In July 2023 our Year 10 students reached out to our local community to ask employers across the county to support a work experience placement and we were overwhelmed by the response and support given to our students.
This year, our Year 10 work experience week is 17th to 21st June 2024 and we hope our community will again, open their doors to our students.
There is good evidence that a work experience placement can have a huge impact on a pupil’s understanding of the realities of work, such as expected behaviour and the functions of a workplace, as well as providing first-hand experience of the skills and qualities required in that sector.
This is what employers told us about our students in 2023:
- 97% of employers told us our students’ time keeping was excellent
- 97% of employers told us our students’ ability to work in a team was excellent
- 100% of employers told us our students’ regard for health and safety was good (17%) or excellent (83%)
- 100% of employers told us our students’ readiness for work experience was good (10%) or excellent (90%)
The cohort of 2023 have set the bar high, but we know you will be equally impressed by our current Year 10s.
We hope that working together to offer such placements will bring mutual benefits to your workplace. Employers we worked with in 2023 told us how taking a student on a work experience placement benefits them:
“It is great for the staff to take on the role of training lead. Students come up with fresh ideas.”
“… supporting students to gain experience…is part of our commitment to the future.”
“Bringing youth into our organisation.”
“…she gave me personally an insight into the new generation of student worker and I’m impressed”
“Access to new talent, new ideas and better IT skills”
“It benefits us by seeing what talent in the local area is about”
“meeting and sharing what we love doing most with your students”
“Access to diverse talent…”
“Mentoring, more activity time, extra pair of hands”
“It was nice to have a fresh face in the office, the staff here enjoyed the mentoring opportunity.”
“Fresh ideas”
All work experience placements are subject to approval from the Local Authority, parents and the school. Employers wishing to offer a placement must fulfil Health and Safety, Risk Assessment and Employment liability insurance requirements.
We support our students in finding, preparing for and making the most of their work experience placement. As you might expect, we ask students to complete a Work Experience Journal to record their experience and focus their thoughts to make the experience as successful as possible.
If you’d like to find out more about what is involved in hosting a Year 10 student on work experience, you may find the resources below useful:
