We simulate job interviews before our students attend, by performing mock interviews with our students and feeding back to them before they progress to having another interview with local employers before gaining work placements.
Labour Market Information
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from careers and labour market information
Labour market information is used by the Academy to ensure that students are well informed about employment opportunities that are currently in high demand. This helps us prepare students for the workplace, supporting them to secure employment and succeed once they leave the Academy.
We work closely with The Careers & Enterprise Company to remain up to date with the latest labour market trends. In addition, we collaborate with the Devon, Plymouth and Torbay Careers Hub.
We use local labour market profiles for Exeter and the surrounding areas to identify jobs in demand locally. When students return to their home areas, we also review labour market information relevant to those locations. This approach ensures a broader, national perspective, helping students access suitable employment opportunities wherever they are.
Devon and Torbay Labour Market InformationWe pride ourselves on building strong relationships with employers and trusted partnerships that provide meaningful opportunities that help our students gain relevant skill and gain authentic work experiences.
To ensure our students are prepared for adulthood we have created a person centred planning tool which gathers information about each students vocational profile. This helps us to identify what work and support they need.
Vocational ProfileEmployment
The Gatsby Benchmarks define what world-class career guidance looks like. During Gatsby’s pilot of the Benchmarks, experienced SEND practitioners and national advocates were brought together to form a SEND working group. Drawing on their expertise of developing careers programmes in different settings, in both special and mainstream schools and colleges, they gave the clear message that it would not be appropriate to define a separate set of Benchmarks for students with SEND.
Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers.
Benchmark 5: Encounters with employers and employees.
Benchmark 6: Experiences of workplaces.
One of the key changes made to the Gastby benchmarks that we have implemented since September 2025 is more meaningful employer and experience encounters.
How we help
Mock interviews
Enterprise
We have a successful enterprise team at the Academy. Students learn how to run a business entirely themselves. Our college students recently won the Young Enterprise’s Inspiring Company Award. The group worked as a team to create a comic book business. This involved the team writing a story based on Jack and the Beanstalk, producing art work, and edit signed videos to create QR codes for each page.
Work Experience
We pride ourselves in making sure students have a variety of work experience opportunities to explore to make informed decisions about their future career aspirations. At every stage the student is able to make an informed decision.
Work place visits
All students have opportunities to visit employers in the surrounding area. Students have opportunities to visually observe skills and talents of people in the workplace to consider if they are interested. We match every work placement with the students to ensure it is suitable for their needs.
Every work placement is subject to suitable risk assessments done externally by Tamar safety and we also do our own internal checks to ensure the placement is suitable for Deaf SEND students. We give students a clear induction process and ensure the employer has Deaf awareness training.
Our Employers
A La ronde
Dawlish garden trust
RAMM
Exmouth museum
Killerton house
Exmouth computers
Caste Drogo
Dartmoor tree surgery
Haven holiday park
Hair at the academy
Kings garden centre
Cancer research Exmouth
Beauty rooms Exmouth
Open doors café
Oxfam Budleigh
Powderham caste
Hilltop stables
Exmouth community college
Sheridan care home
South coast services garage
Waren golf course
Cats protection
Maynard school
On the hill
Withycombe primary school
Fernihurst care home
Malde care home
Bernardos
Budleigh library
Exmouth library
Wesley’s café
Devon air ambulance