At Discovery Academy, our Preparing for Adulthood and Careers Programme is rooted in our commitment to raise dreamers, believers and achievers. We believe every pupil has unique strengths, talents and aspirations, and our curriculum is designed to help them build the confidence, skills and independence they need for a fulfilling future.

We take an asset‑based and individualistic approach to preparing our pupils for the world of work. This means we focus on what each young person can do, nurturing their abilities and supporting them to explore meaningful, accessible pathways into further education, employment and training.

Our Careers Programme

Careers education at Discovery Academy is delivered through our Preparation for Adulthood and Life Skills curriculum. This ensures that careers learning is meaningful, embedded and relevant to each pupil’s stage of development.

How Careers is taught . . .

• Life Skills lessons: Careers concepts are introduced early through work‑related vocabulary, role‑play and community engagement.

• Key Stage 4 Careers lessons: Pupils access dedicated careers sessions focusing on pathways, employability skills, transition planning and next steps.

• Preparation for Adulthood curriculum: Employability skills are taught alongside personal health, independent living skills, social understanding and community participation.

Teachers plan and deliver a dynamic and immersive curriculum each half-term. This is:

• child‑centred

• aspirational

• informed by assessment and observation

• shaped through collaborative discussions with families during annual reviews.

As pupils move through school, they increasingly take part in the planning process, engaging in careers meetings and interviews to help shape their own future pathways.

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Our Principles for Careers Education

When planning and delivering careers learning, we follow these key principles:

• Keep it simple

• Start early, keep going.

• Measure it

• Focus tightly

• Keep practising

• Bring it to life

These principles ensure that careers education is accessible, consistent and meaningful for all learners.

 

 Skills for Employment

We are dedicated to developing the eight essential employability skills within the Skills Builder Framework, ensuring pupils build the foundations needed for future success. These skills are taught progressively and practised across the curriculum.

Development of key skills is monitored using our Autism Education Trust Framework, adapted from the Autism Education Trust Progression Framework, ensuring progress is tracked carefully and meaningfully.

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Preparation for Adulthood

Pupils and families can explore our full Preparing for Adulthood offer by selecting the interactive circles below:

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Our Careers and Enterprise #Crew

Andy Pleass – Careers  & Preparing for Adulthood Lead

Andy oversees the strategic development of our Careers and Preparing for Adulthood offer, ensuring it is ambitious, inclusive and personalised to the needs of our pupils.

📧 apleass@nexusmat.org

Kayleigh Meyrick – Careers Lead

Kayleigh works alongside Andy to coordinate and deliver our Careers and Enterprise curriculum, supporting pupils as they develop key skills for adulthood.

📧 kmeyrick@nexusmat.org

Jenny Hallam – Careers Advisor

Jenny provides impartial, personalised careers guidance, helping pupils understand their strengths, explore future options and make informed decisions about their next steps.

📧 jhallam@nexusmat.org