Danesholme Infant Academy were the first Infant Academy in the country to achieve the Career Mark.

Summary Judgement and Recommendations

  This assessment is a revalidation, the school being the first nursery and infant school to achieve the Career Mark accreditation in 2019. The school head had previously been careers lead at a Career Mark primary school and she brought her knowledge, understanding and dynamism to Danesholme Infant Academy. In 2019 the school had already established a solid structural basis for career learning, had developed a curriculum and had trained staff. This has continued and developed such that career learning is now fully integrated into the national curriculum with few stand-alone career specific activities, so that all learning, throughout the curriculum is now embedded and inter-connected.

     In 2020 the school introduced the Skillsbuilder programme which will be used to provide a structure and common vocabulary supporting pupils’ career learning. Its full incorporation into curriculum activities has been hampered by the various Covid related disruptions and it is only in the 2021-2022 academic year that it is beginning to be fully implemented. The vibrant visual displays throughout the school have a strong world of work focus and clearly demonstrate the schools commitment to learning about the world of work and the pupils’ enthusiasm for it. The school has initiated a longitudinal tracking process which, with the support of the feeder junior school and feeder secondary schools, could produce very useful long term data, cataloguing pupil development over time. The school has also experimented with an outdoor teaching area. This is still in its infancy but with a knowledgeable lead teacher and an enthusiastic staff it should prove a valuable complementary resource supporting the curriculum.

The evidence supplied by the school and that presented during the pupil group discussions shows that Danesholme Infant Academy does:
• Measure the impact of CEIAG on pupil development
• Lead, manage and deliver CEIAG in a structured way
• Deliver a careers curriculum which has extensive content and range
• Have trained and competent staff to deliver the careers curriculum
The school also ensures that pupils:
• are provided with opportunities to understand themselves and the influences on them.
• are provided with research opportunities for training, work and personal development.
• are provided with opportunities to make and adjust plans to manage change and transition.
Consequently, the judgement is:
That Danesholme Infant Academy be awarded the Career Mark Primary Award.