How is work experience sorted in your school?

[Sweatingcobbles]

When I did it in the 90s school gave us a list, we applied for where we wanted to go from this list and school sorted it all. If several people applied for the same place then someone was chosen and an alternative place found for the others.

In ds school Ofsted complained that work experience wasn't happening so school have sent everyone from year 9-11.

In ds school the pupils had to find somewhere to go themselves, find contact details, contact, chase up, organise their times of work etc. Some are year nine and have had a nightmare as no one will take them.

I can see the benefit and skills they will gain from sorting it their selves but wondered what happens to those kids with adults unable or unwilling to help them find somewhere or who don't have the skills due to sen/sn to do so?

Ive been able to help my sen child but I know several are in school with no placement next week.

DS did it year ten. He had to apply to companies himself. The school had some back up employers who would take on boys who didn't find anything

My eldest 2 had to find the work themselves, they were given a list of companies who have had DBS checks (I think that's the acronym?) but if the child found a placement with a company without the cheapest is we would have to pay for them to be done (£25 if I remember). Both children found their placements without help from parents

DD's school stopped work experience because it was getting harder and harder to find places that would take y10s some of whom would only be 14. e.g. Someone interested in being a plumber couldn't go out for a day in a van with a plumber any more due to insurance / child protection.
They now do a week of activities which includes a dragons den / the apprentice task, interview practice, CV writing and careers advice.

We have really struggled to find somewhere tbh. Some of the younger end are only 13. No where wants them!

They have to do it every year now so going to have to find somewhere for next year too sigh

It isn't. No money to cover insurance. They haven't offered it for years. It also disrupts the timetable.

In yr 10 ( 2010) I had to find my own WE x I just applied to my old primary school , they took like 6 people x

If people didn't find anything then they shadowed people at the high school x

SomeOther but unless someone wants to work with children, WE in schools is a bit of a cop-out I think.

There is an IT system that they need to sign-up to and this has details of some (not enough for everyone) available placements for them to apply to do (via the system). There is also the option of them finding a placement themselves and they then log the details of that on the system and have to get the "employer" to complete a form with specifics such as working hours, dress code, health and safety assessment and insurance details etc. the school then approve this as appropriate. They aren't able to do this until S5 (equivalent to year 11) in DSs school unless they intend leaving at end of S4.

DS1 found his own placements for S5 and S6. DS2 will be doing his first in November this year but is already looking for his own placement as the school ones haven't been released and experience tells us that there is unlikely to be anything that he'd like to do. It is usually a lot of nursery/primary school placements.

DS1 has found the best way is to contact smaller firms. We have a couple of business parks nearby so he got the lists of tenants, googled the businesses to see what they did and if of interest, contacted them and then followed up a week or so later with a phone call. He stuck lucky with that and then for his 2nd placement he'd heard about a WE scheme a big engineering multinational did and approached them for a space which he got.

DS2 says that some people in his year are going abroad! Think there are a lot of well off family connections involved, which we don't have.

DD had to arrange it herself. She went into three shops, one was closing, the other wouldn't have enough for her to do and Waterstones let her stand downstairs for 25 mins before they came back and told her they don't offer work experience. She emailed three organisations, one would only take 16 year olds, the other two wouldn't take her on unless she already had a connection to them. We asked BIL whether his place offered work experience, he checked and was old if he organised it, she could do it. She was kept fully occupied, did lots of different things and was asked for her personal opinion, so she had plenty to do and it made her feel useful.

DS did his in Y10. They were encourage to find their own placement and then the school checked that the employer was suitable (insurance and all the rest). Anyone who didn't find a placement or whose placement fell through was found one by school.

mine is coming to work with me. She is 14, so can't actually "do" anything other than make tea, clean shelves, tidy up, open doors for people, but out of the 900+ kids in the immediate area doing work experience at least she has something.

It is a waste of time doing it at 14, 16 yes, I can see the value, but at 14 choices are very limited.

DD's school moved it to end of y11, when most children are 16, for this reason. They have to sort everything themselves, which is reasonable at 16. She and her friends have found good, relevant placements.

It can be a chore hosting children, but I think big companies should do it to 'put something back'. I am hosting a child in a couple of weeks to help them develop. DD is going to an investment bank, and they have already sent her an amazing timetable. Much harder for smaller companies to do I think.

For both my DDs we had to arrange their own work experience. It wasn't easy- many places don't even bother to reply to the e-mails/ applications. We managed to secure both their placements through our own work contacts.

DD1 did a week at a school then a week in my DHs office at the end of year 11 after finishing GCSEs (which I think is a great time to do it as it doesn't take away from teaching and learning time.)

DD2 also worked in a school for a fortnight at the end of year 10.

I think year 9 is way too young- who on earth is going to agree to take on a 13/14 year old? Even year 10 is too young- how do companies cope with issues such as insurance, child protection and safeguarding? More trouble than it's worth TBH.

I don't think it is necessarily easier with large firms, a lot of them can't be bothered as it's too much red tape/always someone else's job etc.

I work in a large organisation and share office space with another. Neither of them do it or are even prepared to answer emails and these companies are household names. Another only does one specific placement with one school.

In some smaller places there are less levels to go through and the placement person can actually be useful as they tend to be more "hands on" types of places. DS1s first placement was with a small IT start up (about 20 staff) and he helped build a website when he was there. The MD himself got the email that DS sent and offered him a placement straight away, I think he was delighted to be asked.

I think it's 6 and two 3s really. The best idea I suppose is to contact a mix of different places and see what turns up.

I asked at my workplace for DD, but due to insurance issues they couldn't do it.

DD's school is one of the most underfunded in the country and they haven't been able to insure work experience students for many years. As DD has a summer birthday she has also been too young to do any.

At my daughter's school, work experience is done at the end of year 11 - once GCSEs are out of the way and almost all the children are 16. Much more sensible in my view. They had to find their own placements but the school has a list of places for those who can't find their own or who are interested in particular areas.

The nearby boys school does the same thing. Having taken someone last year (the son of a friend), I agreed to be on their "in case needed" list in future and am taking two this year. The school sends out a form to the employers to do a risk assessment and ask whether their insurance covers the students. I confess it never occurred to me that schools would end up having to pay for insurance. I am in an office so not a high risk environment.

At our school, kids sort it out themselves. For some people that means going to work with their parents. For kids like mine without a specific career aspiration , they write a cv and hit the shops and banks at the local shopping centre. Some said they didn't hire while others said yes and gave him a sit down interview.
We practiced what to say before he went to the shops. We came out with 5 places that he'd try. He got 2 no (they don't do y10 work experience), 2 yes and 1 saying that he could work in the summer.

3 different schools in same EA:

DS, yr10 in 2015: given 2 possible single days & expected to sort it all himself or go to regular classes. He went to regular classes.

Friend's DS, yr10 in 2016: given 2 weeks, he + parent(s) had to sort it all themselves.

DD, yr10 in 2017: given a whole week off. Lots of school support but that said, lectured to not involve parents & sort it all herself. DD went into panic mode after months & she was turned down about a dozen times. I nudged a friend who works for council about an email DD sent them... DD was furious at me but lo & behold council suddenly offered her WE.

I kind of hate the whole thing. Most parents do most the arranging, they tell me.

Year 10. Dc finding work themselves - including the rejections- was very much plugged as part of the experience; they were told in good time and reminded that they had to start looking. Unless in cases with SN they were very much told that this was their job, not their parents'. We didn't do anything to help ds, beyond nagging him: he sent in his CV and went round shops and restaurants until he found something. I thought that was a more important learning process than the actual work he did: realising that it's not just a question of deciding what you want to do and walking straight in.

Dd was quite ill, so there her dad did help her. But hers was an unusual case: her friends sorted themselves out.

DC had to arrange their own. The school only has a small number of places lined up, reserved for students who can't find their own placement.

I think Y11 after GCSEs is a lot more sensible. Y9 is too young.

My DH prefers 6th formers for work experience who actually want to be Civil Engineers. They get a lot more out of it and a job after university if they are good enough.

DS's school did Year 10 end work experience. It was a challenge to find suitable roles TBQH. In the end DS got a week at a City law firm (because DSis works there and is quite senior and one of the patners' DC was also doing it) and then spent a week working with me doing something totally different (not ideal but I did work him hard!).

It seems that lots of pupils end up working at their old primary schools because there aren't that many opportunities unless parents can 'pull rank' within their own companies.

I know lots of schools are stopping the practice for all reasons mentioned above and because it quite clearly is an unlevel playing field, favouring youngsters who come from more professional (private sector) backgrounds.

We are an educated family but not high-flying and certainly not corporate (except for DSis). Most of our friendship group are 'public sector' employees so opportunities not easy to come by.

However, there are some interesting work experience roles out there (that I've become aware of since DS did his), so I will be more 'on the case' for DC2 should they have to do it.

When we did work experience at school (end of Year 11, after GCSEs) I think it was totally sorted out by school and parents were not involved at all.

Self-employed parents in the trades seem to have the easiest time, ime, the electricians or plumbers just bring their kids along for a week, no need to look further.