Year: 2016
Looking back at Unifrog in 2016
22nd December 2016
The end of 2016 sees Unifrog reach our third year in action and it’s seen us undergo a huge amount of change. In the run-up to 2016 we were the only place students could compare every UK post-school opportunity in one place, be those university courses, apprenticeships or vocational college courses... Read more >
Case Study: Allerton High
13th December 2016
Before we started using Unifrog in our school, we had a number of challenges related to supporting students to find and apply to a range of opportunities... Read more >
How to succeed in your Medicine MMI Interview
8th December 2016
Have a Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) coming up? The Medic Portal, officially partnered with the Royal Society of Medicine, advises hundreds of schools and thousands of medical school applicants, and has provided some top tips on preparing for your MMI... Read more >
Hitting the Gatsby Benchmarks
23rd November 2016
A brilliant blog post by Sarah on how Unifrog supported her students to think about future opportunities along with hitting the Gatsby Benchmarks. One of my main priorities when taking up my current post as Head of Sixth Form, was to improve the quality of Information, Advice and Guidance to students, enabling all of them to set their sights higher... Read more >
University isn’t for everyone: how to help your students write killer CVs
4th November 2016
University isn’t for everyone: Degree Apprenticeships, School Leaver Programmes, and how to help your students write killer CVs. Our Founder and Director, Alex, gives his thoughts on how to help your students get to their next step... Read more >
Who will your Unifrog Champion be?
25th October 2016
Alex shares how he and his school have successfully embedded Unifrog ito it's careers programme and empowered students to support the delivery. Who will your Unifrog Champion be? We became a Unifrog school last spring and since September have begun using it fully for IAG including for personal statements, UCAS references and from half term we will be rolling it out from Year 9... Read more >
A student's perspective on the benefits of Unifrog
21st October 2016
An amazing blog written by a Year 12 student on their first impressions of Unifrog at a student launch. On Wednesday 10 October all of Year 12 was given an introduction into the useful website Unifrog... Read more >
How Students can sustain themselves Financially through University
12th October 2016
[image3] Read on to discover some top tips on how students can finance their way through university. For the 2016 intake of undergraduates, the Student Loans Company will offer a maintenance loan of somewhere between £6,904 and £10,702... Read more >
Data and Destinations
6th June 2016
Beyond 5A*s-C: How schools can bypass meaningless targets and harness the power of destinations data to drive improvement. Hear Chris explaining exciting developments around destinations data at one of Unifrog’s free conferences this summer... Read more >
White Hat: creating better apprenticeships
1st June 2016
We're excited to have Euan Blair of White Hat writing for us about improvements in the structure and delivery of apprenticeships. Creating better apprenticeships As the founder of an apprenticeships business, I spend a significant part of my time trying to identify how we can get schools and employers to engage in a more meaningful way with the apprenticeships agenda... Read more >
Ofsted and the evolution of careers recommendations for schools.
16th May 2016
Adrienne Briggs looks at how Ofsted's recommendations on careers have evolved since responsibility was devolved to schools. Do the changes to the Ofsted framework improve the way that careers advice is delivered within schools? In September 2013, a year after responsibility for careers advice for students aged 14 to 16 had been transferred to schools; Ofsted reported that careers guidance in schools was not working well enough... Read more >
Developing more employable school leavers
10th May 2016
We return to the topic of school leaver employability with Unifrog Area Manager - Matt Jones - giving his two pence on how the system needs to change to make sure school leavers have the skills they need to get a job... Read more >
Five ways to boost your students' employability
9th May 2016
Another piece from guest blogger Liz Posford from Careers Unlimited on what schools can do to improve students' chances of getting a good job... Read more >
Are your students happy? What can you do about it?
4th May 2016
Our guest blogger Liz Posford from Careers Unlimited has been thinking about what we can be doing to make sure our young people are happy... Read more >
Time, money and expertise: how to negotiate the barriers to a good progression programme in schools
29th April 2016
John Hillis, one of our area managers reflects on what stops many schools giving their students the best possible information and advice about careers and how these barriers can be negotiated... Read more >
Getting the most out of higher education events and careers fairs
21st April 2016
Our guest blogger Liz Posford from Careers Unlimited has some tips for the shy sixth former: how do you best squeeze the juice out of careers and higher education events? Conversation starters for higher education events and careers fairs Once again, it’s that time of the year when higher education events happen, with universities, gap year organisations and sometimes potential employers gathering to show their wares to curious sixth form students... Read more >
The effects of a winning personality
15th April 2016
Unifrog Area Manager, Nick Weir, writes about the magic personality factor and its importance in the hunt for a good career. Introduction It is largely accepted that to get the best jobs, you need the best grades... Read more >
Exploring alternative routes to gaining a degree
12th April 2016
At a time when students are increasingly concerned about the costs of going to university and the competitiveness of the graduate jobs market, it is worth researching alternative ways to gain a Higher Education qualification... Read more >
Writing a personal statement - helping your students
11th April 2016
Writing a personal statement is a task all students must complete when applying to university. These 4000 characters could be the student’s only chance to ‘speak’ directly to the admissions tutor for their chosen course – so students need to make every character count! The Statement’s fundamental aim is to demonstrate that the student will be an excellent participant on the courses they are applying to... Read more >
Introducing Guest Blogger, Liz Ponsford
6th April 2016
Liz will be writing weekly blogs for Unifrog, the series of blogs aims to offer practical advice to teaching staff to support them to inspire their students to take an active role in their future progression... Read more >
5 pieces of careers advice to NOT give your students
5th April 2016
Liz Ponsford, an independent careers adviser, will be writing a series of blogs that will feature on the Unifrog Blog. She will be writing from her experience and giving great advice! Here's her first article: The 5 worst pieces of advice that classroom teachers can give when talking to students about their future careers [image2] 1... Read more >
MOOCs in UK Education
4th April 2016
In visiting sixth form leaders on an almost a daily basis, I often allude to MOOCs and the potential benefits to their students. I get a mixed response, with the majority saying, “What’s a MOOC?” and, “What does it stand for again?!” For those that didn’t know, MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course... Read more >
Paul Murphy MP’s report on Welsh students’ access to Oxbridge, and the birth of the Seren Network
21st March 2016
Are student aspirations as high in Wales as they are in England? Paul Murphy MP was appointed as Oxbridge Ambassador to Wales in May 2013 to establish the reasons behind the decline in Welsh applications and admissions to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge... Read more >
Helping pupils to access information on the full range of options
14th March 2016
Helping pupils to access information on the full range of options – an analysis of the DfE’s report, ‘Careers Guidance and Inspiration on Schools, March 2015’ The government’s most recent major report on Careers Guidance, ‘Careers Guidance and Inspiration in Schools, March 2015’, sets out that every school should provide “high quality” and “independent” careers guidance on students’ full range of options, so that pupils can make informed decisions about their futures... Read more >
Good Career Guidance
7th March 2016
Through my job I visit many schools and colleges. Without exception these schools understand and value the importance of good careers guidance. That is where the similarities end, for it appears no two schools have the same overall approach to providing this and a stronger roadmap is required... Read more >
Soft Skills in Schools
29th February 2016
In times gone by professional qualifications – so called 'hard skills' – seemed to be far and away the major factor for employers in choosing graduates and school leavers... Read more >
Are degrees the key to success? Another look at the Apprenticeship vs. Degree debate
22nd February 2016
Did you know that level 5 Higher Apprenticeships lead to greater lifetime earnings than undergraduate degrees from non-Russell Group universities? Recent research has delivered a robust challenge to the view that degrees are the best way to maximize income in your career... Read more >
2020 Vision: Everything you need to know about the rise and rise of apprenticeships
15th January 2016
One of the most positive shifts in education over the last few years has been the almost tangible increase in the prestige of apprenticeships. This shift stands to reason... Read more >