DS aged 14 doing work experience in his old primary school. Teacher's help or inconvenience ?

[shergarsrevenge]

He's doing a weeks work experience in April. How could he genuinely help the teachers he is assigned to and not be a hinderance ? Obviously he will be well versed in brew making before he goes . He's a quiet sensible lad, not one for messing around.

@cansu He e-mailed and rang 15 companies. No luck. Many weren’t offering it this year. We have no family or friends who are in a position to take him on. We live in the NW (not a city) so opportunities aren’t great anyway. So for us it’s a relief he has something. If anything it will hone his interpersonal skills, particularly with adults, encourage him to use his initiative, teach patience. Guess it’s what you make if it

DS did his at my school in summer- after he finished ye11 as covid stopped his planned work experience. He was allowed in the staff room as he was 16, had left school and knew to keep his mouth shut! School pupils are not allowed in and are given space in another room.

Tidying the library, photocopying, getting PE equipment ready are all standard tasks. Any specialist skills are good to flag up (GCSE PE: lead PE warm ups with supervision, GCSE computing: help with ICT lessons.)

My DD is doing hers in her old primary school. She's already been told that she has an induction the Friday before with 3 other work experience students and has an itinerary and welcome letter in her room. She has been told they'd like her to work towards leading an assembly at the end of her 2nd week, as well as leading some small group work, assisting the TA with some extension work for the G&T students, and some other stuff. It actually helps that they know her as they know she is mature and capable. She's already been in to see the head and deputy to discuss what she'd like to learn and how she can use her strengths to lead some learning opportunities. She can't wait.

[quote shergarsrevenge]@TheCanyon I’ve just asked him that and he didn’t have a clue [/quote]
To be fair, I didn't either. I'm 35 now and would still run away if it said error

I had great fun doing it, I suppose it really depends on the class teacher and his nature how easy he finds it.

I did my college work experience at a what would now be a SEN school, that was a lot of photocopying too but totally thrown in the deep end, day one helping fit prosthetics for gym etc.

The best thing he can do is if he's got nothing to do/feeling awkward, then wander the room and chat to the kids.

@User2638483 don’t worry ! Ds’s school directed us to a website that dealt purely with this. You type in the field you are interested in and it lists all the companies offering the desired type of work experience, although not all are particularly local and some no longer participate. I’d advise that you start applying as soon as you are informed about it. Ds left it quite late We also heard that some of the more office based work experience was pretty tedious with little opportunity to do anything so we felt this would be more hands on and teach skills universal to any profession.

Dd did work experience in a primary. The school wanted to know what she was interested in and when she said Art they set her on putting up displays around the school which suited her down to the ground. Others there were more classroom based so listened to children read, played games with small groups etc.

@ShowOfHandsshow agree that already knowing him has probably helped. Not sure how he’d feel about leading assembly but guess it’s character building and good preparation for public speaking and meeting deadlines .

@FAQs

My daughter did this and mainly helped at play time, with art classes and reading, she loved it, no mobile allowed and not allowed to be alone with the children obviously, she came home with loads of artwork the little ones had drawn her, and a stick from one of the Childrens garden given as a present, she treasures that stick!

This was pretty much my experience when I did it at 14 in my old school. The kids loved having me there.

I'd never expect a work experience student to lead an assembly. That's quite inappropriate.
If he's willing to have a go at most things he'll have a good time. I'd advise him to model good behaviour for the children (eye contact, listening well etc), not to try to be their buddy and to ask for clarification from the teacher or TA if he's not sure what they want him to do. Teachers really appreciate a sensible extra pair of hands!

Assembly is done in one class only due to Covid so it'll be a 5 minute thing to 25 children. DD is excited. She's in a public speaking club at school and she asked about it in her application.

Definitely a help. There are all sorts of things a WE student could be involved in.

Great tips ! Thanks