Overview for Students and Parents/Carers
All Sixth Form students are required to complete at least one week of Work Experience while they are in Year 12. The Department for Education states that the placements should be "Purposeful, substantial, offer challenge and be relevant to the young person's study programme and career aspirations"
Work experience gives students the chance to learn about what type of job they might enjoy, and develop their CV. We know it can be one of the most transformational experiences young people have during their education.
In order to minimise the impact on students' learning we strongly encourage students to arrange this work experience during one of the school holiday periods – this can include the summer holiday between the end of Year 12 and the start of Year 13.
However, we recognise that it is not always possible to arrange relevant work experience during school holidays and therefore there is an opportunity during Enrichment between January and Easter to choose Work Experience. If you do arrange your Work Experience during the school holidays and the documentation is completed prior to starting then you can take Enrichment Blocks 2 as home study in lieu of your holiday. Alternatively, we will allow students to miss one week of school in order to complete the Work Experience placement on the condition that they catch up with all missed work (there may be some times in the academic year when we are unable to approve absence to complete Work Experience – for example when internal or external exams are taking place).
We are using Unifrog (www.unifrog.org) to manage the administration of the work experience programme
for example collecting information from the employer about their Insurance, Risk Assessment and Health & Safety policy, as well as getting agreement from parents for the placement to go ahead.
Some important logistics:
Students need to agree the placement with the employer first, before completing any online forms and then students will get the ball rolling by adding the placement to their Unifrog account (they'll find the Placements tool on their Unifrog homepage).
NB. We receive employer's liability and risk assessments from Derby Royal/NHS and Rolls Royce in advance so please inform the placement lead that we will complete this on their behalf. This ensures we know about the placement, and we can make sure that the automated system doesn't send unnecessary emails to the employer. THIS ONLY APPLIES TO DERBY ROYAL & ROLLS ROYCE placements.
The Unifrog system will email the employer, the parent / guardian, and the school, to collect the necessary information and permissions. For the process to work, it's essential that students add the initial information about the placement accurately, please take your time and check that it is correct. Incorrect information may mean that employers are not emailed at all or the email goes to the wrong person and potentially gets ignored, resulting in your work experience not being authorised.
No placement will be approved or authorised until all the forms have been received by school so, please do not leave it until the last minute. We suggest at least 2 weeks prior to your start date and more if there is a school holiday within 2 weeks of your start date.
Finding out more:
Unifrog have created a set of guides about placements which you can find here.
Within this set of guides, this is the best one to start with (it includes a short animation of how the whole process works).
Next, we recommend looking at this one, because it includes advice on how to find a placement.
Next steps:
Please read the placement guides on Unifrog, and then start contacting possible hosts for the placement. The following link will be helpful when the employer completes their side of the online form - Employers Guidance
Mrs Goodman is the school contact for all work experience. If you have any questions, contact Mrs Goodman, Work Experience contact / or the Schools Careers Lead
A Work Experience Journal should be completed and saved to your Unifrog Locker during or soon after your placement is finished - Journal
We wish you the best of luck with finding a placement. Please do make use of the Unifrog's guides to help you.
Although we appreciate that arranging this work experience placement is an additional burden in what is already a very busy year for students, we do believe that it will be of significant benefit to students as they prepare for their potential careers and plan their next steps.
If you have any enquiries about Sixth Form Work Experience, please email sixthform@littleover.derby.sch.uk.
Work Experience Procedure
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Student Initial Form
In person or Virtual?
Both
What is it?
Student gets the ball rolling with basic info about the placement. They select the teacher who will be the lead from the school's/college's side - this person is known as the 'Placement coordinator'. Only teachers who have been given the role 'Placement coordinator' can be selected; school/college staff can see which teachers this is on the Teachers page (Editors can give and take away this role).
When?
The student creates it by clicking 'Add placement' on the Placements tool.
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Employer Initial Form
In person or Virtual?
Both
What is it?
Employer details what the placement will consist of, and (for In-person placements) confirms Risk Assessment, Health & Safety, GDPR compliance, covid safety compliance, and Insurance.
When?
As soon as the student marks the Student initial form as complete, this form is emailed to the employer.
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Parent / Guardian Agreement
In person or Virtual?
In person only
What is it?
Parent agrees for the placement to go ahead.
When?
As soon as the employer marks the Employer initial form as complete, this form is emailed to the parent / guardian.
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Placement Coordinator Permission
In person or Virtual?
In person only
What is it?
Teacher (the Placement coordinator, or an Editor) agrees for the placement to go ahead.
When?
As soon as the parent / guardian marks the Parent / guardian agreement as complete, this form is emailed to the school/college placement coordinator.
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School During Placement Check-in
In person or Virtual?
In person only
What is it?
Any teacher records check-in on the placement. NB: this form is optional! If a teacher never completes it, the form stays amber, without stopping anything else from happening.
When?
This form goes live on the teacher side of the placements tool on the first day of the placement.
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Employer Review Form
In person or Virtual?
Both
What is it?
Employer reviews how the placement went, and gives students advice for the future.
When?
For placements with no end date, we send the form one month after the start date; for placements with an end date, we send it the morning after the end date.
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Student Reflection Form
In person or Virtual?
Both
What is it?
Student reflects on what they've learnt.
When?
For placements with no end date, we send the form one month after the start date; for placements with an end date, we send it the morning after the end date.
Employer Information
Information for employers can be found in the document below:
