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 real-time employment opportunities where there is a high demand for staff. This guides us in preparing students for the workplace, helping them to secure employment and to succeed once they leave the Academy.
We work closely with The Careers & Enterprise Company to keep up to date with the latest labour market trends. In addition, our partnership with the Devon, Plymouth and Torbay Careers Hub supports our student with career guidance.
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, helping our students gain relevant skill and authentic work experiences.
To ensure our students are prepared for adulthood we have created a person-centred planning tool which gathers information about each student’s vocational profile. This helps us to identify what work suits them and the support they need.
Vocational Profile
Employment
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 Door Café
- Oxfam Budleigh
- Hilltop Stables
- Powderham Castle
- Exmouth Community College
- Sheridan Care Home
- South Coast Services Garage
- Warren Golf Course
- Cats Protection
- Maynard School
- On the Hill
- Withycombe Primary School
- Fernihurst Care Home
- Malden House Care Home
- Bernardo’s
- Budleigh Library
- Exmouth Library
- Wesley’s Café
- Devon Air Ambulance
