Work Experience

Work experience is a government scheme for young people in Year 10 or above. Our students undertake a week’s work experience in Year 10 in July. Work experience is vital to support students to gain experience and skills that allow them to be ‘ready for work’ and knowledge about the world of work through a ‘real life’ situation, helping to broaden horizons and inform appropriate career choices in the future. It can also provide students with transferable skills to add to their CV, a valuable reference for Post-16 study and even lead to them gaining employment.

Past placements have included Devon and Cornwall Police, NHS Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust, RNAS Culdrose, Falmouth Coastguard, Penmellyn Veterinary Group, Great Western Railway, Certus Biomedical Ltd, Cube Recording Studios, Falmouth University, St Michael’s Mount, Cornish Metals (South Crofty), Screech Owl Sanctuary, Seasalt, Macsalvors and many other local employers.

Work Experience Placement Confirmation Form:

Information for Parents/Carers 2024 25:

Information for Employers 2024 25:

Work Experience Policy and Guidelines 2024 25:

Work Experience Code of conduct for Mobile Devices:

Students are responsible for finding their work experience placement. Aim to have a placement agreed before October Half Term. Deadline December.

They can contact employers via email, telephone or in person.

Once students have secured a placement they must complete the work Experience Placement Confirmation Form. Once this is checked by Mrs King or Miss Edwards, it is then uploaded online using the Unifrog Placement Tool. The forms are then sent digitally to the employer, parent/carer and then back to school for final approval.

www.unifrog.org

 

Students complete activities in tutor time, prior to their placement, which help them prepare for their work experience. They also undertake Health and Safety training at the end of Year 9 with Cornwall EBP (Education Business Partnership), who are the organisation responsible for checking the suitability of all work experience placements. Students complete a log book during the work experience week, as a record of the skills they have gained whilst on placement, and a member of staff from Redruth School will complete an in-person check on the placement (where feasible).

If you have any queries surrounding work experience or you are an employer who could offer a placement, please contact Mrs King on 01209 203700 

jking@redruth.cornwall.sch.uk or workexperience@redruth.cornwall.sch.uk

Current Work Experience Placement Opportunities

Devon and Cornwall Police

Places are extremely limited and applications need to be made as soon as possible.

Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust http://www.getintohealthandcare.co.uk/

Under placement select 'Year 10' and enter date 7^th July 2025

How do I find an appropriate placement?

The placement …

• Must have public liability insurance 
• Must have employer’s liability insurance
• Cannot be a sole trader/partnership unless they have employer’s liability or get a one -week upgrade to their insurance.

You cannot work: in a tattoo studio or any other skin piercing environment on board a registered boat or ship in any gambling context in a cinema or night club or behind a bar in a scrapyard in a travelling fair ground or circus

When on placement you cannot: work above two metres fall height i.e. 2 metres above ground level outdoors or floor level indoors work with toxic substances be exposed to radiation use power driven tools and machinery work in excessive noise, heat or cold work in confined spaces: mines, chimneys, storage tanks, tunnels, basements etc drive tractors, quad bikes, earth moving machines etc Ride horses while on work placement

 

Students can find a placement outside of Cornwall (but it does have to be in England or Wales).

Veryan Webview https://cornwall.learnaboutwork.net/index.asp

Veryan Webview is a database of work experience placements, across all secondary schools in Cornwall, which have been previously approved by Cornwall Council. Students can use this to find ideas for their placement.

Click Student

Search school name: Redruth School

Name: Redruth Student

PIN: 6534

Click Search.

Then select areas of interest, enter town/Area or postcode and search. Click view to see more details about a past placement.  

Please note that the job opportunities on this system are NOT 'advertised' placements. There is NO GUARANTEE of a placement being offered. This is simply a database of employers who have taken work experience students in the past and MAY be willing to do so again. Employers may no longer exist or details may have changed.

Specialist Work Experience opportunities, such as Devon and Cornwall Police and NHS placements are shared on Class Charts announcements and our Social Media.

It is recommended students applying to these organisations also consider a backup placement in case they are unsuccessful.

www.unifrog.org

Students can use the Unifrog Careers Library or Subjects Library to explore career pathways and get ideas for possible work placements they might be interested in.

Students have their own Unifrog login using their school email address (can reset own password if needed).

Parents/carers can also join Unifrog as a guest, using a sign-up code, please email jking@redruth.cornwall.sch.uk

Go to www.unifrog.org/ and click ‘Sign in for the first time’. You’ll be asked for some details and the Sign up Code. After signing up, log into Unifrog using your email address and password via the student sign-in page. Work Experience Placements can only be added on student’s own Unifrog account.

What if I am struggling to find a placement?

Mrs King (Work Experience Co-Ordinator) and Miss Edwards (Work Experience support) in the Career Hub, have a list of all the employers who have previously taken work experience students, many of whom have already volunteered places again this year.

Miss Skilbeck (SENDCo) and Mr Duncan (SEND team) can help support students with special educational needs to find appropriate placements and prepare for work experience. We can arrange a careers appointment with CSW for students with EHCPs.

Mrs Ali (Careers4U advisor) is available for 1:1 guidance and has many contacts/ideas for work experience.

Virtual Work Experience Career Days: 

Students aged 13-18 can register to join the online days by visiting:

www.careerdays.co.uk

The schedule is as follows:

Medicine Career Day - Saturday 5^th October 2024

Dentistry Career Day - Sunday 6^th October 2024

Business Career Day - Saturday 12^th October 2024

Psychology Career Day - Saturday 19^th October 2024

Architect Career Day - Saturday 26^th October 2024

Performing Arts Career Day - Sunday 27^th October 2024

Law Career Day - Saturday 2^nd November 2024

Vet Career Day - Saturday 9^th November 2024

Computer Science Career Day - Saturday 23^rd November 2024

Engineering Career Day - Saturday 7th December 2024

Midwifery Career Day - Saturday 5th April 2025

Students can visit www.careerdays.co.uk to join a session in their field of interest and will receive a certificate at the end of the day confirming their work experience.