Thinking about your Options?
Start shaping your future with the right choices.
Explore how the subjects and skills you’re learning now can lead to rewarding careers in Health, Social Care, Sport & Public Services — one of the UK’s largest, most caring and most vital sectors. From saving lives as a paramedic to coaching the next Olympic champion, supporting vulnerable people or keeping communities safe, this is where empathy meets action and every day makes a real difference.
Check what’s available at your school and remember: choosing a strong mix of caring, scientific, and people-focused subjects keeps your options wide open and your future full of possibilities.
Core subjects
What to study?
Relevant Year 9 Options Subjects
Closely Linked Subjects
🍽️ Food – Directly leads to hospital catering, public health nutrition, dietary care plans and roles supporting people with eating disorders or diabetes.
🩺 Health & Social Care – The core subject that prepares you for nursing, care work, social services and safeguarding roles.
🏛️ History – Builds empathy and understanding of society; valuable for social work, youth justice and community support services.
🙏 Religious Education (RE) – Develops cultural awareness, ethics and sensitivity—crucial for supporting diverse patients, families and communities.
⚽ Sport – Opens pathways to PE teaching, coaching, physiotherapy, sports therapy and uniformed services fitness training.
Linked Subjects
🌍 Geography – Helps with emergency planning, environmental health, understanding community needs and disaster response roles.
✂️ Hair & Beauty – Links to therapeutic wellbeing roles, dementia care, hospital salon services and boosting confidence in social care settings.
Career areas
Unlock Careers in Health, Social Care, Sport & Public Services
See the life-changing career areas you can unlock by studying subjects within this gateway. From rushing to emergencies to helping people live fuller lives, these roles are always needed and incredibly rewarding.
The table below highlights 10 of the most popular and diverse roles currently in high demand—perfect starting points for your future.
Career Areas within this Gateway |
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🩺 Doctor
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Post-16 opportunities
Below is a list of College courses, Click on the provider:
⚙️ Mechanical Engineer / Design Engineer – [Web link to page]
🏭 Manufacturing / Production Engineer – [Web link to page]
🤖 Robotics & Automation Engineer – [Web link to page]
🖨️ Additive Manufacturing Engineer – [Web link to page]
✍️ Industrial / Product Designer – [Web link to page]
🎛️ Control & Instrumentation Engineer – [Web link to page]
✅ Quality Engineer / Quality Manager – [Web link to page]
🧪 Materials Engineer – [Web link to page]
🔧 Maintenance & Reliability Engineer – [Web link to page]
🌿 Sustainable Manufacturing Engineer – [Web link to page]
Below is a list of companies offering training opportunities:
IAE – Stoke-on-Trent – [Weblink to page]
Goodwins International – Stoke-on-Trent – [Weblink to page]
Bowson Engineering Ltd – Stoke-on-Trent – [Weblink to page]
Glebe Engineering – Stoke-on-Trent – [Weblink to page]