ESA Futures is our programme of information, advice and guidance for all ESA students. It’s part of our Personal Development and Character curriculum which we call ‘I Am ESA’. This programme is made up of 4 parts - ‘I am Safe’, ‘I am Healthy’, ‘I am Citizen’ and ‘I am Prepared’.

In order to prepare students for their future, we offer a lot of services from careers interviews to ‘Futures week’ and many other supports too like mentoring, placements, employer engagements, industry practice and work experience. On this page, we hope to provide you, as parents and carers, with resources and some sign posts to help support your child with their career aspirations.

ESA Futures

ESA doesn’t only help our students, we have ended up developing some real expertise in careers support. We partner with the Eric App - a great app full or careers opportunities and information specifically for the creative arts sector, and we also support the ‘HOP’ portal, a Hertfordshire careers service tool. We have made a number of sector videos which suggest ways of getting into work in various employment areas. For more information, check out the Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal.

Careers Resources for Parents and Carers

There are a lot of options out there for young people…. Higher Education is the most well known route but there are lots of other types of course or careers training including T Levels, Apprenticeships, Into Work Programmes. It can be daunting to think about the next stage of your child’s career development. ‘The Parents Guide To’ is a website that provides lots of good guidance.

Parents/Carers Careers Resources for SEND Students

This career pack is focused on resources and future pathways in order to support SEND students. Although it is not arts-focused, this information should still be useful in understanding what support is out there.

General Careers Resources

HOP - If you want to explore Careers within Hertfordshire you should visit HOP (Hertfordshire Opportunities Portal). This site has been created for Hertfordshire students to find out about the local jobs in their home county. You will be able to find details about the types of jobs likely to exist now and in the future, find out about some of the big employers they might want to work for as well as information about apprenticeships.

Success at School - Parents and Carers Guide - Success at School have created this guide to help you take a positive role in your child’s career journey. They cover all the basics – from university, apprenticeships and other pathways into work, to work experience and employability skills. They outline job roles linked to mainstream school subjects as well as exploring the jobs of the future.

Creative Careers Resources

Discover! Creative Careers - Discover! Creative Careers is an initiative by the UK creative industries to make it easier for young people to find careers in the creative industries. It was originally funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its 2020/21 funding comes from Arts Council England. Their site allows you to explore creative careers in a variety of sectors and offers links to other key arts organisations.

Get Into Theatre - Get Into Theatre supports provides information and opportunities to support young people who want to pursue a successful career in theatre in the UK. Their site includes sections on backstage, performing, training and apprenticeships, and up-to-date theatre jobs information and advice.

MGCfutures - MGCfutures is a charitable organisation, utilising the skills and experience of the Michael Grandage Company and governed by a Board of Trustees. Their site provides information about job roles as well as bursary support.

Screenskills - ScreenSkills is the industry-led skills body for the screen industries – film, television (including children's, unscripted and high-end), VFX (visual effects), animation and games. Their careers page includes information on job profiles, portfolio guidance, and freelancing as well as a Parent’s FAQ section. They also promote other opportunities such as traineeships, talks and workshops as well as other training.

TuneUp - TuneUp is a relatively new site with resources for careers in drama, music and art. It also lists drama schools, art and music colleges and has a great Vimeo channel with videos from actors an artists talking about their career journeys. You will need a password to access this content: lovearts.

Support with UCAS and Higher Education Applications

Headspace - Headspace will provide training, mentoring, showcasing and networking opportunities for 40 young freelance creatives. The intention is to get them and their work in front of industry people who commission, contract and employ freelance creative talent.

The Arts Council England - Financial support for artists, creative practitioners and freelancers

Creative Freelancers Report from The Creative Industries Federation - Creative Freelancers, draws on evidence from 700 freelancers and around 50 organisations that use them to demonstrate who these workers are and what they do for the fastest growing sector of the British economy. The report highlights practical issues, from tax returns to affordable workspace, where government could act to make a difference.

The Creative Freelancer Podcast - As a photographer and director, Bracetty is a documentary visual storyteller specialising in athlete and sports. Clients include Adidas, Nike, Puma and New Balance. He started this podcast as a way to pay it forward from all those that helped him in his career with the goal is providing an open platform where other creatives can share their journey in hopes to inspire and educate all creatives.

UCAS Parent, Guardian and Carer Guide 2020 - The UCAS/Which? guide is s designed to give you the tools to guide and support a young person applying to study at university or college in 2020, through their decision-making and the UCAS application process.

UCAS dedicated page for Parents and Guardians - The UCAS site has lots of resources and information dedicated to helping parents and guardians support students applying to uni.

UCAS Student Finance Guidance for Parents - This UCAS page has information about how to support students applying for student finance.

Labour Market Information

Labour Market Information Resources

Prospects - Overview of the Creative Arts Sector in the UK - Prospects provide a market-leading portfolio of graduate career and postgraduate study recruitment options and work in close partnership with HE and further education (FE) professional bodies and government to deliver unique services that benefit the sector as a whole.

Creative and Cultural Skills - Knowledge Centre - this site provides information, advice and guidance to the sector to help improve understanding about the value of apprenticeships/non-traditional training routes and how these routes can support diverse entry into our sector.

Building a Creative Nation: Current and future skills needs - On behalf of Creative & Cultural Skills and Arts Council England, CFE Research undertook a large-scale survey of creative and cultural businesses to assess skills gaps and shortages.

icould is a careers website which uses LMI for All to provide context alongside careers videos.

SACU is an online source of careers information for young people, parents, teachers and careers advisers.

Impact of Careers Advice and Guidance on Students

The impact of careers advice and guidance on students is measured through destination data and through student feedback. We use Google forms after careers events and at the key points in the year in order to measure the impact of our work, we then use this to inform policy and experiences for the next year.

We also use parent feedback through surveys and from options evenings in order to reflect on and improve the quality of guidance. We aim to review the Careers policy every 3 years.