Castledon School

The Trust’s core aim is to ensure that we enhance the life chances of all the young people within the Trust to enable them to fulfil their potential and achieve the best possible outcomes.

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Vocational Learning

Vocational Learning

 

We believe that it is important for students to experience vocational learning from an early age to allow them to develop and improve important working skills needed to gain employment in the future. There is a clear pathway from KS3, through to KS5 that allows students to not only progress the skills they require for employment, but also gain relevant qualifications in areas of interest, up to GCSE level in KS5. Any qualification that is undertaken by our students will depend on ability and we strive to differentiate qualifications dependent on the ability range.   

In KS3 students experience different vocational subjects for one lesson each week. There are 6 different subjects and students rotate subjects each 6-7 weeks. This allows students to try different activities with a view of giving them a better understanding of the options that they would like to pursue when they enter KS4. 

When students enter KS4, they are asked to choose a vocational option that they firstly enjoy, but also one that they would like to gain a qualification in on completion of KS4. This is a double (2 hours per week) lesson, which encourages teachers to incorporate learning in the community.  This course is over a 2 year period. If students apply to Castledon Sixth Form and are successful, they then have the opportunity to choose a vocational subject, which runs over a double lesson each week (2 hours per week). 

Students at KS4 and KS5 are surveyed on an annual basis to allow staff to monitor the offer of vocational subjects across the phase range. This allows vocational subjects to be relevant to students' interest or a potential job they wish to pursue in the future. 

 

At Key Stage 3 we offer:

  • Bike Maintenance 
  • Cooking
  • Employability 
  • Team building 
  • ICT

 

At Key Stage 4 we offer:

  • Bike and Car Maintenance 
  • ASDAN Lifeskills Challenges
  • Cooking (Gateway Qualification Entry Level 3 basic cooking skills)
  • Sport (Gateway Qualification: Entry Level 3: Participating in Sport and Improving own Fitness)
  • Animal Care and Horticulture (ASDAN: Land Based Sector)
  • Photography (NCFE Entry Level 3 Award in Photography)

 

At Key Stage 5 we offer:

  • Car Maintenance (NCFE Level 1 award in Occupational Studies for the Workplace)
  • Cooking (Pearson BTEC Level 1 in Home Cooking Skills)
  • Horticulture (NCFE Certificate in Developing Skills in Gardening Horticulture)
  • Sport (Gateway Qualification: Planning own Fitness Programme and Taking part in sport Level 1)
  • Childcare (Gateway Qualification: Entry level 1 and Level 1 Award in childcare.
  • Photography (NCFE Level 1 Award in Photography)