Careers & Futures

Senior (11-16)

Woman posing as if with angel wings. - from Manchester High for Girls

Our senior students focus on skills development, preferences, aptitudes and start to explore potential academic and career areas of interest.

Careers Provision Overview
Careers Guidance
Work Experience
Project Pankhurst
Committed to Opportunities
Higher Education
Our Dedicated Teachers

Careers Provision Overview

In Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9) students focus on skills development, teamwork and an introduction to the world of work and careers.

In Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11) students begin to focus on individual skills, preferences, aptitudes and potential academic and career areas of interest.

In Key Stage 5 (Sixth Form) students turn their attention to Higher or Further Education, professional aspirations and experiences and preparing for life beyond school.

Careers Guidance

Careers guidance is offered to students from Year 7 through to Sixth Form as part of our Well Being programme and includes lessons, activities and presentations from external speakers. We also subscribe to several on-line platforms which give students access to a huge array of resources, profiling tools and research activities, becoming more specialised and focused as the students progress through the school. Our current Sixth Formers use their skills and experience to work with younger year groups on careers projects, such as the Year 10 Business Challenge, or the Year 8 Dragon’s Den style project.

The Careers Department assist Year 9 students in making informed decisions about their GCSE options and Year 11 are offered a presentations and Well Being lessons relating to post-16 options, career pathways and work experience.

Work Experience

We encourage all of our Y11 students to participate in Work Experience after their GCSEs and during their time in the Sixth Form. Voluntary work is a vital aspect of career preparation and many of our pupils engage in volunteer work from a young age. Voluntary work can range from helping out with younger students in the school to volunteering weekly in a charity shop.

Every other year, we host the ‘Futures Fair’, where a range of professions, Higher or Further Education and gap year providers are represented. This event is open to students in Year 9 and above and is always very popular.

Current students have the opportunity to engage with speakers and mentors or enrol on work experience placements with the help of our extensive alumnae network. Sixth Form students fortunate to be able to make use of our extensive alumnae network through our Sixth Form mentoring programme, Project Pankhurst.

Project Pankhurst

Project Pankhurst is designed to help Sixth Form students to prepare for life beyond School. Students who wish to participate are paired with one of our volunteer alumnae mentors who will help and support students as they navigate the next stage of their journey. Partnerships are designed by mutual agreement; some pairings have regular contact, while others may liaise less frequently. Many of the partnerships continue well after the student has left MHSG!

Students are often asked what they want to be when they finish university. While a number have a clear idea about the path they want to take, others are still weighing up a world of possibilities and it is important that girls understand both of these stages are just fine! Project Pankhurst is there to give our girls a steer and help them to make the right choices for them.

Mrs Norton, Head of Careers

Committed to Opportunities

We are committed to ensuring that Manchester High students are aware of the breadth of opportunities available to them and feel supported as they aspire to succeed in their chosen fields. We are enormously grateful to our former students who are willing to provide careers support to current students.

Higher Education

Our bespoke programme of higher education support begins in the Junior Sixth and continues until their destinations are confirmed at the end of Senior Sixth. We also support students who take a gap year and apply to university or employment once they have left MHSG. Presentations from specialist higher education, apprenticeships and gap year staff and professionals introduce students to the wealth of options available. In the Summer Term of the Junior Sixth, students have dedicated time to focus on their higher education plans. Students are guided through the UCAS application process, as well as applications to apprenticeships and apprenticeship degrees, conservatoires, drama schools and Art Foundation courses, international universities and more.

Our Dedicated Teachers

Our dedicated teachers offer specialist provision for students aiming for competitive courses such as Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science, Oxford and Cambridge.

This includes the ‘Aspire Club’ for students aiming for the most competitive universities, timetabled specialist lessons and entrance examination preparation, where relevant.

Alongside our bespoke programme of Higher Education support, students receive advice on preparing CVs and application letters, as well as university interview practice.