BOLTON Sixth Form students are receiving the right advice to map out a successful future after their A-levels.

For the sixth form college is the first Greater Manchester sixth form to fulfil the requirements of the Government's National Careers Strategy.

It achieved 100 per cent in all eight Gatsby benchmarks.

The Gatsby benchmark is a framework of eight guidelines against which careers provision is measured against to ensure young people have access to a range of career learning opportunities and enter the world of employment with skills and knowledge that are needed to succeed.

Guidelines include sixth-forms providing work experience, insight into further and higher education, personal guidance and linking their studies with careers.

At Bolton Sixth Form College all students are encourage to take a work placement and it has a team of careers professional wo support students through one-to-one guidance appointments.

Teaching staff who provide many opportunities for students to attend employer and university-led workshops, helping them make the connection between their subject and particular career pathways. With one student now looking to become a young doctor.

Jill Whitham, careers officer at Bolton Sixth Form College, said: “We have worked incredibly hard to develop an exciting and inspiring careers programme for our Sixth Form students. We want to ensure that students leave Bolton Sixth Form, equipped for the next step of their career journey. By developing an awareness of their own skills and interests, students can make informed decisions about their own careers and go onto enjoy a happy and successful future.”

Zainab Sufi, who is in her final year of A-levels, said: “They will help you to find a work experience placement, practice interview techniques and they organise additional speakers and universities to come in and talk to you.

"Without the careers department, I wouldn’t have chosen to pursue a career in medicine.”

The DfE’s 2017 Careers Strategy adopted the benchmarks of good careers guidance developed by the Gatsby Charitable

foundation. By 2020, the Government expects schools to work toward achieving all 8 benchmarks, including that all young people should have a careers interview by the age of 16, and an additional interview by age 18.

At the time Sir John Holman, Senior Advisor to the Gatsby Foundation and author of the Gatsby Career Benchmark report said:

“Good Career Guidance is the key to social mobility. For young people coming from a background of low socioeconomic aspirations, school career guidance is their best hope of charting the way to a rewarding future career."