Careers

Our Careers Programme

At The Ongar Academy, we are committed to preparing our students for successful futures. Our careers programme provides high-quality, impartial guidance and meaningful opportunities for all students to explore the world of work, further education, and training.

Our Vision

We aim to inspire ambition, broaden horizons, and empower every student to make informed decisions about their future. Careers education is embedded throughout the curriculum and supported by a wide range of enrichment activities.

Guided by the Gatsby Benchmarks

Our careers provision is structured around the Gatsby Benchmarks, a nationally recognised framework for excellence in careers education:

A stable careers programme
Learning from career and labour market information
Addressing the needs of each pupil
Linking curriculum learning to careers
Encounters with employers and employees
Experiences of workplaces
Encounters with further and higher education
Personal guidance

What Students Can Expect

From Year 7 to Year 11, students benefit from a progressive careers curriculum that includes:

Employer talks and workplace visits
College and university outreach
Apprenticeship and vocational pathway guidance
Interactive workshops and assemblies
One-to-one careers interviews
Support with applications, CVs, and interview preparation

Working in Partnership

We collaborate with local employers, colleges, universities, and training providers to ensure our students have access to up-to-date, relevant information and opportunities.

Our Goal

To help every young person develop the skills, knowledge, and resilience needed to thrive in an ever-changing world.

Unifrog

Guide to Unifrog – The Complete Careers & Destinations Platform

At The Ongar Academy, we use Unifrog to support students in making informed decisions about their future. Unifrog is an award-winning online platform that brings together all the available careers, university, apprenticeship, and college information into one easy-to-use place.

What is Unifrog?

Unifrog helps students explore their interests, research career pathways, and plan their next steps. It’s designed to support every stage of the journey – from discovering options to preparing applications.

Key Features of Unifrog

Careers Library – Explore hundreds of career profiles, including salary info, required qualifications, and typical duties.
Subject Library – Discover how different school subjects link to future careers.
Personality & Interests Quizzes – Find out what careers and pathways suit your strengths and preferences.
Post-16 & Post-18 Options – Compare sixth forms, colleges, universities, apprenticeships, and vocational routes.
CV & Personal Statement Builder – Create professional documents with step-by-step guidance.
Application Tracker – Keep track of your applications and deadlines.
Live Opportunities – Search for apprenticeships, university courses, and work experience placements.

Who Can Use It?

All students at The Ongar Academy from Year 7 to Year 11 have access to Unifrog. Parents and carers can also request login details to explore the platform alongside their child.

Unifrog Login Click Here

The Unifrog Tools

Careers Library

Over 1000 career profiles
Presents information from a range of sources
Includes qualifications and skills needed, interviews with industry professionals and labour market information
Explores progression opportunities and what a working week really looks like

UK Universities

Students can enter subjects of interest and projected grades to see all relevant university courses available in the UK
Rank and filter opportunities by factors like hours of lectures, price of accommodation and graduate job rates
Get direct links to university information pages, with impartial information on courses and institutions
Save unlimited shortlists to refer back to later

Apprenticeships

Students can find live apprenticeship vacancies
Vacancies are updated daily
Rank and filter opportunities by factors like distance from home, weekly wage and application deadlines
Direct link to the ‘apply’ page
Each apprenticeship vacancy includes practical information about the opportunity, employer and training
Save unlimited shortlists to refer back to later

Special Opportunities

Includes £5 million-worth of grants, bursaries, scholarships, contextual offers and extracurricular activities
These can be filtered by circumstances or characteristics, depending on the access requirements of the opportunity
Includes direct links for applying
Unlimited shortlists can be created and referred back to

Labour Market Information

Labour Market Information (LMI) is a useful tool to help research future jobs in the local area, understand the skills needed for certain roles and the demand for future employment.

LMI helps to break down the complex ‘world of work’. Crucially for young people, LMI covers future demand – what kinds of jobs will be in demand after leaving school and what kinds of skills will be needed. Labour market information tells you:

Which jobs are likely to be easiest or hardest to find in your area
Which are the big employers in different areas and which ones have jobs on offer
What skills employers are looking for and which are in short supply
How much you can expect to be paid in specific jobs
What working conditions are like
What qualifications will be most helpful if you want a certain career
What the jobs of the future might look like and which jobs might disappear

All of these factors can help young people make a more informed decision about what career path to take.

Industries with a growing number of employment opportunities in Essex:

Essex Opportunities

Careers Directory

Use the careers directory to research different sectors, understand the main tasks within job roles and average salaries, learn about which qualifications you should consider studying and explore the current job and apprenticeship vacancies in Essex and Southend.

Career Directory