Advice & Guidance

Derwentside College is part of the “North East Ambition Careers Hub” and as such is dedicated to providing excellence in careers guidance to all students. The College has invested in an exciting new Careers Hub. This space is open for students and members of the community to drop in and speak to careers advisors, view our apprenticeship vacancies and use the careers exploration facilities to plan their career path.

The Careers Hub is staffed by two impartial Careers and Progression Advisors who are qualified to Level Six in Career Guidance. Claire and Mary work with learners and members of the public to explore careers ideas and support them in their journey to achieve their ambitions.

The careers team deliver:

• Impartial information, advice and guidance to students, potential students and the wider community
• A schools liaison programme providing individual, small group, class and assembly input
• Support with applications to higher education and employment
• Student finance support
• Labour market information
• Help understanding the range of courses available
• Career planning
• Pre-course guidance
• Help with CVs

The careers team can also help link you with other teams in the college if you have a welfare issue, learning support need or require advice on financial support. This may include links to staff to assist with:

• Support for learners with disabilities or learning support needs
• One-to-one mentoring
• Advice on health issues
• Childcare
• Travel
• Financial Assistance

Progression and Careers Advisors are available:
Monday – Thursday 9.00am – 5.00pm and Friday 9.00am – 4.30pm
To arrange an appointment, please contact us on 01207 585 900, email claire.young@derwentside.ac.uk or mary.stokoe@derwentside.ac.uk or drop in to the Careers Hub.

Advice – this involves:

• Helping a service user to understand and interpret information;
• Providing information and answers to questions and clarifying misunderstandings;
• Advising on options or how to follow a given course of action;
• Identifying needs – signposting and referring users who may need more in-depth guidance and support
  

Explore careers by sector

Guidance – aims to help users to:

• Better understand themselves and their needs;
• Confront barriers to understanding, learning and progression;
• Resolve issues and conflicts;
• Develop new perspectives and solutions to problems;
• Be able to better manage their lives and achieve their potential

The Careers Programme shows the careers support and activities you can expect as a full time learner at Derwentside College.

Derwentside College is part of a partnership of expert organisations and careers practitioners, and has contributed to the recently published work "Good Career Guidance: Perspectives from the SEND Sector". We hope it can inspire all those working with students with SEND. As a department the Careers Team constantly review their practice in order to make sure delivery is inclusive and contributes to positive progression for all students.

We look forward to hearing from you.