Work Experience
The EBeBP's Work Based Learning (WBL) Team places, on average,
5000 students on work experience every year. For each
student, his or her placement will consist of
spending one to two weeks in a company or organisation, learning
the ropes of the working world.
For Extended Work Experience placements please see Alternative Curriculum. Please
see Own
Placements Information if a student has their own contact
they wish to hold placement with.
Here are just some of the benefits to students participating in a
work experience placement:
The ability to:
- Gain greater understanding of the world of work
- Develop their employability skills
- Improve their confidence in the world of work
- Develop business contacts
- Improve their CV
- Improve their understanding of the different career paths open
to them
Specific skills they can develop whilst on work experience
include:
- Communication
- Team work
- Interpersonal skills
- IT and Computer skills
- Telephone Techniques
- Customer Service
- Practical, e.g. working with tools
- Organisational skills
What
the EBeBP's Work Experience Service Includes
The full placement service that the EBeBP offers, in order of
occurance, is outlined below. For more information please refer to
your child's school:
- Parents Evening: if the school has
selected to have a parents evening to cover the topic of work
experience placements, then this will be held at the student's
school. EBeBP staff will be available to discuss the work
experience process and any queries or questions you may have
- Student Assembly: the EBeBP will deliver a work
experience assembly to the year group going out on placements. In
the assembly students are given an explanation of the work
experience process and any deadlines that they need to stick
to
- Application Forms: all students will be asked to fill
in a work
experience application form. Please ensure that this is
returned to the school by the deadline stipulated at the parents
evening or student assembly
- Interviews: the EBeBP Work Experience Coordinator/s
will interview the students at school. This will be an informal
chat between the student and the Work Experience Coordinator. On
average it lasts 5 minutes and is a chance to discuss hobbies and
interests
- Students matched to placements: the EBeBP Work
Experience Coordinator will match the students to the most suitable
placements offered, taking into consideration travel requirements
and interests
- Confirmation letters sent to companies: a
confirmation letter is sent out to each company the EBeBP has
matched to a student. This confirms the student name and the school
contact details
- Health and Safety visits: all health and safety visits
are carried out on companies that require them by the EBeBP's fully
trained staff. All companies must have up-to-date Employers
Liability Insurance to take work experience students. Please see Placement Requirements for further
information
- Parental Consent Form: this is
completed by the parents or guardians and returned to the school
before the work experience placement takes place. Please
note: the work experience placement will not go ahead
until the school has a copy of this form
- Students confirm their placements: students MUST
telephone the company they are placed with to confirm the
placement. Any required interviews can then be booked and last
minute queries or questions answered. This is also a chance for
students to break the ice and introduce themselves. Some
companies will not accept students unless they have phoned them
first
- Skills For Life: if the school has opted for a
Skills For Life morning this will happen up to four weeks
before the placement. Skills For Life consists of five workshops
designed to help prepare students for their work experience
placement
- Final Assembly: if the school has opted for a final
assembly then this will be held up to one week before the work
experience placement
- Log books and Be Safe books given out
- Work Experience takes place
- Debrief: at the school's request the EBeBP will run a
debrief session. This will be delivered in the student's school the
week after work experience has taken place
If you are offering your son, daughter or relative a work
experience placement within your own company or work place, please
see Own Placements.
For more information on your child's work experience, please
refer to the school, as it is the school that determines the
programme.
How the Work
Experience Process Works
The EBeBP offers its work experience services to East
Berkshire schools, according to each school's requirements,
rather than offering services direct to individual
students. What this means is that
each school selects the process for work experience that best fits
them; parents / caregivers need to make contact with the school to
gain information directly relating to their son or daughter's work
experience. We cannot provide that information on the
school's behalf.
Placement Types
Whilst the WBL team endeavor to get students into the industry
they are interested in, work experience does not have to mirror
their favoured career. The purpose of the exercise is, primarily,
to give students an experience of the working world.
All students find they gain valuable knowledge and experience,
regardless of where they are placed for their work experience. This
is why we at the EBeBP stress the importance of students
participating in a placement even with a company they believe has
little or nothing to do with their own plans or interests. Positive
surprises very often occur! On our Case Studies page you can
read first hand from a student who encountered this for
himself.
Placement Requirements
Prior to any student's placement at a business a placement, a
health and safety visit will be carried out by the EBeBP's
fully trained members of staff. This is simply to ensure that the
placement meets the required health and safety standards.
All places of work are health and safety checked. This includes all
new companies offering placements, and all existing companies due
for an update. In exceptional circumstances there are times when a
company has not had a health and safety check, or, they do not have
the correct Employers Liability Insurance. This will only occur
with own placements, but if the student still wants to attend then
the parent or guardian will have to sign a disclaimer in full
knowledge that the health and safety visit has not taken place, or
that they do not have the correct Employers Liability
Insurance.
Employers Liability Insurance
All employers offering work experience placements for
students will be required to hold a minimum of £5,000,000
Employer's Liability Insurance. For the Burnham based schools,
companies will also need to hold a minimum of £2,000,000 Public
Liability Insurance.
In exceptional circumstances where an employer does not hold this
level of insurance, or a placement visit cannot be arranged prior
to the student attending the placement, a disclaimer will be
produced for the parents or guardians to sign in agreement of the
student attending the placement. This is signed in full knowledge
that the visit has not taken place or that the employer does not
have the required insurance. The EBeBP then has nothing to do with
this placement and NO liability should anything
happen.
Should the parent or guardian be unwilling to sign the
disclaimer then the placement would have to be cancelled.
For more information on health and safety related issues please
contact Priya
Patel or telephone 01753 502384.
CRB, Criminal Records Bureau
It is important that in the course of our work we, at the EBeBP,
protect the young people and students we work with. All employees
of the EBeBP have had Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) checks in
accordance with company guidlines.
In addition, depending on the nature of the work involved, we
also run checks on business volunteers. CRB requirements are
entirely dependent on the nature of the volunteering work or work
placement.
For more general information on CRB checks click on this link to go
directly to the Criminal Records Bureau website.