Sixth Form and Destinations Programme Officer

Reports to: Head of Destinations

Location: Currently operating hybrid working in our West London Office

Contract: FTC (12 months)

Pattern: Full Time (standard hours 9am – 5.30pm)

Interviews: 06/12/2024

The Sixth Form and Destinations Programme Officer role is an exciting opportunity for someone to use their passion for developing careers education to impact hundreds of young people each year. The role will play a fundamental part in delivering Ark’s mission: to make sure every student leaving an Ark secondary school has the choice of progressing to a good university or directly into a professional career.

The Sixth Form and Destinations Programme Officer will support Ark’s secondary schools to achieve the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance. They will also develop network resources to support students interested in securing high quality apprenticeships, along with other projects that support Ark students securing ambitious post 18 destinations.

Key Responsibilities: 

• Work directly with schools to improve the average number of Gatsby Benchmarks achieved by secondary schools in the Ark network
• Support and monitor schools’ completion of evaluation activities and analyse results to inform strategic planning of destinations support activity
• Support schools to embed Unifrog in their career’s programmes, increasing student logins and completion of progress tasks
• Act as the main point of contact for secondary CEIAG/Gatsby and Unifrog support and guidance, and collaborate closely with the Head of Destinations to enhance the CEIAG community across Ark
• Maintain and develop relationships with top providers of degree/higher apprenticeships to support comprehensive apprenticeships IAG in schools, effective parental engagement and aspiration/information events
• Leverage Ark’s partnerships with employers and develop new partnerships (including FE providers) to create an extensive schedule of events and opportunities that map to the specific needs of Ark schools
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across the Sixth Form and Destinations team to support progression to high-quality destinations
• Contribute proactively to the wider development of Sixth Form and Destinations team strategy

Key Requirements:

• Right to work in the UK
• Educated to degree level or equivalent, or at least 3 years’ relevant work experience
• Extensive knowledge and practical experience of high quality CEIAG provision in secondary schools (ideally 11-18), and of delivery against the Gatsby benchmarks
• Knowledge and experience of working with schools/students to overcome barriers to post 16 and post 18 progression
• Knowledge and experience of the apprenticeships landscape
• Knowledge and experience of virtual learning environments and online platforms that support destinations work. Beneficial if one of these is Unifrog
• Comprehensive IT skills, particularly in working with MS Office, Excel and cloud-based storage. Evidence of basic manipulation of data to support with analysis and reporting. Desirable: experience working with online community platforms
• Experience of working with and influencing a range of stakeholders, particularly schools and employer partners
• Highly organised, detail oriented and systematic in delivering high-quality work against ambitious objectives
• Ability to work methodically/multi-task, thrives in a fast-paced environment
• Highly collaborative and flexible in approach, able to adapt to changing circumstances and priorities

• Our hybrid working model aims to offer the best of both worlds, striking the right balance between in-person collaboration and remote working. You will work a minimum of two days per week in our state-of-the-art office in West London allowing you to connect with colleagues, with the flexibility to work remotely, or in the office over the remaining days
• In addition to our current hybrid working arrangements, employees can request to work fully remotely for up to 10 working days a year, whether this be in the UK or abroad
• Our flexitime policy allows you to work your hours around our core hours of 10.00 - 16.00, helping you prioritise your work-life balance and personal commitments
• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays, rising with each year of service up to 30 days after 3-years’ service. This entitlement is pro rata for part time employees. This entitlement excludes bank holidays
• Full office closure between Christmas and New Year
• Regular social events, monthly free breakfast, and daily fruit
• As an Ark employee, you will have the opportunity to be part of the TPT (The Pension Trust) scheme, our workplace pension scheme where we make an 11% contribution; you are not required to contribute towards this scheme unless you choose to. Depending on your role you may also be entitled to LGPS/TPS which is a defined benefit scheme where you contribute a percentage based on how much you earn (as do we) in exchange for a guaranteed amount in your pension pot every year
• Access to high-quality professional learning throughout your career, offering both face-to-face sessions and a bespoke online learning platform
• Access to Ark Rewards scheme offering savings from over 3,000 major retailers, interest-free loans available for season tickets or a bike, gym discounts offering up to 40% off your local gym and free eye tests

We’re an international charity, transforming lives through education. We exist to give every young person, regardless of their background, a great education and real choices in life. In the UK, we’re a network of 39 schools, educating around 30,000 pupils in areas where we can make the biggest difference and we’re recognised as one of the highest achieving academy groups in the country. We want to change the lives of children everywhere, not just in our own schools. So, we create and incubate Ventures designed not only to help pupils in Ark schools, but also to improve education systems.

You’ll be joining a group of like-minded, ambitious individuals who work collaboratively and are all committed to our core mission, that every child has the potential to succeed. Having just celebrated our 20^th anniversary, we are shaping our goals for the next 20 and there has never been a more exciting time to join us.