>> Years 8 & 9

Year 9 is an important year for your child as they begin to think about the direction they may take in life and work. In Year 8 or 9 (depending on your child's school) they choose the subjects they will study in Years 9/10 and 11 – these will be the subjects they may well have exams in. Hopefully they’ll start to develop plans about what they might want to do at the end of Year 11.

Help on offer:

• Calderdale & Kirklees Careers produces a workbook for schools to use with Year 9 students called Directions Career Choices at 13-14 (3.18MB Adobe Acrobat PDF)
• Individual schools often produce their own booklet giving details of the options they offer for GCSEs, Diplomas and other courses
• Connexions Personal Advisers (PAs) from Calderdale & Kirklees Careers work in each school across the area
• PAs meet students in groups to outline the help your child can get
• PAs offer drop-in sessions in schools so that students can call in without an
  appointment. These are generally over break and lunchtimes.
• PAs attend school Parents Evenings and Year 8 and 9 Options Events where you and your child will be able to talk to them.
• We send out the Getting Started in Careers booklet outlining subject and course choice to parents and carers of Year 9 students (748kb Adobe Acrobate PDF).
  
  
  

Your child may like to look at Which Way Now (www.connexions-direct.com/whichwaynow) an online step by step guide to making decisions for Years 10 and 11.

Parents and Carers of Year 9 Students (www.connexions-direct.com/parentcarer) is also a really useful downloadable guide for parents covering in detail all the issues to be considered from Year 9 to Year 11

How can you help your child?

You might not believe it but parents and carers are the most important influence on young people’s career decisions!

You can help by:

• discussing the option choices with your child
• encouraging your child to concentrate on their studies. Working on the basics – English, maths and science will help prevent disappointment later, as these subjects at GCSE level are needed for all sorts of careers - from construction to teaching
• suggesting they choose subjects and courses such as GCSEs and Diplomas from their own point of view – not because they want to stay with friends, or because they like the teacher - but for themselves – after all, they will be the one taking the course!
• discouraging thinking about 'boys' subjects and 'girls' subjects – all courses are open to everyone
• attending Year 8 or 9 Options events and Parents Evenings offered at your child’s school, will give you the opportunity to talk to teachers and advisers. They can give you information about what is on offer, and how choices made now can keep options open later on
• remembering to ask how the course is taught and examined – some have more continuous assessment and others are more exam based; think about which might suit your child the best
• urging them to find out which subjects they’ll need for the jobs they are interested in – they can use the careers info on this site, or talk to their Personal Adviser.