Work Experience
What is Work Experience?
A work experience placement is a period of supervised work, where students will have the opportunity to experience working in a specific role with a company. This placement allows a young person who is looking for employment in a specific field to gain practical experience to find out what it is really like, enabling students to get an idea of a career or industry they’re interested in and hopefully be inspired to work to achieve the qualifications necessary to gain entry into this field.
When do students go on Work Experience?
Work experience takes place in the 1st week of July during Term 6 of Year 10. Every Year 10 student is encouraged to take part in the July work experience.
However, work experience is not limited to one week in July, I would encourage students to also have a placement in the Year 10 summer holidays as well as the Year 11 summer holidays
What benefits do students gain from a Work Experience placement?
Students benefit from attending a work experience placement in a number of ways. Firstly, it gives them an insight into the world of work. This allows a young person to understand what people actually do in the world of work and how it can differ from school ·
By carrying out a work placement young people will develop skills such as communication, organisation and teamworking skills. Students will also grow in confidence by working with people they do not know.
A work placement is a great opportunity for students to get a taster into an industry to see if they like it or not, with no strings attached. Deciding a job is not for them can be extremely beneficial long term. In addition, a work placement adds to the young person’s CV. CVs of school students have a tendency to look more or less the same and so work experience will add an extra element to the student’s CV and help them differentiate themselves from their peers when it comes to job / university applications. Recruiters and employers definitely look at a CV more favourably if the CV has work experience included.
If the student does particularly well at their placement, they could be offered an apprenticeship or internship when they have completed their GCSEs (this has happened to a number of our Y10 students).
What type of work can students do?
There are many opportunities open to Year 10 students and some examples of these are: · Animal/Agriculture and Environment · Art and Design · Business/Finance · Childcare/Education and Training · Construction/ Building Environment · Energy and Recycling · Engineering · Hair/Beauty and wellbeing · Health and Social Care · Hospitality and Catering · IT and Digital · Law/Politics and Government · Marine/Maritime · Media/Games and Performing Arts · Retail/Customer Service · Science and Maths · Security and Emergency Services · Sport/ Leisure and Tourism · Transport and Distribution Regarding specialised Work Experience for example NHS, Veterinary, Law etc.
How can Parents/Carers help?
Parents/Carers can help by talking and discussing with their young person earlier rather than later about what aspiration they have regarding a career. This discussion needs to be started early in Year 10 so that the young person has an opportunity to research the industry they feel would best suit them.
Parents and Carers can also have a more practical role by helping by using any contacts they may have: Think about who you know and where they work. Is their anyone you know that could help?