Harrison College Certificate 

Harrison College has been externally assessed and awarded the national Quality in Careers Standard for its careers education, information, advice and guidance provision.

Extracted from the report:

Harrison College has worked incredibly hard since opening in 2019 to introduce a personalised curriculum to meet the needs of every learner, placing employability at the heart of it. The mission of the college is ‘to create an inclusive business and enterprise provision where learners can thrive placing no limit on what can be achieved no matter their background or starting point, leading to a secure and prosperous future. The mission is underpinned by the four overarching values of ‘Lead, Believe, Achieve and Exceed’ and the
overall mantra of ‘your future, your choice’. Each learner therefore has a bespoke learning journey created for them at admission/induction. Individual pathways are built around functional skills, accredited work skills, skills builder, industry qualifications, internships and life experiences such as the Duke of Edinburgh award. The college is highly successful in improving the life chances of its learners through a planned programme of business, enterprise and employability. Through integration of the
CDI framework and the Quality in Careers Standard it is recommended that the college embraces broader career management competencies into the curriculum, which align more fully with the overall college mission, values and mantra. Harrison College works with a wide range of business partners and disability confident employers embracing and championing neurodiversity. The college has a network of over 90 local, regional, and national businesses, including partner organisations such as Autism in Racing, NHS, Polypipe, Doncaster Racecourse and Doncaster Chamber of Commerce. The Principal is an active member of the South Yorkshire Skills Advisory Board and is a non-executive Director of the Doncaster Chamber of Commerce, taking every opportunity to
encourage more businesses and networks to support the college. Year 2 students have a two hour dedicated careers lesson every week and all students at college have Skills Builder integrated into their curriculum. There is a dedicated Employability Team who meet with students individually three times a year, as well as more specialist support through the Careers Leader, who is working towards the level 6 qualification in Career Development, as well as access to trained guidance specialists through the commerce. The Career Leader’s qualification is an excellent opportunity to embrace broader career management lifetime competencies to what is already a rich and success employability curriculum. Further opportunities can lead to dedicated careers training and qualifications for the Employability Team. The assessor was fortunate to speak to a range of learners throughout the assessment
process. One of who stated how ‘the college has given me my life back. I had a difficult time at a previous college, but Harrison College has given me the confidence, challenge, peer and staff emotional support I needed.

John Ambrose, Careers Mark Lead Director stated ” I know how much work is involved in achieving Career Mark, it is a credit to you and your colleagues to have achieved the high standard demanded by the award. The assessment report provides evidence
of a successful programme that is meeting the needs of your learners. I [The assessor ] worked with the team at Harrison College to plan appropriate methods to enable learners to demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attitudes they have developed
from the curriculum. The assessment was multi-staged to ensure it was inclusive and in accordance with learner needs. The range of needs of learners at Harrison College include autism, severe social anxiety and selective mutism. I was also able to see
presentations from graduate learners of the college. Overall, I was highly impressed by the learners’ ability to present themselves,
their aspirations, personal journeys, strengths and weaknesses. Congratulations on achieving the Quality In Careers Standard which fully incorporates the Gatsby Benchmarks. This is an excellent achievement and recognises the quality and breadth of your careers provision.”