Year 11 Work Experience 2014 Monday 30 June – Friday 11 July

Year 11 Work Experience 2014
Monday 30th June – Friday 11th July
On your way in you
should have picked up
an envelope which
contains a Work
Experience Pack.
Monday 30th June – Friday 11th July 2014
• Current Year 10 students will do Work Experience once
they have completed their GCSEs in Year 11.
• By this stage most students will be 16, and therefore able
to access a greater range of possible placements.
• The aim is that students find a placement related to their
college courses or future career ambitions, in order to
make it the most beneficial experience possible.
Why do Work Experience
Ideally students would want to find a placement that is in some way
linked to what they want to do in the future. This isn’t always possible
due to the limitations of experience etc, but it is important for students
to remember that whatever they do, it will:
• Give students an insight into the world of work
• Help students build confidence and self-esteem
• Improve students abilities to work with others and as part of a team
• Allow students to develop work based skills that will be transferable
onto their college and future lives
• Let students gain real life examples to demonstrate skills on their
personal statement or CV.
The Process – Finding a Placement
Students will need to:
Decide what type of placement they would like to
undertake.
Write a cover letter & CV
Find possible employers and send out requests
Complete the Work Experience Form
Return the completed form to school
Deciding what type of placement to do
During Year 10 Life Skills Week from 1st – 4th July,
students will get a chance to do some investigation into
careers they may be interested in. They will get a chance to
look at:
• ‘Fast Tomato’ – a psychometric internet based
programme that allows students to explore possible
careers
• The National Careers Service website
Write a Cover Letter & CV
In the Work Experience Pack there is a sample CV and cover letter.
During Year 10 Life Skills Week students will get some time to put
together their CV and write a cover letter using the samples as
templates if they wish.
These are saved in the school system, under Student
Resources/Learning Resource Centre, making it quick and easy for
students to produce their own versions.
Find possible employers & send out
requests.
• It is the student’s responsibility to find and organise
their own placement. They need to do some
research on the internet for possible places to go,
and then send out their CV with their cover letter.
• To give students some ideas, we have included in
the pack a list of locations of all the placements
from July 2012. We can not obviously promise that
these employers will take anyone on this time
round, however it should provide a starting point.
• We do realise however that it can be difficult for
students to find a placement, and we are here to
help them. If students need any advice or support
while trying to secure a placement they can always
speak to one of us.
Complete the Work Experience Form
Once an employer has agreed to provide a placement, the
next stage is to complete the Work Experience form.
One section of this needs to be completed by the employer,
and therefore students need to either post the form to their
employer or go in person to get it completed.
Complete the Work Experience form
The are 3 sections to be
completed on the form by
3 different people.
• Student
• Employer
• Parent/Guardian
Return the completed form to school
Once the form has been completed by all 3 parties it needs
to be returned to the Learning Resource Centre.
The deadline for this to be returned is:
Friday 25th October 2013
Health & Safety
• Students safety while doing Work Experience is of
paramount importance to us. Therefore, once we have
received their completed form the details of the
placement will be passed on to Hampshire County
Council who will complete a health and safety check at
the student’s proposed placement.
• The placement will only be confirmed once the Health
and Safety check has been completed and the placement
approved.
Preparation for the placement
In the Work Experience Pack is a ‘Step-by-step Guide to the Work
Experience Process’ for students. In this we advise students that 2
weeks prior to when their placement is due to take place they should
contact their employer in order to find out:
• what their hours of work will be, most importantly what time they
need to arrive
• if there is anything particular they need to wear or take with them
• where to go when they arrive
• any other relevant information
We also suggest that they make sure they know how they are going to
get to their work place, and have some suitable clothes to wear while
on the placement.
During the placement
Nearer the time of Work Experience students will be given
a Work Experience Booklet which will act as an invaluable
record for them in the future.
A member of school staff will normally contact each
student by phone and then visit them during their
placement to see how they are getting on.