Work Experience
Falmouth School is delighted to reintroduce work experience back into the curriculum for both years 10 and 12. Work experience will run from 10-14th July 2023.
Work experience is a government scheme offered to school students. The student has a placement at an employer's premises, where they are to carry out particular tasks or duties, more or less as would an employee. The emphasis is on the learning aspects of the work experience, as the experience involves taking on the role of a young worker and to put the knowledge and skills they have learnt in IT, Careers, PSHE and Citizenship into practice in a real workplace situation.
The aim of Work Experience week is to:
· Give students an idea of what it would be like to work in their desired field of employment
· Teach students how to be presentable in the workplace
· Develop transferable skills, such as communication and team working
· Provide students with an opportunity to relate school studies with a workplace
· Prepare students for the demands and expectations of the working world
· Give students an insight into the diversity of employees in the workplace
· Give students the opportunity to network and create new connections.
If you need us to consider a placement outside of the dates 10-14 July, as you are either on a school trip or because your placement has a fixed date i.e. The Police, Culdrose, then please email either blumbers@falmouthschool.net or ntaylor@falmouthschool.net to discuss this further.
The process we use to organise the “work placements” with businesses is as follows:
Finding a Work Experience Placement
Your son or daughter will have designated sessions in tutor time as we encourage them to find their own placement. There is a database of placements we have on a website www.learnaboutwork.net/cornwall and your son or daughter will have a unique PIN number they can use to log on and search and apply for jobs.
They can also find a placement through family, friends, or searching the internet.
We will be looking at writing a letter of application with them as part of their PHSE course to prepare them to find a work placement.
If you would like your son or daughter to have a work placement that is outside of Cornwall, this is fine but you need to let either of the Work Experience Co-ordinators know as soon as possible as arranging this can take a long time.
The Approval and Consent Form
Once your son or daughter has found a work placement and been accepted you will have an Approval and Consent Form sent home for you to complete section 1 Information About the Student and send it back to school as soon as possible (scanned or as a paper copy) – ideally by Friday 3rd February 2023.
We will then send the form to the placement provider who will complete sections 2 and 3 and sign in section 4 and return it to you to see the details of the placement. If you are happy with the placement you and your son or daughter must sign in section 4 and return it to me at the school.
Your son or daughter cannot go on their placement until this form has been fully completed and returned to me at the school.
Health Safety and Welfare for Work Experience
Cornwall Education Business Partnership will have visited the work placement provider to make sure they are able to take account of the health, safety and welfare of your son or daughter. Again, the placement cannot take place BEFORE they have approved the placement.
We will provide a general health and safety course before your son or daughter go on their placement and if they undertaking a High-Risk Placement we will make sure they are aware of the specific risks and their control measures.
The placement provider must give your son or daughter a health and safety induction on the first morning which he or she will record in their logbook.
A member of staff will visit the work placement and talk to your son or daughter and their work placement supervisor. If their placement is out of Cornwall they will be contacted by telephone to see that all is well.
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