future holds the &8216;Next Step&8217; contract for the East Midlands and as such will become the &8216;National Careers Service&8217; from next April. Also from next April, Futures will be contracted by both local authorities to support the new targeted and integrated youth support service. In addition, Futures will continue to make the case for high quality &8216;employability skills&8217; development in schools and colleges, including impartial and independent careers guidance. With the state of youth employment, it is more important than ever that Nottingham and Nottinghamshire students are given the best possible preparation for their future success and progression in an increasingly competitive labour market. Gary Longden Deputy Chief Executivehttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=430Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:16:34 GMT20111202021634Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:16:34 GMT20111202021634Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:16:34 GMT20111202021634Another free, e-newsletter from Futures. Are you signed up? Keep up to date with the latest LMI for you and your students! E-connectEd is not Futures' only free news service. Helen Janota, our LMI guru, also supplies her weekly LMI blog, which is a great way of keeping you, your colleagues and your students in touch with labour market happenings and trends, locally, nationally and beyond. To get your regular fix of LMI news, sign up for Helen's 'Word on Work' blog now!http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=429Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:40:22 GMT20111201024022Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:40:22 GMT20111201024022Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:29:40 GMT20111212122940We've published 'The Complete Employability Toolkit', a brief guide to services, and you can get more details about Futures' services from our online prospectus. You may well have seen a copy of our new prospectus of services for 2012-13 and discussed our offers with your Personal Adviser, but if it's passed you by or you'd like to see more details about the services and how they could help you deliver your programmes, then you can find our online version and explore our services at: www.FuturesNN.co.uk/ed-prospectushttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=428Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:37:48 GMT20111201023748Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:37:48 GMT20111201023748Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:38:38 GMT20111201023838'Connexions' and Futures are still delivering free support publications and websites for students and school and college practitioners for the coming year... Websites: -Sortitonline, Passportfolio/MyChoiceNotts and theParentPoint.com and are still free to the public and schools (probably at least until March 2012). -SortItonline will see some changes soon, becoming more concentrated on jobs, careers, learning and choices and reflecting the loss of and changes to the Connexions Direct and Jobs4U services. -FuturesNN.co.uk: We have now launched the new FuturesNN.co.uk website for schools, colleges, employers and partners. This site will eventually fully replace the cnxnotts.co.uk website and carries our prospectuses (including our forthcoming Primary prospectus). Publications: We are hoping to produce some 'free to user' publications for Year 11s and parents/carers, including What Next and What Work. NOTE: Localised What Work: We are also able to offer localised, tailored versions of What Work for a charge (prdedicated versions prepared for some areas already). Other services: -LMI services: In addition to What Work, we are currently planning for there to be free What Work / LMI e-zines for students too (available via SortItOnline). -Opportunities Fair: plans are already in place for an Opportunities Fair in early October (4th/5th). Updates: e-ConnectEd: We will keep you schools informed of these developments and services through e-ConnectEd: please e-mail us if you're not receiving e-ConnectEd and want to! Any questions or ideas? Please contact Paul Foreman.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=239Thu, 05 May 2011 15:24:38 GMT20110505032438Thu, 05 May 2011 15:24:38 GMT20110505032438Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:34:39 GMT20111208023439Futures are pleased to announce that our 5% Early Bird offer has been extended to MAY 31st! Some schools and colleges are still just finding out about all of the services we're offering and so, to be fair to all, we've decided to give longer for yout o take advantage of this offer! Want to catch that worm?! Contact our Prospectus Support Team (0115 9601571) or visit the online prospectus. There are other offers available too for partnerships, LMI, Employability Skills and bulk buys! Early bird offer: Book by May 31st to grab your discount!http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=225Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:29:14 GMT20110408022914Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:29:14 GMT20110408022914Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:25:42 GMT20110408042542By now your school or college should have received our 2011 prospectus of services. Our prospectus details the full portfolio of Futures products and services and covers: STEM Apprenticeships Teacher training progression planning Consultancy Partnership support Learner Voice And much more!!!! Some of the services and products in our prospectus are FREE and some are costed. Check out the prospectus online for more details on what we offer and how to order! Tell us what you think!!! We want to know what you think about our products and services, are we missing something you need? Talk to us or comment on this blog now!http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=209Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:56:16 GMT20110328045616Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:56:16 GMT20110328045616Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:43:31 GMT20110329104331Inspired by STEM What did your school do for Science and Engineering week in March? STEM subjects are exciting and can lead to interesting and rewarding careers. Education Business Futures works with schools to spice up their STEM curriculum. We&8217;d love to hear what activities you ran, especially if you have quotes from teachers and students that we can put on the STEMPOINT website. Did you want to run something but weren&8217;t sure what support was available? We can support you in accessing a wide range of activities and resources to promote careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. This includes STEM Ambassadors, a FREE resource providing curriculum activities for teachers and careers talks to students. We are also keen to recruit STEM Ambassadors amongst school governors and parents as this can help raise the profile of STEM in your school. To find out more contact Jacqui Aram, STEM Co-ordinator on 0115 9601540 or email Your experiences can help us develop what you need so tell us what you think! Check out our blog about a recent Maths day!http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=208Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:50:59 GMT20110328045059Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:50:59 GMT20110328045059Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:43:43 GMT20110329104343If you ever wanted to get your students inspired by maths then Nottingham Playhouse was the place to be on 17th March! Over 600 students from schools and colleges across the East Midlands came together to hear why it's worth studying maths and where it can lead. We learnt how maths has been used to learn juggling tricks from Colin Wright a marine engineer who stops ships from crashing together; Richard Lissaman explained how Google uses simultaneous equations and computer games use vectors and matrices; while Hugh Hunt used spinning tops, bicycle wheels, boomerangs and a gyroscope to demonstrate the laws of motion, even simulating how the Hubble telescope moves direction in space. GCSE and A&8217;level students from years 10 through to 13 were present and judging from the enthusiastic response of the audience it inspired plenty of future mathematicians. Many schools that have attended this show in the past were apparently unable to do so this year &8211; reference being made to getting teacher cover, student apathy and some schools no longer allowing school trips for Year 11. If you were unable to attend for whatever reason please get in touch so we can feed that back to the organisers &8211; it might help with timing and organising future events. If your school attended we&8217;d really like to hear from you and your students as you might be able to inspire other local schools who couldn&8217;t make it.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=207Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:47:08 GMT20110328044708Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:47:08 GMT20110328044708Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:43:55 GMT20110329104355The way the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) work with schools is changing ... From now on NAS will be focusing on engaging employers and will be doing a limited amount of work with schools on an individual basis. They are available to work with groups of schools and teachers and will be able to attend ASG/IAG meetings to present to school staff. Due to the changes in funding the LA have asked Connexions to concentrate on Year 11s in the Summer term so PAs may not be able to provide apprenticeship workshops for Year 10s as they would normally do. Many schools already deliver their own sessions on apprenticeships and each school should have received an Apprenticeship Resource Pack via their Connexions Adviser, this can also be accessed online. If this is not an option for you, our 14-19 team have a wealth of experience on apprenticeships and are able to offer workshops at a small cost. Check out Futures Apprenticeship specific services in our new prospectus.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=206Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:40:56 GMT20110328044056Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:40:56 GMT20110328044056Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:44:07 GMT20110329104407The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) need help to promote Apprenticeships to young people. So they would like every year 10, 11, 12 and 13 learner who is interested in getting more information about the range of Apprenticeships available in their area to send an email to eminfo@apprenticeships.gov.uk All they need to do is respond with the word learner, the name of their school and their full name in a return email. NAS also welcomes parents/guardians/teachers and advisors registering their details with the same email service. All they need to do is respond with the word parent/guardian/teacher/advisor, the name of their school and their full name in a return email. We will then send a response to each individual in the form of an e-shot. We can tailor the e-shot to individual needs, but in general we will include information to; Inform young people about what an Apprenticeship is Help them access and register their interest on Apprenticeship Vacancies online Inform young people of new Apprenticeship opportunities in their area Inform them of specific vacancies Offer tips for when applying for vacancies Highlight and support specific sector and/or employer demand in their area If possible, can you communicate this offer to all of your learners in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 as well as any other relevant age groups that might benefit? Thanks :0)http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=205Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:36:31 GMT20110328043631Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:36:31 GMT20110328043631Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:44:17 GMT20110329104417So the findings of the Wolf Report, commissioned to look at ways to improve the standard of vocational education for 14-19 year olds, were revealed on 3 March 2011. There's lots of interesting stuff in the report but we've highlighted some of the key recommendations. The report, which in particular highlights the importance of good information and guidance and employer engagement, is now in the hand of the Government. As we await to hear what the outcome is, below you&8217;ll find a few of the key highlights and recommendations: - There should be proper funding of internships for 16 to 18 year olds. - The report identifies Apprenticeships as a key route to skilled employment and national prosperity. The review recommends subsidies to employers involved in general education rather than specific skill training. - Young people who do not use up their time- based entitlement to education (including Apprenticeship) by the time they are 19, should be entitled to a credit towards education at a later date. - Children should study mainly academic subjects until they are 16, and those who have not secured a good pass in English and maths GCSE, should be made to continue to study those subjects. - Programmes for the lowest attaining learners &8211; including many of those with LDD (Learning Difficulties and Disabilities) &8211; should concentrate on the core academic skills of English and maths, and on work experience.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=204Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:32:36 GMT20110328043236Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:32:36 GMT20110328043236Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:44:26 GMT20110329104426On 26 January 2011, the Government published the Education Bill. Currently winding its way through the legislative process, section four of the Bill deals with careers education and guidance and some of the key highlights include: the closure of the Connexions Service and its replacement by an all age careers service by April 2012; a new statutory duty for schools to &8216;secure that all registered pupils at the school are provided with independent careers guidance&8217; between the ages of 14 and 16&8217;; the repeal of the statutory duty on schools in England to provide pupils with programmes of careers education; and the provision regarding data on pupils,designed to make it possible to generate data on pupil destinations after they leave school (or college). The Government intends to publish such information, as a means of encouraging schools to deliver good outcomes for pupils. The Bill has to undergo a number of readings and Committee stages in the House of Commons and House of Lords before a final reading in the Commons and receiving the Royal Assent. The Committee stage in the House of Commons will run from 1 March until 5 April 2011. The All Age Careers Service The Government plan that the new service will be fully implemented by April 2012. When it arrives it will be in four parts: A virtual service This will comprise a website and on-line helplines. This service is planned to be in place from September 2011. A service for vulnerable young people This service will be the responsibility of local authorities, who may choose to deliver it in-house as part of their integrated and targeted youth support services or may choose to subcontract to an external provider. (We are still waiting for a definition of &8216;vulnerable&8217;). A service to students in full time education This service will be individually contracted on an institution by institution basis from a list of nationally approved providers. (We are still waiting for clarity on whether this service is just for schools, or whether it also includes colleges. We are also waiting for clarity on age groups such as which of KS3, KS4 and KS5 are included? We don&8217;t yet have a definition of how an organisation registers to be included on the approved list of providers.) A service to those not in full-time education This service will be contracted centrally on a geographic basis yet to be defined. We anticipate that this will be a variation of the current Next Step service. Again, we still need some clarity on how this will look. Careers education In a parallel development the Education Bill removes the statutory requirement for careers education. Schools will be free to decide for themselves what careers education and work-related learning they wish to offer and to what quality level they want to offer it. Schools can deliver this themselves, they can contract it out or a combination of the two, as happens at present in many cases. Careers education will not form part of the all age careers service arrangements so will have to be funded from individual school budgets. However, the DfE has publicly stated its view that careers education is important and it intends to create a national quality kitemark for all careers education quality awards such as Career Mark. Work on this national kitemark has already commenced. Work-based learning At the time of writing, there has still been no announcement about central funding for education business partnerships and the Young Apprenticeship programme and it may be that from September 2011 there will be significant changes in this work area as well. There is no reference to work-based learning in the Bill but it is comprehensively covered by the Wolf Commission Report, which was submitted to Government on Thursday 3 March. The Wolf Report was commissioned by the Government to consider the organisation, funding and target audience for vocational education, and the principles that should underpin the content, structure and teaching methods. A central feature of work-based learning is work experience, which is currently a statutory responsibility in Key Stage 4. The Wolf report is very positive about the importance of work experience although it suggests that instead of work experience placements being compulsory for pre-16s, it would be preferable, particularly with the raising of the particapation age, to move this provision to 16-18 year olds. The report states: &8216;Helping young people to obtain genuine work experience &8211; and, therefore, what the CBI calls &8216;employability skills&8217; &8211; should be one of the highest priorities for 16-18 education policy in the next few years.&8217; The review puts a lot of emphasis on employer engagement to help young people develop the &8216;employability skills&8217; required from applicants. Our prospectus details all the work-based learning activities and products we offer that can be adapted to suit young people across all Key Stages, post16 and adults. The full report will now be digested by the Government and no doubt some of the report&8217;s suggestions will influence policy in this area. The report makes some interesting recommendations - you can peruse the full report at: www.education.gov.ukhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=203Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:24:36 GMT20110328042436Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:24:36 GMT20110328042436Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:30:03 GMT20110329103003Your Futures! We've set up a community, which is predominantly for teachers, school staff and careers professionals, to ask Futures professionals questions about legislative change, the future of careers guidance, Labour Market Information, employability skills and much more! There are lots of opportunities for you to chat with other professionals in our new forums or comment on our blogs. The Futures Community zone called My Futures on www.futuresnn.co.uk is your place to: ask questions about the future of CEIAG&8200;and work-based learning join discussions and forums about legislative change, impact on schoolsand colleges and Futures&8217; future catch up and comment on our blogs. Be in the know! Check it out and sign up today!http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=202Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:03:09 GMT20110328040309Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:03:09 GMT20110328040309Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:46:26 GMT20110329104626Public spending cuts are hitting many areas hard, we are obviously not immune to this. However, we've been luckier than many Connexions services, which have this month been forced to close their doors. Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Futures has secured funding, from the City and County Local Authorities to provide a Connexions Personal Adviser (PA) service to schools and colleges until April 2012, so for the next 12 months that service will be free of charge. However, the funding we have is significantly less than in previous years and has regrettably resulted in over 30 Adviser redundancies. This means that the level of service we offer will be reduced and it may mean that you have a different Link PA attached to your school. You will get the opportunity to discuss what the Connexions service to your school will be with your Link PA. Unfortunately, we no longer have any central funding to support curriculum development and work-related learning, and we are still waiting for news about whether or not there is any central funding to support employer engagement and work experience administration. Consequently, from April 2011 schools and colleges will have to pay for all curriculum support and work related learning activities and may have to pay the full market rate for work experience administration support. Schools are already used to paying for some of these activities, but from April the whole portfolio of services will be available from Futures on a costed basis (see The Futures prospectus). April 2012 onwardsAssuming that the legislative process concludes on time, then from April 2012 there will be an all age careers service in place and schools will have to buy the services they need for careers guidance, careers education and work-related learning.The Government has stated its intention to create a list of approved careers guidance providers from which each school is free to choose. Futures will be offering the full range of services that we currently provide and will negotiate with individual schools or with partnerships of schools the services they wish to buy from us. Approved list of Guidance PractitionersThe Government intends to create a national list of approved guidance providers. All schools must contract with one of the approved providers for the delivery of its impartial and independent careers guidance. The Silver Commission made a number of recommendations regarding approved providers and we assume they will form part of the selection critieria. While the criteria have not yet been clarified, and there is no indication yet as to whether &8216;sole trader&8217; guidance practitioners can be registered on the approved list, we believe they will include the following: a requirement for all guidance practitioners to be post-graduate qualified in careers guidance; a requirement for all guidance practitioners to demonstrate CPD; a requirement for all guidance practitioners to pass periodic assessment; a requirement for the employer of guidance practitioners to hold the MATRIX quality award for guidance; and a requirement for the employer of guidance practitioners to hold the Investors in People award for employee development. Our offer from April 2011In short, from April 2011 we will be offering exactly the same as we have been offering previously. The main difference might be that from April 2011, and certainly from April 2012 we will be charging for some or all of the services because the Government will no longer be providing central funding to offer them free of charge. To help schools manage this we have created our own prospectus which lists all the products and services we currently offer. The prospectus is divided into sections on: Work-related learning STEM Careers and progression planning Information, resources and online management Guidance services Quality and improvement services The prospectus offers a combination of products, training, delivery and consultancy and our packages cover all Key Stages, parents, school staff, Governors and adults. You will be familiar with some of these, such as work experience monitoring, but we hope that you will be surprised and excited by some of our other offers and look forward to discussing your requirements with you. Please email us at prospectus@futuresnn.co.uk for more details.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=201Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:16:51 GMT20110328021651Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:16:51 GMT20110328021651Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:42:14 GMT20110329104214There are still a few places left at this year's 14-19 conference and a mere couple of days to book your place. Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Futures and Nottingham Training Network are hosting the 2010 14-19 conference on Wednesday 2 February 2011. The conference will take place at the East Midlands Conference Centre at University Park. Keynote speakers will include: Anthony May - Director of Children and Young People&8217;s Services, Nottinghamshire LA Ian Curryer - Corporate Director for Children and Families, Nottingham City LA Peter Mitchell - Education Director, Edge and Chief Executive of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust Tom Winskill - HMI National Adviser 14-19, Ofsted Workshops include Labour Market Information work experience Foundation Learning in further education information, advice and guidance achieving the entitlement funding and commissioning learner voice post-16 inspection. Interested? Book now &8211; see flyer for details of how to book a place.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=158Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:19:23 GMT20110124041923Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:19:23 GMT20110124041923Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:34:14 GMT20110127023414In the last edition of ConnectED, we anounced that the latest edition of What Work? is now available for you to read and download. We are now pleased to add that printed copies are available! Unfortunately, while we can't offer free printed versions, we are pleased to offer you them at cost price. There is a minimum order of 250 BUT due to unprecedented demand we are planning a print run in February so order by February 18 2011 to benefit from bulk buy discounts!!! Why you should order your copy now! This magazine, which looks at the local labour market as well as other work-related topics, is out in a brand new format as well as a pdf version. What&8217;s inside? Future work trends Spotlight on job sectors in Nottinghamshire Interesting facts and figures Where to look for work Top tips for job applications The booklet can also be used in conjunction with some of the lesson plans A Journey into LMI: group work activities for Key Stage 4 which will be available to purchase in the next few weeks. To order your printed copies before February 18, then please email Helen at: Helen.janota@futuresnn.co.uk.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=157Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:13:51 GMT20110124041351Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:13:51 GMT20110124041351Tue, 29 Mar 2011 10:48:47 GMT20110329104847Apprenticeship Week is back for 2011! Apprenticeship Week is all about celebrating the successes of local Apprentices and raising the profile of Apprenticeships amongst employers, learners, parents, stakeholders and the media. This year, Apprenticeship week will take place between the 7 and 11 February. During the week, there will be lots going on in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to promote the Apprenticehip route to young people. You can find out more about Apprenticeship activity here on SortItOnline. At Connexions, we have lots of information for young people about the benefits and reality of Apprenticeships. You can check out all our Apprenticeship information on Vacancies Online.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=156Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:04:40 GMT20110124040440Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:04:40 GMT20110124040440Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:09:56 GMT20110127030956Here at Education Business Futures, we're committed to ensuring young people are prepared for a future in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) sector. We're sure that you share this vision. With this in mind, Education Business Futures would like to invite you to 'Meet an Ambassador. This FREE STEM Ambassador and teacher networking event will take place on Wednesday 16 February 2011 at the Becket School in West Bridgford. The evening will run from 4pm (for a 4.30 start) until 6pm. Our aim is to increase the number of schools who access the excellent STEM Ambassador programme. STEM Ambassadors are people with a background in science, technology, engineering or maths who volunteer their time to work with local schools, teachers and young people. They provide a refreshing change to regular lessons and activities and open the door to a whole new world for young people, helping them to see STEM subjects and careers with a fresh perspective and engage their interest and imagination in new ways. At the FREE event at the Becket school, you will: Meet STEM Ambassadors from Nottinghamshire businesses Experience an excellent development opportunity &8211; raising awareness of the STEM careers sector Enjoy informative presentations from STEM Ambassadors Build relationships with organisations to support your work in school and to plan work related learning activity For more details call Jacqui Aram on 0115 960 1540 or to book a place e-mail: ebf.admin@futuresnn.co.ukhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=155Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:52:45 GMT20110124035245Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:52:45 GMT20110124035245Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:03:14 GMT20110127030314Remember your local resources - advice on assessing offers from software suppliers With so many good CEIAG software products out on the market these days, it has become really difficult to assess the value of the packages offered by the many publishers who will contact you. Many packages can offer attractive solutions to meet some of your careers programme&8217;s needs. However, getting to grips with the true benefits and implications of these programs and what value for money they can offer you can be a daunting task. The market used to be relatively small and it was not difficult to be sufficiently informed about the relative merits of most packages. Now, with the explosion of available software solutions, there is such a vast and constantly evolving range of complex and rapidly developing resources we are aware that it has become increasingly difficult for you to feel confident about all aspects of the programs available. We are here to help to find your way through this! Clearly, one important consideration is the availability of both free/national and local online resources. We can advise you on the availability of these resources and, importantly, clarify what it is that you can already tap into to meet whatever need you&8217;ve identified. Locally, you can already access an extensive, evolving and integrated range of online and support packages from the combined forces of Connexions and Education Business Futures (formerly NEBA), including: Online &8216;libraries&8217; and resources SortItOnline and Fetch provide you with access to the best of the web, online &8216;virtual libraries&8217;, choices, progression and work video, local labour market information, locally relevant choices support guides and much more, all tailored for the local student. Online career and progression planners Passportfolio and MyChoiceNotts have now been improved to provide an integrated career action planner, incorporating choices and decisions support, self awareness tools, a CV builder, a personal, portable student portfolio, online course search and applications and teacher/careers programme co-ordination support and delivery tools. A comprehensive range of careers, progression, PSHE, work and employability skills support and delivery resources, These resources range from consultancy and publications to lesson plans, delivered sessions/days and tailored InSeT/training. These resources are all already available to you NOW! So, the message is clear, if you want some help navigating the world of CEIAG resources, training and delivery then please do contact us! Contact your local Connexions Curriculum and Information Adviser Team and they will provide advice and suggestions on how you can cost effectively meet your software needs.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=134Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:16:15 GMT20101216091615Thu, 16 Dec 2010 09:16:15 GMT20101216091615Thu, 16 Dec 2010 10:58:49 GMT20101216105849As we learned in the last edition of ConnectED, Education Business Futures&8217; Inteview Skills days give young people real experience of an interview with a local employer. The team recently organised an Interview Skills day at Portland School, ConnectED went along and spoke to a few particpants and learned why this programme is such resounding success... The main premise of the day is that local employers interview students on a 1:1 basis at the school premises for 20 minutes and provide constructive feedback on performance. Employers feedback will detail the student&8217;s successes and areas for improvement. Employers come from all sectors and in the past have included Balfour Beatty, TTS Group, Royal Navy, South Nottingham College, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Futures and many more! The young person's experienceJosie Croft, Year 10, Portland School explains the process: "We were assigned an employer and had a mock interview for a job. Beforehand I went through my CV and made sure everything was OK and got my mum to ask me questions. Our interviewer had read our letter and CV and picked things out and asked us questions based on that. My application form was for a Primary school teacher so they asked questions about why I wanted to be a primary school teacher. I&8217;ve always wanted to teach and I enjoy all subjects so thought Primary was for me.&8221; &8220;The interview was extremely useful because, although you can practice with your friends, having an actual employer who has never met you before and they&8217;ve got a blank canvas on you means it was really reaslistic. Going into the interview has given me a lot more confidence to speak out and say what I want to.&8221; The teacher experienceCaroline Read, Assistant Principal at Portland School says: "Before I saw the Interview Skills Days in action, I would have said: &8216;Oh yes I&8217;m sure it does make quite a difference and it&8217;s nice' and I would have used the word nice. Now after experiencing it first hand and seeing the change in the students, I&8217;d say it isn&8217;t nice it&8217;s vitally important they do this. It enables the student to see there is a difference between school and the world of work and they start to think in real terms in relation to their future careers. Before this experience, they have viewed their working life as very much in the distance and not a reality. I think these skills days make the future a reality." "Today, I've seen our students being more mature and more focussed on after school and moving on &8211; they cross that barrier. We&8217;re teaching them in school about how to present themselves, what to do, what work will be like and we look at their aspirations. The interview skills days make those aspirations more of a reality, that is a step they have never reached before and it happens when the Education Business Futures team come into school." The employer experience Andy Wilson, Managing Director of TTS, large education supplier says: &8220;As a company we&8217;re big on putting things back into the community. I think you need a balance of skills, as a company we&8217;re looking for someone who has proven academically they can do well, someone who has achieved, people skills, someone who is determined and has good work ethics. "I've met some incredible individuals today, with amazing potential. I think if there were two young people from different schools and one of them had been to a school that had been through this inteview process then I think that young person would have a far better chance of getting the job!" Interested?Interview skills days present a great opportunity for young people to get some real experience. If you're you interested in having an interview skills day at your school, please email: louise.hawkings@futuresnn.co.uk.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=133Wed, 15 Dec 2010 10:06:42 GMT20101215100642Wed, 15 Dec 2010 10:06:42 GMT20101215100642Fri, 17 Dec 2010 08:12:15 GMT20101217081215Keeping up-to-date with what seems like daily changes to the education and 14-19 curriculum and their impact on you has never been more essential. So if you&8217;re going to do one last thing this year, make sure you book your place at February&8217;s 14-19 conference! Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Futures and Nottingham Training Network are hosting the 2010 14-19 conference on Wednesday 2 February 2011. The conference will take place at the East Midlands Conference Centre at University Park. Keynote speakers will include: Anthony May - Director of Children and Young People&8217;s Services, Nottinghamshire LA Ian Curryer - Corporate Director for Children and Families, Nottingham City LA Peter Mitchell - Education Director, Edge and Chief Executive of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust Tom Winskill - HMI National Adviser 14-19, Ofsted Workshops include Labour Market Information work experience Foundation Learning in further education information, advice and guidance achieving the entitlement funding and commissioning learner voice post-16 inspection. The cost is &163;80 per person. In the city, each school is entitled to one free place whereas in the County members of the 14-19 network are entitled to one free place. For more details &8211; see flyer for details of how to book a place.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=132Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:59:41 GMT20101215095941Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:59:41 GMT20101215095941Wed, 15 Dec 2010 10:03:20 GMT20101215100320Over the past few months young people in Nottinghamshire have been sending us feedback about what they think of our website. The results have been very positive. The site, which has over 12,500 young people registered on it, recently set up the facility for users to tell us what they think electronically. Since then we have been inundated with comments from young people telling us how much they like the site, here are just a few of their comments: &8220;It is amazing this website :0) thumbs up to you lot!&8221; Luke, 13&8220;I think that the website is really good and is good for everyone to make a good choice in life.&8221; Ria, 22&8220;I love this website&8221; Negeen, 12&8220;This passportfolio is cool&8221; Chloe, 12&8220;Brilliant&8221; Melissa, 16&8220;Goooood!!!&8221; Lewis, 12&8220;I think it&8217;s a really good idea.&8221; Stanley, 13&8220;It&8217;s very useful and it&8217;s helped me a lot for all the things I need to know and to find out.&8221; Victoria, 15&8220;This website is really cool!&8221; Natalia, 12&8220;Very good to put your work on, I know I am not going to lose it now.&8221; Jessica, 17&8220;It&8217;s really useful because I know what I have done and what I need to do&8221; Emily, 13 Passportfolio and My Choice Notts offers a complete progression planning package, for young people aged 11 to 25 years, which can be integrated into the curriculum or accessed independently. As well as interactive quizzes to help recognise strengths and qualities and an online record of achievement, the site contains a CV builder, an action planner, a skills support area, and the facility to search and apply for local courses. For schools or colleges interested in using the site we can offer staff training and a range of online support resources to help you get started. For more information please contact us on Passportfolio@cnxnotts.co.uk. NEW on MyChoiceNotts and Passportfolio The Nottingham City Diploma Consortium is now accepting applications through our new Diploma Application formhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=131Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:55:44 GMT20101215095544Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:55:44 GMT20101215095544Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:11:22 GMT20101216111122What Work in Nottinghamshire out now! We are pleased to announce that a new edition of What Work in Nottinghamshire is now available for you to read and download. This magazine, which looks at the local labour market as well as other work-related topics, is out in a brand new format as well as a pdf version. We are sorry not to be able to offer free printed versions of the booklet anymore but we&8217;ll hope you agree that the electronic version is a valuable resource that can be used with Years 10 and 11 students. What&8217;s inside? Future work trends Spotlight on job sectors in Nottinghamshire Interesting facts and figures Where to look for work Top tips for job applications The booklet can also be used in conjunction with some of the lesson plans A Journey into LMI: group work activities for Key Stage 4 which will be available to purchase in the next few weeks. Interested in professionally printed copies? Printed copies may be available at a cost and dependent on demand. If you&8217;d like to register your interest in receiving professionally printed copies please email Helen at: Helen.janota@futuresnn.co.uk. There will be a minimum order of 250 per school &8211; prices are dependent on demand.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=130Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:52:41 GMT20101215095241Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:52:41 GMT20101215095241Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:44:15 GMT20101221014415Employers often tell us that young people&8217;s interview skills leave a lot to be desired. And with school leavers facing an increasingly competitive labour market, developing skills for future job interviews has never been more important. This is perhaps one the reasons Education Business Futures' Interview Skills Days are a must do for secondary schools. The main premise of the day is that local employers interview students on a 1:1 basis at the school premises for 20 minutes and provide constructive feedback on performance. Employers feedback details the student&8217;s successes and areas for improvement. The Fernwood experience On Thursday 4 November 2010, the Education Business Futures team headed to Fernwood School to host an Interview Skills Day. At Fernwood, 200 Year 11 students had a mock interview with a local employer. Employers included Balfour Beatty, TTS Group, Royal Navy and South Nottingham College and covered a range of career options. Students were asked to come to the interview prepared with their CV and personal statement for the interviewer to comment on. The day was a huge success, with the employers leaving with a good impression of Fernwood&8217;s students. For the students, the day was invaluable. Here are a few of their comments: &8220;...very relaxed interview, lots of relevant information given, good feedback" "...very good, helped me for a real interview" "... I thought this was really useful, gave me more confidence&8221; Are you interested in hosting an Interview Skills Day at your school? To get more information, please contact Louise at Education Business Futures on 0115 960 1577 or louise.hawkings@futuresnn.co.ukhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=101Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:44:20 GMT20101110024420Wed, 10 Nov 2010 14:44:20 GMT20101110024420Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:23:01 GMT20101111022301Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Futures, Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottingham Training Network are hosting the 2011 14-19 conference on Wednesday 2 February 2011. The conference will take place at the East Midlands Conference Centre at University Park. Keynote speakers will include: Anthony May - Director of Children and Young People&8217;s Services, Nottinghamshire LA Ian Curryer - Corporate Director for Children and Families, Nottingham City LA Peter Mitchell - Education Director, Edge and Chief Executive of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust Tom Winskill - HMI National Adviser 14-19, OfstedWorkshops will include Workshops include Labour Market Information work experience Foundation Learning in further education information, advice and guidance achieving the entitlement funding and commissioning learner voice post-16 inspection. The cost is &163;80 per person. In the city, each school is entitled to one free place whereas in the County, members of the 14-19 network are entitled to one free place. For more details &8211; see flyer for details of how to book a place.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=100Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:29:23 GMT20101110082923Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:29:23 GMT20101110082923Wed, 15 Dec 2010 09:49:33 GMT20101215094933Can you help us get the message across to adults? Since August 2010, Connexions centres in Nottingham city and throughout Nottinghamshire have been opening their doors to adults and inviting them to get free careers help and advice. Under the Next Step programme, a team of experienced Advisers are available at all Connexions Nottinghamshire centres to provide a comprehensive careers advice service to adults. So whether an adult is unemployed, looking for a career change, wanting advice about redundancy or just wants information about what jobs and opportunities are available in the area, the Next Step team of advisers will be happy to help. Next Step Advisers can help with: &8226; Careers advice &8226; Job hunting &8226; Interview tips &8226; Application forms &8226; CVs &8226; Courses and training opportunities We know that you communicate regularly with parents, if you can fit the above into newsletters/ bulletins etc that would be great! For information about local Connexions centre locations, opening times and contact details go to: www.cnxnotts.co.uk/about/centreshttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=99Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:12:05 GMT20101110081205Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:12:05 GMT20101110081205Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:12:36 GMT20101110081236The number of young people classed as NEET (not in education, employment and training) is at its lowest level, according to latest figures from Connexions Nottinghamshire. In 2006, 10.2 per cent of Year 11 young people leaving school in Nottingham found themselves NEET, but now (as of the end of September 2010), the figure stands at just 5.7 per cent. And it isn&8217;t just school-leavers - the NEET figure for all 16-18-year-olds in the City fell to an all time low of 5 per cent in September 2010. Just to put that in context, it means Nottingham has a much lower NEET rate than our statistical neighbours (cities with similar socio-demographic backgrounds like Southampton and Liverpool), and lower than all the other core cities, which include Manchester, Bristol and Sheffield! In the County, the percentage of Year 11 school leavers becoming NEET has fallen from 5.7 per cent in 2006 to an amazing 3.3 per cent in September 2010, while the NEET figure for all 16-18 year olds stands at 4.5 per cent. Again to put these figures in context, national NEET figures for 16-18 year olds is 7.4 per cent and in the East Midlands this stands at 6.9. In the City, Councillor David Mellen, Nottingham City Council&8217;s Portfolio Holder for Children&8217;s Services said: &8220;We are delighted that despite the current economic climate, the number of young people not in employment, education or training has continued to fall in Nottingham. We are working hard to ensure that the downward trend is maintained and believe that it is a result of having a joined up approach and providing the right support services throughout the City. I&8217;d like to thank Connexions for the fantastic work they&8217;re doing.&8221;http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=98Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:38:45 GMT20101109053845Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:38:45 GMT20101109053845Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:06:50 GMT20101110080650We are no longer able to distribute the Progress magazine, which supports young adults with special needs through transition to becoming an adult, to schools. If you wish to continue receiving this publication, you will need to complete the order form. The minimum order is for 50 copies. You may prefer to access the electronic versionhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=97Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:33:11 GMT20101109053311Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:33:11 GMT20101109053311Thu, 11 Nov 2010 10:56:47 GMT20101111105647Addressing delegates at the annual conference of the institute of Career Guidance, Skills Minister John Hayes, MP, set out the Coalition&8217;s plans for the launch of an all age guidance service from as early as September 2011. We&8217;re sure that the devil will be in the detail, but John Hayes, says the Government&8217;s new service will offer: &8221;seamless support to young people as they make the transition to adulthood.&8221; The new service is planned to combine the best points and practices of the Connexions and Next Step services. Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Futures already offers both Connexions and Next Step services from its centres throughout the City and County. The new service will be founded on two key principles: &167; Impartial careers advice independent of organisations with a vested interest. &167; Ensuring professional expertise and leadership of careers guidance service are underpinned by clear national standards. Time will tell how this new service will look but we&8217;re certainly pleased that the Skills Minister recognises the importance of careers guidance, stating: &8220;Careers Guidance is the engine room of social mobility and justice&8221;. Keep an eye on ConnectED for updates on the new service as and when we hear them. Read John Hayes speech.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=96Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:32:42 GMT20101109023242Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:32:42 GMT20101109023242Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:38:30 GMT20101109023830Education Business Futures is inviting teachers, school staff and Connexions Advisers to come along to Sports Futures Nottinghamshire. Sport Futures Nottinghamshire is a FREE event aimed at raising awareness of the breadth of careers available within the sport and active leisure industry. The event will take place at the John Fretwell Sporting Complex in Mansfield on 16 November 2010. The day runs from 9am to 12 noon. The event will have a focus on the influence and importance of science in the sport and leisure industry, with the spotlight on careers such as physiotherapist, nutritionist, sport psychologist and fitness coach. On the day you will also be able to: &8226; Meet employers and organisations from the Sport and Leisure Sector&8226; Attend presentations from professionals in Sport and related industries &8226; Make a connection and build relationships with organisations to support your work in school and to plan work related learning activity &65279;Book your place now!!! Call Charlotte on: 0115 960 1557 or email: charlotte.wheatley@futuresnn.co.ukhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=75Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:12:40 GMT20101012031240Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:12:40 GMT20101012031240Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:15:06 GMT20101012031506The dates for the 2011 UCAS Higher Education Fair have now been confirmed for the 6th and 7th April at the Clifton site of the Nottingham Trent University. This extremely successful event, attracting an average of 12,000 Year 12 students each year, offers them the opportunity to talk to university representatives and obtain course literature. Connexions Personal Advisers will also be available for advice and help. As last year, schools will be booking their own slots online. Bookings will open on the 6th December 2010. This early notice enables you to make the necessary arrangements, including coach bookings well in advance. Further details will be emailed to the appropriate member of school staff in November.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=74Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:59:05 GMT20101012125905Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:59:05 GMT20101012125905Tue, 12 Oct 2010 12:59:05 GMT20101012125905Our new County Support Services Directory, listing brief details of agencies for 13 &8211; 19 year olds, is now available online. You should find this directory useful for supporting students, as well as their parents or carers, who may need help regarding drug or alcohol abuse, family problems, health issues, have Special Needs or who require counselling. The county directory covers Ashfield, Mansfield, Bassetlaw, Eastwood, Newark and Sherwood, but not the conurbation. Each entry includes a description of services offered, contact details and whether staff have been CRB checked. If there is a statement that no CRB checks are undertaken, it may be that the organisation failed to tell us or that it deals mainly with over 18s. In most cases the information has been gathered directly from the organisations themselves. Many of those included also offer services to adults.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=73Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:36:45 GMT20101012113645Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:36:45 GMT20101012113645Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:25:45 GMT20101013012545The 2011 National Science & Engineering Competition is open for entries from students aged 11 to 19 who have a science or engineering project. If you have a promising student and they haven&8217;t already entered through the regional Bing Bang fairs, which took place over the summer then they can enter an online entry form. The closing date for entries is 31st October. For more details about go to: www.thebigbangfair.co.uk/nsec/. Or email a question to: info@nationalsciencecompetition.orghttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=71Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:25:06 GMT20101012112506Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:25:06 GMT20101012112506Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:26:53 GMT20101013012653Following on from the highly successful What Next? Opportunities Fair at Harvey Hadden Sports Centre in Nottingham City, the event arrives at Kelham Hall in Newark. The fair will take place on Thursday 14 October. The Newark What Next? event is organised by Newark and Sherwood District Council. For full details of the event, check out the information on the Newark and Sherwood website.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=70Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:22:59 GMT20101012112259Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:22:59 GMT20101012112259Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:27:51 GMT20101013012751It seems that not a day goes by when we don&8217;t hear politicians pontificating in the media about the importance of making young people aware of the opportunities and skills provided by studying Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM). Luckily here at Education Business Futures and Connexions we understand the importance of STEM subjects and have stayed one step ahead of the game. STEM subjects are required for some apprenticeships, especially in technical areas such as construction, engineering and motor vehicle as well as perhaps more well known academic pathways. The skills gained through studying STEM subjects such as problem solving, numeracy, team working and communication are much sought after by employers in all sectors. Education Business Futures can provide a variety of activities and resources to inspire and enthuse students of all ages and abilities, including Rocket Launcher, K&8217;Nex Challenge, STEM ambassadors and CREST awards. As well as curriculum enrichment, you could use these activities to support your Careers Education programme.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=69Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:21:47 GMT20101012112147Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:21:47 GMT20101012112147Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:36:00 GMT20101012113600Over 10,000 young people across many schools, colleges and providers in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are now using the website as part of their CEIAG programme. The newly integrated My Choice Notts Passportfolio site provides a one stop solution for: recording and showcasing achievements, skills and qualties, building a CV, ILP and action plan, Searching and applying for local courses. To help you introduce the site in your institution we have now created a range of free support resources, you can visit www.cnxnotts.co.uk/passportfolio to download the useful powerpoint presentations and user guides. To find out how using the site can help you, or to arrange a visit or staff training session please contact us on passportfolio@cnxnotts.co.uk.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=68Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:20:32 GMT20101012112032Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:20:32 GMT20101012112032Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:28:54 GMT20101013012854Colleges, sixth forms and providers are currently updating their course details on the new combined My Choice Notts and Passportfolio website. Young people can use the site to search and apply for thousands of courses across the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire area. The prospectus has recently joined up with Passportfolio and features a new improved search facility. Go to www.passportfolio.com and click on the 'courses' tab to search the new courses. If you are a school, college or provider and want to find out more about updating your details on the site please contact Anna Goodship on 0115 960 1556 or email anna.goodship@futuresnn.co.uk.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=67Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:17:48 GMT20101012111748Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:17:48 GMT20101012111748Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:19:25 GMT20101012111925The launch of the new Apprenticeship Service has meant a change in focus at our jobsite Vacancies Online. As a result it should now be quicker and easier to find the info you need! Some of the changes are: - Apprenticeship information can be found in one place, with quick links to National Apprenticeship Service and the Apprenticeship Finder. - We'll keep you informed with 2011 recruitment on the News Items page. Giving you links straight to employers pages. - The Jobs Now section is now accessed through the Local Jobs. - Foundation Learning is still featured on the home page. - There's a new button Work and Training which features the Advice about Work and related items. - You can search further afield on More Job Sites and Jobs in Neighbouring Counties. - Learning Links will give you learning and training options across Nottinghamshire, direct access to the Mychoicenotts/Passportfolio site.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=66Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:15:27 GMT20101012111527Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:15:27 GMT20101012111527Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:29:48 GMT20101013012948Some of the City and County&8217;s major employers, HE institutions, Sixth Forms, training providers and FE Colleges will be raising awareness of the opportunities available to young people in Nottinghamshire when they converge at this year&8217;s &8216;What Next?&8217; Careers and Opportunities Fair. The fair will be held at Harvey Hadden Sports Stadium in Bilborough on the 5 and 6 October 2010. The event is specifically aimed at raising the aspirations of young people in Nottinghamshire. &8216;What Next?&8217; has been organised by Aimhigher Nottinghamshire, in partnership with Connexions Nottinghamshire. It&8217;s an event that will bring together Years 11, 12 and 13 students and their parents and careers with the major employers, Colleges and training providers from across the county. Schools in Nottinghamshire have been invited to attend the event on Wednesday 6 October on a first come first served basis. For Parents and Carers, the evening event will provide an opportunity to explore the range of career options, job opportunities and education choices in Further and Higher Education. The evening events run from 5pm to 8pm over both days. Connexions will also be hosting it&8217;s extremely popular &8216;Parent Point&8217; zone, where parents can sit down with a cup of tea and chat through their son or daughter&8217;s options with a Connexions Personal Adviser. Jean Pardoe, Chief Executive of Connexions Nottinghamshire, says: &8220;The What Next? Opportunities Fair provides an excellent opportunity for young people to explore the range of opportunities available to them. They will get a chance to talk through their options with a range of local employers and education providers and Connexions Advisers will be available for careers advice.&8221; For more information, go to Aimhigher's What Next sitehttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=47Wed, 15 Sep 2010 09:27:55 GMT20100915092755Wed, 15 Sep 2010 09:27:55 GMT20100915092755Wed, 15 Sep 2010 09:30:18 GMT20100915093018In April 2010, a new company arrived on the Nottinghamshire scene, heralding a new era of integrated Information, Advice and Guidance for young people throughout the City and the County. Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Futures Ltd is a joint venture company, owned by Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County Councils. Futures brings together Connexions Nottinghamshire, Education Business Futures (formerly Nottinghamshire Education Business Alliance (NEBA), the Post-16 Commissioning role of the Learning and Skills Council and the commissioning of Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) under one umbrella. Futures is committed to ensuring local young people aspire to make the most out of their lives and progress successfully through education and training into meaningful employment and careers by: &8226; providing young people in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire with access to good quality Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) through Connexions Nottinghamshire &8226; brokering effective relationships between education and the business community through Education Business Futures (formerly Nottinghamshire Education Business Alliance (NEBA) and Connexions Opportunities Team). &8226; commissioning learning for 16-18 year olds through Futures Post-16 Commissioning (formerly the LSC) &8226; commissioning of positive activities for young people through PAYP (Positive Activities for Young People). It is important to note that while Futures is the overarching company delivering these services that Connexions Nottinghamshire remains the face of Information, Advice and Guidance for young people and their parents and carers and schools and colleges in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=45Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:25:11 GMT20100913022511Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:25:11 GMT20100913022511Wed, 15 Sep 2010 10:36:26 GMT20100915103626High quality CEIAG in schools and colleges offers huge benefits to both schools and young people. Young people will be more motivated, will achieve better exam results and are less likely to drop out of courses if they have experienced a high quality careers education programme. The Career Mark award is an East Midlands framework of standards. Schools produce a portfolio of evidence that demonstrates that there is a good management framework, and that the school provides high quality Curriculum, Information and Advice and Guidance systems. For further information visit:www.careermark.co.uk Congratulations go to the three schools that achieved Career Mark 5 status in the summer term of 2010: &183; The Dukeries College, &183; Bilborough College, &183; Rushcliffe School. We are expecting a further 15 schools to have achieved Career Mark 5 by March 2011. For further information contact Dianne Purdy on 0115-983 8955 or email: dianne.purdy@cnxnotts.co.ukhttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=44Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:02:07 GMT20100913020207Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:02:07 GMT20100913020207Wed, 15 Sep 2010 10:39:06 GMT20100915103906The gender stereotyping resource pack has been developed to support schools to promote equal opportunities, challenge stereotypes and raise aspirations. These resources have already proved popular with schools and colleges and include free lesson starters, lesson plans, role models and other support materials developed by Connexions Nottinghamshire. The &8216;Gender Pack&8217; is available to download! We would like to hear from anyone who is using the resources, including how you've used them and your views on how to develop them. Please email either Jill Edwards or Caroline Disshttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=43Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:05:35 GMT20100913090535Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:05:35 GMT20100913090535Mon, 13 Sep 2010 09:09:59 GMT20100913090959Visit our Schools is a national campaign to get as many employers visiting as many schools and colleges as possible during the week 18-22 Oct. Education Business Futures, working with Connexions, will be contacting employers to get them involved and we need you to make sure the senior leaders in your school take advantage of this opportunity. The employer campaign has been marketed to senior people who can make decisions about committing their organisation to provide real new support for schools and colleges. Employers from the private, public and third sector, of all sizes and business, have been invited to take part. Employers will be expecting the visit to include an open and practical conversation at a senior level about education and the ways in which employers might be able to get involved. This could cover support for the curriculum, enterprise and employability skills and leadership and governance. It&8217;s also an opportunity for schools to reinforce the importance of employer engagement and work-related learning by arranging for employers to meet with teachers and young people who have benefited from these experiences. Employers could also have a look around the school and see it for themselves - many will have a very limited understanding of the modern education system and will be interested to find out more - many will go away both surprised and very impressed by what they see. The school can get more information and register their interest by visiting : http://visitourschools.org/ Please make sure that this information reaches the senior leadership in your school. The invitation is also open to primary schools, so if you are a parent please raise awareness with your child&8217;s school too. Schools already registered as of end August: Hadden Park High School - Nottingham City Bulwell Academy - Nottingham City Elizabethan High School - Nottinghamshire East Markham Primary School - Nottinghamshire Ashfield School - Nottinghamshirehttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=42Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:49:45 GMT20100913084945Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:49:45 GMT20100913084945Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:50:57 GMT20100913085057You&8217;ll now access everything you&8217;d usually find on the separate MyChoiceNotts website in Passportfolio. The site will for a short period be double branded as Passportfolio with MyChoiceNotts: The URL www.mychoicenotts.com can still be used we&8217;ve put all the most useful links on a new homepage which will redirect to the new site. If you go straight to Passportfolio everything that was on MyChoiceNotts is now under &8216;Knowing what is available&8217; The benefits for combining the sites are: &8226; One username and password &8226; Integrated progression tool &8226; All info stored in the action plan and CV will automatically appear in users application forms for post 16 education &8226; You can view young people&8217;s applications &8226; New look &8226; New search facility &8226; Some WBL providers now accepting the common application Go to www.passportfolio.com to check out the new site!For training or to get your institution set up contact Lucy Peck or Anna Goodship. For information and support resources visit www.cnxnotts.co.uk/passportfoliohttp://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=41Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:48:40 GMT20100913084840Mon, 13 Sep 2010 08:48:40 GMT20100913084840Wed, 15 Sep 2010 10:22:30 GMT20100915102230Many of you will have received The Word on Work over the years - a bulletin providing you with all the latest employment, training and labour market news. Well now you can access it on a more regular basis as it moves to a blog on the CnxNotts website. As popular as ever, this blog will keep you in touch with the latest local news as well as trends and other interesting snippets of information. A new feature of the blog means that you can post your comments too so you can share your thoughts with colleagues. To subscribe to the blog and receive weekly reminders about new posts, email helen.janota@futuresnn.co.uk or go to http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/blog where you can subscribe to the blog as an RSS feed.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=39Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:54:13 GMT20100910095413Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:54:13 GMT20100910095413Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:54:13 GMT20100910095413If you&8217;re intending to deliver group work sessions on labour market information this year then why not take a look at the revised lesson plans on the Cnxnotts website? All lessons from the original publication A Journey into LMI: group work activities for Key Stage 4 have been revised and we have added some new ones too. From October, the lessons will be available in an easy-to-access electronic format which allows for individual activities to be downloaded as a &8216;pick and mix&8217; choice if desired; some activities have online components. This format will also allow us to add to the suite of resources, so watch this space for post-16 materials soon! All enquiries to helen.janota@futuresnn.co.uk tel: 0115 9601549http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=38Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:53:22 GMT20100910095322Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:53:22 GMT20100910095322Tue, 14 Sep 2010 14:45:48 GMT20100914024548Did you know that by the time today&8217;s young learners reach the age of 38, they could have already had 10 jobs? This means that employability, or transferable, skills are of paramount importance to young people today. On Sortitonline, we&8217;ve started to put together information on skills for young people, drawing in examples from their everyday lives. Using the CBI competencies, they can now access information on skills that can help them build up a personal picture of where they might be at, both at home and at school. On Sortit, students can read about the different types of skill and how they could demonstrate the skills they have to employers. We are also in the process of putting together subject pages which give examples of some of the skills learnt in school subjects and the careers they could lead onto. We will be gradually building on these pages over the next few months.http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=37Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:52:22 GMT20100910095222Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:52:22 GMT20100910095222Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:52:22 GMT20100910095222As we all know, the world is changing fast. And what better way to keep abreast of changes within the world of work for young people than Sortitonline? With lots of info on work in your area, job sectors (including local LMI) and advice on future trends, it&8217;s a good place for practitioners to update their knowledge too. So if you don&8217;t know what a social media strategist does or have no idea where an e-commerce merchandiser might work then get onto Sortitonline and find out!http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=36Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:44:47 GMT20100910094447Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:44:47 GMT20100910094447Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:48:19 GMT20100910094819Well, it's been a busy summer for us with some major online developments reflecting national strategy and local responses. We have needed to review how we best sustain a reliable and good quality range of information services and resources for students, parents/carers and practitioners alike. Essentially, we have bolstered our website services and made more resources available online. This means that, for many users, accessibility and availability of our resources is improved, with easy links possible from your VLEs and websites. You will also be able to utilise enhanced, integrated web content via whiteboards in schools and colleges (look out for more news on virtual libraries soon in the newsletter)! We are also planning a number of new initiatives to support those who might be most affected by the withdrawal of some of the traditional printed resources. Quick overview: SortItOnline.com remains your main starter site for Connexions and careers information and signposting for teenagers. Features new age-stage What Next choices zones and the now online-only. TheParentPoint.com is our website with dedicated support and information for parents and carers (and another site you can usefully link to from your school or college website). MyChoiceNotts.com and Passportfolio.com have now been combined into one progression planning support site to provide an integrated student eILP, action planner, prospectus, apply-online service, cv builder and more! Cnxnotts.co.uk remains your CEIAG support site and we are working on a new, online, teacher toolkit - more on this soon! More details on some key developments... -What Next choices guides: these are now only available online on SortItOnline in newly developed age-stage zones. These zones will bring together, all in one place, all of our choices and learning support information for students at different stages. In turn, this will make it easy for you to make links to age-stage zones from your websites, extranets, virtual libraries and VLEs. The online information will eventually be backed up with a series of online 'What Next Factsheets' (PDFs) for key topics. These will be printable and 'save-able' and so easily used in lessons and saved by students in Passportfolio or other e-folio. -What Work: As part of the What Next series, this resource is also now only available online in both web and pdf/downloadable formats. Again, this makes for easy use with the accompanying lesson plans and with projectors and whiteboards. For more on What Work, see the other 'World of Work' updates from Helen Janota in the 'ConnectEd 1' newsletter!http://cnxnotts.cnxnotts.co.uk/news/connected/connect-ed-news/?blogpost=34Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:24:27 GMT20100909042427Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:24:27 GMT20100909042427Tue, 14 Sep 2010 16:03:33 GMT20100914040333