Head Teacher Helen Key
Work Experience 2024
Work Experience 2024 photo presentation
Most of our students find their own placements, either on their own or with the help of their families. For those that are unable to find their own placement then I do what I can to help them secure one. I facilitate each placement using Unifrog and a detailed spreadsheet. There is an incredible amount of work that goes into making sure our students have a great week with their employer but more importantly are in a safe environment.
The 1st of July dawned, and it was exciting and nerve-wracking to know that 170 of our wonderful Year 10’s were out and about, starting to make their mark on the working world while living the Chailey School values, learning from the employers and making the most of the opportunity given to them. I’m delighted to say that we have had so many reports of our students being excellent! More on that later …
What I find fascinating is the different sectors and industries that our students choose when looking for a placement, here are just a few that were chosen this year:
Education, Hospitality, Health & Social Care, Disability Care, Hair & Beauty, Construction, Farms & Farm Parks, Wildlife Rescue, Animal Rescue, Aviation, Electronics, Army, Finance, Law, Motor Vehicle, Printing, Campsite Management, Water sports, Outdoor Activities, Gardening, Landscaping, Event Management, Marketing, Estate Management, Investments, Immigration, just to name a few!
The week before work experience, students received an assembly outlining the expectations from Chailey School but also those that would be expected from their employers, this was followed up in their PHSE lessons where they were given a workbook to complete during the week. The workbooks are a place to record the activities undertaken during the placement, there is some space for reflection and for employers to add their comments at the end of the week. These books act as a souvenir of the week, and we hope will be something that students reflect on in years to come.
It was a privilege to visit some of our students on their placements, a team of staff members and I undertook the responsibility for visiting, calling and emailing employers and our students to find out about their placement, check in to see they are ok and to thank the employer for giving our students this opportunity. Speaking to the students and seeing them working so hard was wonderful, they all really made the most of this week and we hope that the experience has helped them to understand more about the work of work, employer expectations and to understand how their curriculum subjects fit into their bigger life picture and their next steps.
Snippets of Employer feedback:
“He has a passion and talent for music. He expressed a wish of leading small group ukulele practise with the children. He taught them the intro to Smoke on the Water. After just fifteen minutes with four children, they each felt confident to perform what they had learnt to the rest of the class. He showed dedication to these sessions and was patient and nurturing with the children.”
“He loved every second of his week in the mechanics department and was sad to finish there! He learnt so much from the mechanic he shadowed and felt very much part of the team there. Here are some of his tasks:
-Services/ Health checks including tyre pressure and oil change
-Test drives following the services (yes riding around in Porsches!!!)
-Mending customers’ car faults
-Replacing an engine with a new one worth 60K
-Test drive of one car worth over 500K (vintage Porsche 911)”
“She’s worked really hard has mucked in with the team and all the children love her. I never had to tell her what to do. She always looked around and found something. In short it’s been a pleasure to have her.”
“Just a quick email to say the boys did an amazing presentation for us today – they were articulate, and well informed/researched in the subject matter. A pleasure to have had them this week!”
“He has done fantastically well this week, showing a keen interest and I’ve made sure to move him around site daily to learn the different styles of food in the operation.
Currently we’re in the middle of the season where every day is a service day, where we have 1200 customers for the performance and we cater for around 800 – 900 per day including staff dining.
It’s a great experience for him and he really has adapted very well since the moment he arrived, absolute pleasure to have here with my team and the 20 Casual Chefs around site.”
“The children have loved being with them, the girls have just got on with it and have been so kind and lovely to our little ones. Today, we threw them into deep end and have asked them to run the show! They have advised the staff what activities to put out, got here for 8.30 to welcome parents and child in for the day, they are choosing what the children have for snack and directing the staff. We have loved having them with us.”
Snippets of Student feedback:
“I learnt how to clean out the animals homes and put clean bedding back in place and feeding them and cleaning out their water.
It has made me more interested in doing something animal related for a job. And has built on my love for animals.”
“I learnt that working is different to school and they treated me more like an adult. That I enjoy a working environment with such nice cooperative colleagues and to never be afraid to ask questions.”
“how much more challenging and tiring teaching is than it seems”
“I was put in charge of a child who had learning difficulties and was finding it difficult to engage with the class. I helped calm them down despite them being very energetic and allowed them to learn.”
“One thing I learnt was how to become more patient. Doing dog grooming, some dogs were more fidgety or nervous than others. I did dog grooming. I helped out a lot with the bathing and grooming side. I'm mostly proud of how well I handled all the situations in general. I did dog grooming. I helped out a lot with the bathing and grooming side. I'm mostly proud of how well I handled all the situations in general.”
“How different people feed in to give their projection of what they think different shipping routes will be and then the mean gets published and is used by many around the world.”
“I learnt about legal court proceedings in detail and how courts are run. I also gained a further understanding of how lawyers and judges deal with their cases and the full extent of what their jobs involve. While in court, I met with the court usher who explained his role to me and how his punctuality keeps the courts running smoothly. The placement furthered my desire to work in courts and fight legal battles with other barristers. It also reinforced my plans to be a barrister in the future.”
“Through my placement I learned that immigration law is a very intricate profession and that immigration law is hard to master. Through my placement I was able to learn and identify several different types of immigration visas that allow safe passage to the US. During my placement the thing I was most proud of was being able to correctly apply the immigration law policies to fabricated cases and then correctly identify which visa would work for the scenario that we were given.”
“I learnt many new skills such as how to create fun engaging lessons for students to enjoy and be focused in, I also learnt how to discipline when students lack in focus or work, I also learnt how some students focus easier then others and how to help them concentrate. I learnt how to communicate with children and staff, I learnt how to teach children with a fun engaging way approaching learning in a resilient way.”
“During my weeks placement at Rampion windfarm I have learnt: how the windfarm is maintained and operated, what engineers and technicians do, and how the warehouse is run. I was most interested in the role of engineer and technician because I enjoyed the problem solving elements and watching the way the different team members worked together. I enjoyed getting to understand the work process and system for assessing, understanding, troubleshooting and allocating work from the engineers to the technicians. I was particularly interested in the computer program used by the engineers to try and solve problems. I was also intrigued by the role of Technician as it sounds very interesting and a fun job as you get to go out to the windfarm almost every day and fix turbines. This sounds very good to me because I would be helping the environment by aiding in the production of green energy and also keeping fit as it is a very physical job.” “Yes my learning goals were met. I don't think I could have asked for much more; I went in there with very little idea of what i wanted to do after school and I now know for sure that an apprenticeship is the way I want to go.”
“It helped me with getting used to being around people who are having to face greater challenges than me, and it also helped me build my relationships with the staff as well as giving me ideas on when I would like to work with them again.”
“I was able to communicate fully with all the staff and got first hand experience from how different roles are managed and the qualifications required to be able to work with the children and how tightly regulated rules are applied in each setting.”
“I learned to work with children that have special needs and to have more patience with people that don’t understand things first time. I have developed more skills when talking to older people and maintaining a conversation.”
“I learnt that you are always busy at a vet practice and you can never really expect or predict what is going to happen each day. The placement made me even more sure that I want to work in Veterinary Medicine, specifically Veterinary Nursing”.
As you can see, we have some outstanding feedback from students and employers. It’s been wonderful to see the Year 10’s back in school this week, sharing their experiences with staff and each other. We’ve been hearing lots of career conversations taking place, with many of our students revealing that they have been offered part-time jobs with their employer and many others having a clearer idea of the direction they want to take when they leave Chailey School.
This week in school we have also welcomed Ryan Matthews from Thrive Careers who has been running Careers Workshops with Year 10. These workshops have tied in nicely with our work experience week as a follow up and a chance to explore their options further. More about the workshops next week.
Year 10 students:
We would encourage you to login to Unifrog and to visit the ‘Placements tool’ and see if there is any employer feedback for you – and to encourage you to complete the ‘student reflection’ form so that we can hear directly from you about your week. (Reward points given for all students who complete this form)
Year 10 Parents/Carers:
We would love to hear any feedback you have around the admin process for work experience. Thank you.
Lastly, I’d like to thank employers for their support, our Chailey School families for helping to set up the placements and our students, who excelled themselves and were a credit to themselves and to our school. Thank you.
Mrs Wickens
Careers & Work-Related Learning Coordinator
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Information for Year 9 about work experience
Year 9 – we will officially launch your Work Experience week to you in November (Nov 7th WEX launch meeting (6pm) for students & families), but here’s a head’s up – your work experience week will be from 30th June – 4th July 2025.
Why not spend some time over the summer break thinking about where you would like to go for your work experience and if you can, speak to family, friends, employers and see if you can get your placement booked up – if you do, then login to Unifrog and head to the ‘Placements’ tool (you can find this by using the search bar), then click on the ‘add new placement’ and complete the details.
All year 10 students undertake one week's work experience in the summer term.
For all enquiries regarding work experience, please contact Mrs Gail Wickens gwickens@chaileyschool.org
At Chailey School we believe that gaining experience in a work place or organisation is a valuable part of a broad careers curriculum. Over 95% of schools and colleges identify employability skills and increased self-confidence as key benefits of experiences of work. Students will gain important insights into their career interests and values, which will help them with their future decision-making and that they will relate and apply the skills they are learning at school in the workplace. Career management skills such as organising, negotiating, networking and self-presentation can also be practised.
YEAR 10 STUDENTS
Students will participate in a work experience programme where they arrange and attend a one-week placement with a business or organisation. For the 2023 - 2024 academic year the placement week is 1st - 5th July 2024. Students are provided with advice and guidance to support them in identifying possible work experience interests and are encouraged to carry out their own 'job search' and application activities.
All placements need to be confirmed by completing the Student Initial Form, Employer Agreement Form and Parental Consent & Medical Declaration form, all via Unifrog.
As well as booking their placements, students are encouraged to use Unifrog to help research careers ideas and interests that they may wish to explore through work experience. Support is also available from our Careers & Work-Related Learning Coordinator by emailing gwickens@chaileyschool.org
Volunteering can also be an excellent way in which students can gain valuable experience of work places and organisations. We are happy to provide advice or support on exploring possible opportunities.
WEX-2024 Information Evening Presentation2025 WEX Information Leaflet
How to use Unifrog to book your placementUnifrog Work experience journal digital workbookESCC Work Experience Guide for Employers
ESCC Work Experience Guide for Parents, Carers, Guardians
Head Teacher Helen Key