TUTOR WORK EXPERIENCE ACTION PACKS

At the beginning of the autumn term we issue an updated Work Experience Action Pack to each work experience co-ordinator in the city. This incorporates a list of events, selection forms, own placements forms etc and deadlines schools need to meet to ensure the smooth running of the work experience programme. This pack will remind the co-ordinators to book any dates with Tamar EBP/Trident to brief students and parent evenings, confirm their latest date for sending through own placements to us, and the deadline prior to us writing to each and every employer in the city, confirming which student from which school will be taking up their offer of a placement. Deadlines for getting all the TWE4 contracts back to school and the date the Governors List will be sent to school. It is at this point schools can make any minor adjustments to the dates if they feel they will struggle to keep to the deadlines.

WORK PLACEMENT REQUESTS

In September, we request a pool of placements from businesses on behalf of all schools/colleges in the travel to Plymouth area for the following summer and autumn.These placements are collated by us and in January posted onto a website called WebView. Students can access this website from home or school 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and select from the availability offered to their individual school. If they are unable to find a suitable placement, they have the option to find their own.

Use of WebView is relatively straight forward, but we provide a training session each year to all work experience tutors. Those schools who have used the system for a couple of years upgrade their knowledge, whilst the new tutors grasp quite quickly the basics. Tutors are then able to brief the students accordingly, but in most cases the students are fairly well ahead in these matters.

WORK PLACEMENT SUITABILITY VISITS AND EMPLOYER CRB CHECK REQUIREMENTS

Every employer is visited by our competent Placement Suitability Visitors, to assess the placement prior to any student attending work experience. Our placement visitors will also determine the need for any CRB checks to be undertaken on any employer before the company can be endorsed, this is relayed to the school, where an official request will be made to the CRB office within Plymouth City Council. Likewise, some employers insist that any student wishing to work with children will also need a CRB check and this is relayed to school in the same manner. Once the CRB check has been undertaken, the employer/student can be endorsed.

STUDENT BRIEFING

Students are briefed by their school and Tamar EBP/Trident prior to making their initial choices, covering the high demand areas and general criteria to take into consideration prior to selecting an employer/placement and the location. In addition we are invited into school to give further briefs to students once their placements are confirmed and the students are issued with their individual contract for their placement, know as a TWE4. Students will be briefed on what to do with their paperwork, and on best practice in contacting and approaching their employer prior to placement for their pre interview and to obtain the relevant signatures on their individual contracts.

GOVERNORS LIST

A Governors List is issued to each and every school in the lead up to the work experience week.

This list is sent to the Headteacher/Principal of each school outlining each students placement, employers name, what they will be doing and the duration of the placement prior to the work experience week. This is primarily for Senior Management to identify any students inappropriately placed and ensure the Work Experience Co-ordinator is aware of any changes that may need to be made.

The Governors and Headteacher/Principal are asked to sign the list off prior to the placement and return it to us.

STUDENT PAPERWORK

Each and every student, prior to taking up their placement, will be issued with a contract called a TWE4. The TWE4 consists of an Agreement, Employer Report, a Job Description and Health & Safety Questionnaire with an instruction sheet.

This needs to be signed by the parent, student and employer prior to the commencement of the placement. This is the opportunity for parents to highlight any medical or specific needs which could result in an unnecessary risk to his/her health or safety or to the health or safety of another person to the employer so that appropriate steps can be taken by the employer to ensure a safe placement. This contract is returned to us via the school prior to the placement week.

The Employer Report is usually completed and returned to the student or school or Tamar EBP/Trident after the week of work experience, and is used in the Evaluation process.

The student also has the opportunity to write a journal in their school log books on the events and outcomes of their placement and/or the pink student report we issue to schools.

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Each school has a duty to brief their students prior to embarking on their work experience, this is usually a general health and safety briefing on and about the work place. In addition to this, TEBP/Trident organise additional courses for those students who are entering the agricultural environment (i.e. working on a farm, in a stable, vets etc.) and the construction environment (i.e. working on site, visiting a site etc.). Placements for those students entering either of these areas will not be endorsed by TamarEBP/Trident on behalf of the LA unless they attend the additional courses to raise their health and safety awareness. This is closely monitored by us to ensure they attend. Students intending to enter these areas are identified by the school and us some weeks before their placement commences. The courses are external courses held at the Duchy of Cornwall College and the City College, Plymouth respectively and are currently funded by Tamar EBP.

In addition each student is issued with a Health & Safety Questionnaire in their TWE4 Contract. This document is taken on the students first day of placement and used as a prompt for the employer to discuss with the student any relevant additional Health & Safety issues.

ACCIDENTS/INCIDENTS

Accidents in the workplace, whilst students are on placement, do happen. Fortunately they are few and far between but when there is an accident or incident it can be incredibly time consuming. Tamar EBP/Trident will follow through with the employer and schools to ensure as much as possible can be done to ensure that all the relevant forms are completed and forwarded to the relevant party,and that preventative measures are in place.

MONITORING STUDENTS

It is a legal requirement that students on placement are visited by their school to monitor their progress. This is done by Tutors, Governors and Careers South West personnel. It is not a health and safety visit, but should there be any concerns they can be dealt with earlier in the placement, rather than waiting until the end. It is also a time when, if a student is not seen to be performing by the employer, the tutor can gently encourage or help the student. Each Tutor is issued with a specific Visit Form for each student to help us identify where employers need to be nudged of their responsibilities. We organise additional Health & Safety Awareness Training for tutors with an external training company each year to help in their monitoring process.

EVALUATION

To guarantee the smooth running of all the above procedures, and ensure we and the school are kept ahead of recent changes, we undertake with each school a post work experience evaluation looking at good practice during the week of work experience, areas of concern and the way forward for the following year with any improvements or changes. A copy of this evaluation is sent to the Work Experience Co-ordinator and the Headteacher/Principal.

As a result of the evaluations, it is possible to see patterns and problem areas across the city and this enables us to add preventative measures or simply offer school solutions and further help for the following year.

Each school submits an Action Plan each year on any improvements they make to their existing work experience programme. All Work Experience Co-ordinators in the city meet once a year at Tamar EBP to evaluate as a whole the current work experience programme and share good practice.

WORK EXPERIENCE AWARD

A lot of hard work and preparation goes into the work experience programme, and each student who successfully completes their work experience will be issued with a Trident Certificate. From all the successes there are always a few who exceed expectations. This may be because a student who struggles in school has ‘turned’ around whilst on work experience or simply they have excelled and the employer has been overwhelmed with the commitment. Every year from each of the Devon, Cornwall and Plymouth areas one pre-16 student will be selected who has demonstrated to their employer their exceptional achievement during their week of work experience. These students are formerly presented with an award for their achievements at the annual event held in July, held at the St Mellion Golf and Country Club, alongside their school and the employer, in recognition of their efforts.

This procedure begins once again in September.