Work experience

[needmorecoffee]

Just spoke to the rather obnoxious teacher at ds's school about work experience as I can't make the parents evening about it. Firts he told me it was compulsory to go to the parents evening and got snotty when I explained its impossible for me as I have a brain damaged child no-one will babysit for.
Then he told me that its the child who must find the job. How, said I, I don't actually know anyone with a job. He didn't belive me. All my friends are generally single mums caring for disabled children and DH worked in the defence industry which doesn't allow 'children' in. So he said ds could just look through yellow pages and ring companies.

ffs, isn't the school meant to be doing this? How can a 14 yo be expected to ring various companies across a city and ask to hang out at their offices for 2 weeks? I made it clear to the teacher than I do 24 hour caring and am stressed enough without ringing half of the city (no doubt the rich parents at this school will know someone in the business their own darlings can go to. We are the only 'on benefits' people in the whole farking school. Its a nobby onethat the in-laws are paying for)
And what about CRB checks? Surely children aren't meant to go off to any company and be alongside those without CRB checks?

Maybe I'll just let him have 2 weeks holiday

shocked at that. ds's school arranged it all. took a while as they cocked up and missed him out. does his school have a student support person as they should be the ones doing it.

Really shocking. Our school has a database of places that children can apply for. Of course they can also do research and make private arrangements, lots do this - some really do ring round and ask, others use contacts of friends or family. However, it is stressed that it should really be the 14 year old doing the ringing round, not the parent, so your school is right on that angle!

As to the CRB checks, I don't think companies have to have those, but no child is allowed on a placement unless it has been checked out for health and safety.

Two weeks is a long time, ours only do one week.

Have you thought about army courses - there are 1-week residential courses which are free. Have a look on the internet - I think they are called Insight courses, but a search on army work experience should do it.

ds has Aspergers and never uses the phone or email so thats a non-starter.
But we've decided to keep him home for the 2 weeks and label it 'caring for a disabled child' experience.

We have a database for kids, but they can find their own if they like.

Generally the more exciting ones are found by the kids themselves. However every child ends up with a placement, and we place 250 every year

D3 did her work experiance last year. The school said that they would help the children finfd work experiance but they could find thier own if they wanted to.
DD3 did find her own( with my help) as she did it at the Arts centre where she does Drama. It helped that she knew the staf ther and is a member of the centre.
She had to tell the school where she was doing the work experiance and give them a name and number to contact. The school then checked it out to make sure everything was ok.

My children more or less had to arrange their own. They both spent a week at our local SLD school and continue to talk about it.

We have a consultancy that we use for work experience placements - I think the same one serves most of the private schools in the area, and it is similar to the EBPs that state schools use. The allocate placements to students based on their preferences for the type of work.

We do get a few students who want to set up their own placements, and if the place is not on the list, they have to pay a fee to get it onto the list.

needmorecoffee, the school really should be doing more to help - ask them to provide a list of where last years students went for ideas. Failing that ask at a local shop/supermarket or your health clinic. Restaurants or hotels are also good places or what about a placement in a junior school or library? I really think work experience should be more than staying at home and I think your son will lose out if he doesn't do something. Even if it's not something he ultimately wants to end up doing I think youngsters need to see what the world of work is about.

the teacher who deals with it was rude and frankly obnoxious on the phone. I told him I couldn't do it cos I just don't have the time or energy and he was rude and nasty.
DS says he doesn't want to do work experinece anyhow. I'm annoyed at how unhelpful the school is given its a nobby one.
Its parents evening tonight (another ordeal. The school isn't wheelchair accessible so I have to take 2 walking sticks so I can get in)
so I will tackle mister lardy-arse tonight over it. ds doesn't want me to say anything as this teacher has managed to make him hate geography and picks on him.
sigh.

I never did work experience as it didn't exist. Didn't do me no harm.
I reckon it might make 15 yo's seriously depressed. 2 weeks of work! This is all you have to look forward to when you leave school!

Where are you - can MN arrange anything?

BTW I have 2 coming to me next week & I think one has major food issues so it could be fun - but we will just deal

I went to /cough/ private school, and they had a database of people willing to house a teen for a week or two, so it was very straightforward to arrange. I think the school sound utterly unreasonable. I think it's disgraceful that given the circumstances the teacher isn't prepared to just pick up the phone to discuss DS progress with you.

does DS have any interest in law at all - I remember it was very easy to arrange a day hanging out with a CPS lawyer.

Take it over this teachers head nmc, he is out of line. Speak to the head about your disappointment in his lack of support. I doubt work experience will make your ds depressed, two weeks isn't long enough for that. It could give him useful ideas about what he does & (possibly more importantly) doesn't want to do later.

I think that given your sone has sn, they should be giving him more support.

In general we ask out kids to kind their own placements (it is part of the work experience, finding a job) but we also have a 'bank' of fall back places that can be used if the student can't (for whatever reason) get a placement.

Good places to try would be the local supermarkets btw, we get lots of our kids going to those.

The vast majority of students find work experience a very positive thing, often those who find school not to their taste do best, working in a different and more adult environment. For some a 'dull' placement is the spur they need to get them to concentrate of getting the qualifications they need to do something more interesting.

I think there is more at issue here than the work experience. You have difficulities accessing the school, and are a full-time carer as well, yet the school is making no allowances for this.

I would write to the head and explain that it is not possible for you to attend meetings unless they are really essential, and would appreciate an arrangement where you can be informed by letter or phone of what you need to know. The teacher is out of order here.

As regards the work experience- we had to arrange it ourselves for my ds, and he kept asking how come we don't know anyone with a business, everyone else seemed to. He got one week at his old primary school, and we asked local shops then for the other week. Local playschools may be glad of the extra pair of hands.

We have a bank of 2000 jobs they can choose from. Was this man the careers teacher? Also with SN students in my school we as tutors help them to fill in forms, make calls and advise on suitable selections to make them feel comfortable.
The SN students do really love w.exp and if a suitable caring placement can be found then it would be a shame for him not to do it.
We have cafes, garden centres etc that are specifically geared up to deal with sn students.
I hate seeing sn students not be helped with w. exp and find form tutors and sn coordinators can be of great help.

Having p.evening is a great opp to sort this out.