The Careers and Enterprise Company
The Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) was established in 2015, is supporting the Government and schools/colleges to deliver the Career Strategy by helping to link schools and colleges to employers.
Peter Gregory works closely with the CEC, which is also providing the following to support in the delivery of our Careers’ Programme:
- A volunteer Enterprise Advisor/Enterprise Co-ordinator
- Training for Pete as Careers Lead
- Help to understand and meet the Gatsby Benchmarks with toolkits and an Evaluation digital tool, Compass Tracker
- A Provider Directory to help schools to find high quality providers to deliver programmes within Hailey Hall.
We used the Compass Tracker to evaluate our progress against the eight Gatsby Benchmarks termly, and the results of this evaluation can be found below.
Compas evaluation 4-12-23 – GB
Compass plus evaluation 21-3-24-GB
Compass plus evaluation 7-7-2025
From September 2025, all secondary schools, colleges, and Independent Training Providers (ITPs) in England are expected to use the updated Gatsby Benchmarks (Gatsby+1) as the foundation for their careers programmes.
The refreshed Compass+ evaluation tool provides institutions with a practical way to self-assess against the new benchmark definitions. It supports schools in identifying strengths and areas for development, particularly in relation to inclusivity, data use, parental engagement, and the quality of workplace encounters.
Evidence shows that institutions not currently part of a Careers Hub or not accredited under the Quality in Careers Standard tend to demonstrate a performance gap on average. Engagement with support networks, quality frameworks, and regular evaluation helps to close this gap.
As new termly evaluations are completed, it is expected that many areas may not initially reach 100%, reflecting the increased expectations of the updated benchmarks.
Hailey Hall has recently completed a full school careers evaluation to assess current provision and has identified actions required to further improve the service.
A Maturity Module has been completed. As a result, Hailey Hall will be attending training in the new year, facilitated by the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) alongside other schools in the county, to share best practice and support continuous improvement.
