Careers Education at Cheswick Green

While the Gatsby Benchmarks are not meant for primary schools, we have interpreted these for careers-related learning at Cheswick Green Primary School. Our focus is on broadening horizons, challenging stereotypes, raising aspirations and helping children make links between learning and the wider world. Through our curriculum, Careers Week, enrichment opportunities and author visits, pupils are exposed to a broad and diverse range of professions, pathways and role models. These experiences challenge stereotypes, raise aspirations and help pupils understand the relevance of their learning. By meeting professionals from sport, healthcare, education, business, public service, politics and the creative industries, our pupils develop a wider understanding of the opportunities available to them and begin to recognise how their own interests and strengths could contribute to future careers.

Gatsby Benchmarks

1. A Stable Careers Programme

Career-related learning is planned across the curriculum from EYFS to Year 6, helping pupils develop aspirations, understand the world of work and make connections between learning and future opportunities. Examples include the following:

• Careers Week is an annual event.
• PSHE includes exploration of jobs, workplaces, skills and aspirations.
• In Reception, whilst learning about people who help us, we welcome visitors from our local community to speak to the children about what they do.
• Career-related learning is embedded across the curriculum.
• Long-term planning ensures pupils encounter a diverse range of careers throughout their primary education.

2. Learning from Career and Labour Market Information

Our pupils learn that there are many different jobs and pathways available locally, nationally and internationally. Examples include the following:

• Visitors to Cheswick Green represent careers from public service, business, education, sport and politics.
• Pupils learn about careers within their local community as well as internationally e.g. a visit from a professional cricketer who played for the Tasmanian Tigers in Australia.
• Discussions with PSHE lessons highlight the wide variety of employment opportunities and routes into careers.

3. Addressing the Needs of Each Pupil

All our pupils are encouraged to have high aspirations regardless of background, gender, ability or circumstance. Examples include the following:

• Visitors to Cheswick Green represent a diverse range of professions and backgrounds.
• Our pupils meet both male and female role models working in traditionally gender-stereotyped sectors.
• Visitors for Careers Week 2026 included a female professional athlete, serving military personnel, a paediatric physiotherapist, a canine behaviourist, a land surveyor for National Grid, a head of department for MFL at a local secondary school and a Member of Parliament.
• Activities and discussions within our PSHE lessons encourage pupils to reflect on their interests, strengths and ambitions.
• We welcome a range of authors and illustrators to Cheswick Green, who speak about their job and inspirations e.g. Dominique Valente spoke to the children about her limb difference, Farhana Islam showed the influence of faith within her picture book and Serena Patel discussed her ADHD diagnosis.

4. Linking Curriculum Learning to Careers

Our pupils understand how subjects they learn in school can be applied in future careers. Examples include the following:

• Science links explored through physiotherapy, canine behaviour and healthcare careers talks.
• Mathematics and geography links explored through surveying and engineering-related roles at National Grid workshops.
• Language learning linked to careers through the Head of Modern Foreign Languages workshop.
• English links are regularly developed through visits from authors discussing writing, publishing and communication skills.
• Our PSHE curriculum supports understanding of employability skills and personal development.

5. Encounters with Employers and Employees

Our pupils have the opportunity to meet people from different occupations, who can share their experiences and inspire future aspirations. During Careers Week 2026, pupils met the following people to develop an understanding of their profession:

• A female cricketer from the Tasmanian Tigers (Australia).
• A paediatric physiotherapist.
• A canine behaviourist.
• A land surveyor from National Grid.
• Serving military personnel.
• A New Product Development Manager from a catering company.
• A Head of Modern Foreign Languages from a secondary school.
• A Member of Parliament.

These experiences allowed pupils to ask questions and gain first-hand insights into a range of occupations.

 6. Experiences of Workplaces

Our pupils develop an understanding of workplaces and working environments, either through visits, virtual experiences or employer engagement. Examples include the following:

• Visitors explain their workplaces, daily responsibilities and working environments.
• Career talks include discussion of offices, schools, healthcare settings, military environments, sports facilities, government institutions and business settings.
• Virtual and classroom-based activities help pupils understand how different workplaces operate.

 7. Encounters with Further and Higher Education

Our pupils understand that learning continues beyond primary school and that there are different routes into work and careers. Examples include the following:

• Visitors to Cheswick Green discuss their educational journeys and qualifications.
• Pupils are able to learn about secondary school, college, university, apprenticeships and vocational pathways.
• The secondary school Head of MFL provided valuable insight into progression through education during Careers Week 2026.
• Career talks help pupils understand that different careers require different forms of training and learning.

 8. Personal Guidance

Our pupils are supported to recognise their strengths, interests and aspirations and understand how these can influence future choices. Examples include the following:

• PSHE lessons encourage reflection on personal qualities, skills and ambitions.
• Careers Week provides opportunities for pupils to ask questions and explore interests.
• Visitors discuss challenges they have overcome and the skills needed for success.
• Author visits demonstrate that careers can be varied and flexible. For example, award-winning author Ben Davis explained how he combines his work as an author with his role as a postman, helping pupils understand that people may have multiple careers or interests throughout their lives.