Monday 30th June – Friday 11th 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 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. In the Work Experience Pack there is a sample CV and cover letter.

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.

Questions?