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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

Work Experience for DD - Year 10

22 replies

stellsie · 11/01/2013 10:09

Hello My DD will be 15 in March, she is due to do 1 week work experience through school in July. She was (surprisingly!) pro-active a couple of months ago and said she would really like to do her work experience at a place where she feels she would actually benefit from - for the past couple of years she has wanted to be a midwife, so she was hoping to get work experience in a hospital. I did tell her that she wouldn't be able to deliver babies but I didn't want to flatten her ambition. So she spoke to her form tutor who encouraged her to write to our nearest maternity hospital to inquire. Unfortunately they wrote back, a lovely letter, but a 'no' they do not offer work experience. They have offered for her to go along and have a tour of the hospital which is very nice! She has also written to our local GP, but again, a very nice letter back but another 'no'. She also wrote to 2 other doctors surgeries both of whom wrote back 'no'. I have today been looking at hospitals further afield but from their websites, they only accept over 16's for volunteer work.

Does anyone have any bright ideas of where else we can try?

I feel for her, she keeps getting letters saying 'NO' - not great for her confidence but I suppose showing her the real world !

Thanks for your help x

OP posts:

eatyourveg · 11/01/2013 10:20

How about contacting the royal college of midwives and see what they suggest. Might it be that the nos coming back are simply because she is under 16? There must be a way to do it as going for a midwifery degree as afaik always requires exp first

Googlella · 11/01/2013 11:19

There are organisations supporting new Mums you could try. Are there local breastfeeding support groups, NCT ante and postnatal classes, La Leche league? Could she spend some time with a health visitor? Good luck; it is a shame to be turned away when she is so keen and focused.

LeftMeInSuspenders · 11/01/2013 11:23

I used to want to be a midwife when I was a teen and went to an Information Open Day for Midwifery at a university.
They advised us that places are hard to get so any care work experience would go favourably for us in our application.

Could she apply for a work experience at a local care home? Might help her get her foot in the door later on?

bigbluebus · 11/01/2013 15:06

Getting work experience placements in Yr 10 is really difficult and seems to be a case of "who you know" a lot of the time. Ds's school considered scrapping it for Yr 10s last year as we are in a rural area, so not many places available.
DS wanted science based lab work but again no-one would take U16s due to insurance. Our local hospital wouldn't take anyone under 16 at all and wouldn't take placements from school students in anything medical - they only offered admin roles.
Any work experience is good experience and although it is nice to get something that you really want to do, it is the experience of working 9-5 and being in a work environment that is important. Maybe she could try a nursery - at least she might be working with babies or ask Health Visitors (although the U16 rule probably applies to all public sector health jobs).
I understand how demoralising it is when they keep getting 'no' or in some cases no reply at all - but as you say, that in itself is a lesson in life.
Good luck to your DD, I hope she finds something that will be of interest to her. Hopefully she will have more success with her chosen w/exp career choice in Yr 12.

Original poster

stellsie · 11/01/2013 15:42

thanks for the replies and support
I should have mentioned, I already tried our local health visitors but they are not able to look after a work experience student (I suppose understandably.)
I will try the other places which have been mentioned, and I do think that a care home or similar is a good idea to try too, although not sure DD will agree

OP posts:

mrsjay · 11/01/2013 17:17

hiya it is her age and the fact she is under 16 in hospitals it is becuse of confidentiality, I know it isn't the same but what about a day nursery they may offer her a placement dd1s friend did get to work with old people in a hospital but she was 16 at the time, she didnt really like it though,

mrsjay · 11/01/2013 17:19

dd is in 4th year (scotland) and we are looking for work experience for her for june she fancies either a nursery or school or perhaps a vet ( no difference eh) but she will only be 15 in june so we will need to see,

CerysBore · 13/01/2013 19:08

When my DS was in year 10, he did a week at our local vets. It went very well. He was animals a lot (obviously), met patients, sat in on consultations and occasional ops and learnt a lot about how a busy vet surgery goes about its day to day business.

We, too, had earlier run into a spate of 'no's' largely because of his age.

I know it's not midwifery (well, sometimes it is) but at least a vets is in the medical domain. It seemed to DS to be as much about caring for people (owners) as animals.

Or, as others have suggested, a nursery or early years classes in a school.

ReluctantMother · 13/01/2013 19:09

What about the local children's centre?

VivaLeBeaver · 13/01/2013 19:12

Independent midwife?

VivaLeBeaver · 13/01/2013 19:13

And ask on twitter. Put @wemidwives in your tweet and ask for a rt. loads of midwives follow @wemidwives and you might get some suggestions. Especially if you put your area in the message.

bumpybecky · 13/01/2013 19:14

do you have homestart locally?

ohfunnyhoneyface · 13/01/2013 19:21

I second asking to go to NCT and baby breast feeding classes- is it midwifery in particular she is interested in? Not paediatrics? I have a friend who works on a paediatrics ward (she's worked great ormand street etc) and they welcome visitors to read and entertain the kids- I'm sure they'd welcome a placement?

ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged · 13/01/2013 19:21

Sure start centre? Toddler groups? Nurseries?

VivaLeBeaver · 14/01/2013 20:17

I've seen a tweet, guessing its your dd. hope something comes of it!

Original poster

stellsie · 14/01/2013 20:50

Ah yes vivalebeaver (great name btw!) it must be my DD! Bless her, she won't give up I've written to our hospital, addenbrookes in cambridge, as even though the maternity hospital said no, I thought we could try a different route with offering to read to the children on paediatrics as ohfunnyhoneyface suggested. Fingers crossed!

I've emailed NCT but got a reply saying that as they're ran by volunteer mums, it could be a while before I get a reply.

Also called local RSPCA - animals instead of babies but heyho! - but they only accept volunteers/work experience age 16+

Running out of ideas. Just been given a letter from DD's school telling us about the work experience info evening next week, then apparently she will be given a log in & password to access county site with all the different placements offered, so let's hope there is something on there she likes!

Thanks again for all your very helpful responses X

OP posts:

mrsjay · 14/01/2013 21:13

homestart won't take on work experience it is too complicated for a week

VivaLeBeaver · 14/01/2013 21:37

It needs to be something woman related ideally. Not child related.

Believe me in an interview for midwifery degree if someone says they love babies/kids its a big black mark! Well it doesn't look good anyway.

How about local woman's refuge? Womens aid?

grumpyskater · 14/01/2013 21:38

My dd also 15 in march and doing work experience the week before her bday, so will be 14! Despite this, very positive response from local community healthcare organisation, and she will be spending a week with an adult community based speech therapist. Not quite the same as delivering babies, and she asked ideally for work with children and they said no to that, but so you know it's not a public sector policy as far as I can see. We have no connections, she just rang them up, then letter, then asked to complete formal application form. They are incredibly helpful and pleasant.

Possibly keep trying different organisations. Are there any private midwifery or post natal care clinics that might be more accessible to your dd? Good luck.

swooosh · 15/01/2013 05:48

How about contacting local Doulas? Maybe prenatal classes or baby groups at a local community centre?

fridayfreedom · 16/01/2013 23:24

I work in the NHS and we don't take work experience students now. I think a lot is due to confidentiality and also age. To be honest we are all so stretched with our regular work and taking our own students that we don't have time for work experience ones. I know it seems unfair as how else do they get to see the jobs but it is th reality. The only one we had in recent years was the consultants daughter, we were basically told we had to!! Felt this was very unfair on others without these links!

triplets · 21/01/2013 00:14

Jumping in here............my trio are going to be 15 on the 27th Jan. All three are doing a weeks work experience in July. No one knows what they want to do and I haven`t got a clue my self tbh! My problem is going to be transport, getting each one from A-B. Their Dad has cancer, so its difficult. Do they have to do it? Thanks

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