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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

work experience

41 replies

bruffin · 14/10/2010 08:55

We had a letter to say DS yr 10 will be doing work experience in July.
What have other dcs done and did they enjoy it or did they end up doing filing all week?

OP posts:

southeastastra · 14/10/2010 08:59

get in quick if you can, ds worked for a travel agency but there wasn't enough work for him to do. most interesting jobs are usually picked up by 'who you know' in my expereince

lollipopshoes · 14/10/2010 09:03

when dd1 did this she had the option of sorting out her own work experience - if she had have done, she could have had a week in the local primary school a stone's throw from our house, doing interesting things with children she knows.

However, she left it too late and in the end had to go and work somewhere two bus rides away doing something really boring!

The school will sort out a placement if he doesn't do it for himself, and it may not be anything that he is interested in.

My advice would be to get him to ask around in places where he would like to work and see if he can get something that he will enjoy and get something out of.

MissAnneElk · 14/10/2010 09:15

DD had access to a website which listed all the companies in the local area who had previously offered work experience. They could apply to any other company they wanted but the school then had to contact them. Elf and safety etc.
DD worked at an outdoor centre and loved it.
Most of her friends went for the fairly safe options of working in schools and nurseries. There were a huge number of hairdressers on DDs list. Someone she knows did go to a hairdressers and worked really hard and managed to get a Saturday job from it - Saturday jobs here can be difficult to find!
Other placements that kids she knew did and liked were Travel company, financial company, architect office and publisher.

Original poster

bruffin · 14/10/2010 09:32

DS has applied to the local photographers on Tuesday night and was accepted yesterday, photography is his hobby and he is doing Btech. Photographers is well regarded in the industry so I think it will be a good experience for him, however I think ds isn't sure and wants to do something more to do with medicine but I don't think realistically that he will get allowed to get involved in.

The photographers is at the end of our road so no complicated journey

OP posts:

senua · 14/10/2010 09:42

Well done to your DS, Bruffin. You always have to look at these things holistically and think how lessons learned in one situation can be carried over to another situation. There will be commonalities to be found between photography and medicine. And he can always get non-school-organised work experience himself when older (essential for medicine).

brimfull · 14/10/2010 09:45

My dd worked with a hospital consultant friend for a few weeks.
Not officially allowed but he pulled strings I think.

ANywya was incredibly useful as made her decide not to pursue any career in the medical field , friend was a bit miffed but he got over it

brimfull · 14/10/2010 09:47

I now someone whose dd worked at local airport , they had a few days in various dept within and really enjoyed it.

Butterbur · 14/10/2010 09:50

DSs' school does work experience in Y10. The problem with this is they are only 15 when they do it. Many placements - in particular in the NHS, specify that you have to be at least 16 to apply.

Other schools in the area do it in Y11, after GCSEs.

annh · 14/10/2010 11:52

Tell your son to get onto it now! Seriously, he needs to think about what he wants to do and start applying. I used to work in theatre, was responsible for sorting the work experience programme and we had literally dozens of applications and we could only accept one student a week. If your son has been allocated a couple of weeks in which to do his work experience,you can bet that is also the same couple of weeks when at least six other schools in the general area will also be doing their work experience.

ButterBeans · 14/10/2010 19:28

My friend went abroad to do work experience with her dad's friend, as he lived abroad! I was .

I wrote to a few labs as that was what I was interested in and set a placement up myself. The students who expected school to sort something out, were stuck in offices or shops - I'd really recommend trying to arrange your own or asking friends/family if they can help.

DP works for a fab internet company and I plan to send DS there when he does his...although he's only in Year 7 now .

Original poster

bruffin · 14/10/2010 20:53

He seems much happier about the photography placement tonight . Just need to get the forms sorted out.

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elphabadefiesgravity · 14/10/2010 21:00

Its really sad but my Dad's firm has had to stop offering work experience (construction industry) as none of the sites where he has contracts will let umder 18's on site at all.

springlamb · 15/10/2010 22:19

DS went to work in the vets across the road from school which was fabulous.
We had his classmate working with DH spraying camper vans.
I am a governor at the school and you can't imagine how difficult it is to get placements for our Year 10s as they all have physical disabilities.

MaureenMLove · 15/10/2010 22:43

DD has just been turned down by the London Aquarium. She's particularly disappointed about the 16yr age restriction, because she'll be 16 about 3 days after the work experience fortnight finishes!

Back to the drawing board for her, so I will watch for ideas!

ruddynorah · 15/10/2010 22:52

I did mine on the news desk at our local radio station. I absolutely loved it. Best bit was hearing my news being read out on air each night when I got home. I had to research the stories properly too, ringing the courts and asking for press releases from places.

Original poster

bruffin · 09/07/2011 03:02

Thought I would update this.

DS did the work experience this week and has had a fantastic time

The studio doesn't open until 10 so his hours were 10 to 5 with an hour for lunch. The studio is a few minutes walk, so he didn't have any travelling.

Monday is their admin day, so he helped out with that.
However from then onwards he spent the days modelling, taking his own pictures of his guitar and editing photos, blowing bubbles to make babies laugh. He has come home with some lovely photos of himself, even a printed cd case and cd. It would have cost a small fortune to book a sitting there and buy the amount of pictures he has.
To be honest he has had a little too much fun, but at least it might give him some ideas if he wanted to make some money on the side, while he is studying etc

OP posts:

senua · 09/07/2011 11:05

Sounds like he had a good time. Did he get some sort of written report at the end of it? Obviously, at this age, they don't have much in the way of references so DD found her write-up was useful for applying for other jobs. Best to get it now, while he is fresh in their minds, because in a few months' time they will be going "who? are you sure he worked here?"

Original poster

bruffin · 09/07/2011 11:23

They have said if he ever needs a reference they will gladly supply one. He did have to fill in a card of what he did etc while he was there. It is only a small company with 7 staff and only take on two work experience children a year, so hopefully they won't have problem remembering him.

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cory · 09/07/2011 11:24

Sounds lovely, bruffin.

Dd is hoping to get into the local theatre for her work experience next year: she has studied the website and knows it won't be back stage, but will be mainly about finances and publicity, but thinks that could be interesting.

Original poster

bruffin · 09/07/2011 11:48

Cory I think she needs to apply as soon as the school announces the dates, even if she doesn't have an official letter. The dates for the current year 9s is already on the calender on our school website.

The school also managed to get the original owner of the studio to come in and give a talk to the students which DS found really interesting.The studio is now run by his daughter but he is still working in the industry and has a commercial photography business.

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cory · 09/07/2011 12:09

She is applying this week; dates have just been announced.

GnomeDePlume · 09/07/2011 21:06

DD1 is in the middle of work experience now. She is working for my old company (arranged just before they made me redundant). She is working in statistical analysis. She is having a great time. The experience of going into an office and just getting on with things is absolutely priceless.

Definitely worth getting onto the lists early.

mummytime · 10/07/2011 08:43

Due to a mix up, DS is now not doing work experience but going on a gifted and talented course at Imperial College. (Their definition of gifted and talented is far easier than the schools.)

Kez100 · 10/07/2011 10:15

My daughter is going to a Primary School one week and working in the sales area of a puppet shop on the second! The latter have a strong local reputation of helping bring children out of their shell!

Kez100 · 10/07/2011 10:19

And for anyone reading this next year, yes get in early!

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