Information for Parents / Carers

In Years 10 and 12 students undertake a week of work experience during Project Week.  Work experience is a vital introduction to the world of work for students, and has many benefits.  Whilst work experience can act as a future career taster, any experience that leads to an increase in employability skills for a student is worthwhile.
Finding a placement can seem daunting at first, but it is an important process that students do need to go through themselves – supported at home and in school.  Our Guide to Work Experience for Parents / Guardians should provide you with all the information you need to support your child with this process, and sets out the support that they can expect from us at school (see link below).  The King’s School Work Experience Database can also help to provide inspiration (see below).

For a good source of generic information about Work Experience, see the relevant pages on the Success At School website.

Success At School
Note: the student’s placement is not confirmed until the school has received a completed Work Experience Form.  

Key points to consider when choosing a placement

• Placements in popular settings (law, veterinary, I.T., music, theatre, museums etc.) fill very quickly.  Therefore we advise students to contact prospective employers sooner rather than later.
• Travel: students will have to make their own travel arrangements, so please ensure they can get to the placement.
• Insurance: students may only undertake work experience with employers who have the appropriate insurance cover (Public Liability Insurance & Employers’ Liability Insurance).
• High Risk Placements outside Devon, that require a site visit: our work experience Health and Safety Coordinator will contact all high-risk placements by phone, to discuss the placement.  If a site visit is necessary, and if the placement is outside Devon, then you will be asked to contribute £30 towards the additional costs of arranging this check by an external provider.

The Work Experience Forms

Work experience forms are available from the Careers Library, or you can download them below. Please note: without the correctly completed forms and the subsequent health and safety approval granted by our Health and Safety Officer, we will be unable to allow your child out of school and they will be required to attend school as normal during that week.

The Careers South West (CSW) Work Experience Database

We are using CSW to provide our Health and Safety checks, and therefore we also have access to their database of placements that have previously hosted students.  An organisation's inclusion on this database is not a guarantee that they will take a work experience student, it just means that they have done so in the past.  Students are provided with their log-in information during PSHE, and shown how to use the database.  The database is not a repository from which to select a placement, but rather we encourage students to use it to gain inspiration as to the type of placements and employers that are available to them.  

CSW Work experience database

Information for Employers

Firstly, thank you for considering or accepting one of our students for Work Experience.  We believe that Work Experience is invaluable for our students, and without the support of the Employers we would not be able to run this scheme. 

We are required to ensure that all placements have both Public and Employers Liability Insurance, in line with the advice on Work Experience Insurance provided by the Association of British Insurers.  If you do not possess one or other of these insurances, please contact the school to discuss this.

With regard to the Health and Safety of students on work experience: Careers South West (CSW) are providing Health and Safety checks as required for our placements.  They may contact you to arrange a check.

If you have any questions about hosting a student, please do get in touch.  We would be glad to speak to you about how the process works and how we can support you.