WELCOME

WELCOME

Helping Your Child To Complete Applications

Applications for Colleges should normally be completed by Christmas of Year 11. We encourage all students to apply for at least 2 colleges – this ensures that they have options depending on their final results.

For students considering applying for an apprenticeship, these applications should be completed around February/March time of Year 11. As there is an official school leaving date, students cannot take up full-time paid work until the first week of July the year they leave school. Look carefully at expected start dates on any vacancies. The National Apprenticeships Website https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/apprentice/find-an-apprenticeship is a good place to start. Students can find vacancies and make applications once they have registered on the site.  You can also set email alerts for new vacancies.  You could also look at the websites of large companies that students may be interested in. They usually have a Careers page where any vacancies will be listed.  As the competition for apprenticeship places is very high, we also strongly recommend that students also apply for college, just in case they are unsuccessful. This also applies to students applying to join the armed services.

To search / find out more information:

https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/

https://www.getmyfirstjob.co.uk/

You can also find more information on GMACS.

Students will have three options when applying to College. They can either complete a paper application – usually there is one in the back of College Prospectuses, complete an on-line application via the website of their chosen College(s) or through Xello (Preferred choice) with their online account. All the local College websites are listed in the Website links part of this page. If they are struggling with this, please encourage them to speak to their Careers Teacher or Mrs Russell in the Careers Room in school.

Once they have completed their application, they will be invited in for interview (some Colleges ask that you book yourself on to the interview list on their website). Some Colleges hold their interviews here in school – others prefer to offer them on their own premises. These interviews are usually quite informal meetings, and not something to worry about. Parents/Carers are welcome to go along. Usually students get Conditional Offer, conditional on them meeting the entry requirements of the College. It is worth accepting all offers and then making a final decision around Results Day. Students are not completely committed to subject choices until enrolment in August. If they change their mind, it is worth just ringing the College to let them know.