Personal Development
Careers

Careers

Our careers vision is for our students to “Own their Future.”

We believe in our students receiving a careers curriculum, encounters, experiences, and guidance that enables all students to make informed choices about their future destinations.

The academy in accordance with the Baker Clause, ensures that all students understand the full range of learning opportunities that are available to them, including academic and vocational routes and learning in schools, colleges, universities, and the workplace.

Our philosophy is inspired by the CDI Framework (2021) ambition of having the skills, knowledge, and the ability to enter ‘positive careers.’ A ‘positive career’ will mean something different to everyone, but it will typically include being happy with the way you spend your time, being able to make a contribution to your community and being able to have a decent standard of living.

6 learning areas

We believe in the importance of linking careers provision to our broad and balanced curriculum. These are highlighted in our curriculum maps under “own your future.” Examples include:

In Drama students will engage with the physical theatre company ‘Frantic Assembly’
In English students will explore how to communicate their viewpoint and ideas effectively through a piece of transactional writing
In Science students will have a STEM ambassador for musculoskeletal biomechanics

We want our students to leave Harris Academy Ockendon equipped with not only ambitious destinations but with an understanding of the careers that will be available to them in their future. With this, careers at Harris Academy Ockendon will inspire students understanding of the changing cycle of careers that is shaping the world around us.

Outside of our student’s careers curriculum they will receive tailored guidance from a career’s advisor throughout their school careers. This will enable them to make informed choices around their ambitious destinations.

In you wish to book a careers meeting slot please email Mr Milne: j.milne1@harrisfederation.org.uk

Students are also able to independently discover their different career options through their Unifrog login. We encourage students to compare their different destination options at both post-16 and post 18 and make choices informed by labour market information.

If you would like any further information about the careers provision or Unifrog please contact our Careers Lead, Miss Dean via email at k.dean@harrisockendon.org.uk.

CDI Framework

Education and learning for the modern world

Insight briefing - Student career readiness in 2023/2024

Careers guidance and access for education and training providers (May 2025)

Unifrog is an excellent career resource that you can use to explore different careers, education routes and even write your own CV!

How to Login:

Click on this Link: https://www.unifrog.org/sign-in

Enter your school email address as your username

If you have forgotten your password, click ‘reset password’

If you have any problems logging in, please contact Miss Dean via email at k.dean@harrisockendon.org.uk

When you have logged in, you can start to use the platform to explore different subjects, courses and complete the personality quiz.

Whenever you complete something on Unifrog, make sure you save your progress, there is a ‘locker’ feature where you can save documents (for example, if you have completed a dance exam outside of school, you can save a copy).

Exploring pathways

This is very useful when it comes to writing CV’s, completing applications, applying through UCAS etc. as it can be easy to forget about all the things you have done. Click 'Upload New Item' to upload any relevant documents.

Teachers can also upload documents to your folder, for example, Mr Milne may save a copy of your careers action plan here.

A big part of Unifrog is searching for opportunities. You can look at university courses, apprenticeships, colleges and sixth forms, and more. You can save your searches to come back to later to show Ms Sharpe or another teacher. You can search by your favourite subject and narrow down results by distance. You should select a minimum of 4 courses to save. If you download the search, lots of important information will be available to you, including entry requirements and an overview of assessment methods.