Work Experience

This is a valuable opportunity for your child to learn about the workplace and an employment of their choice.

Schools from across Somerset and beyond offer work experience, meaning employers often give placements to their many applicants on a ‘first come first served’ basis. Therefore in order to secure a placement of personal interest your child needs to start the process of application as soon as possible. This involves the following:

• Completing a letter of application: a formal letter to employers requesting a placement including key details (school and student name, dates, insurance requirements, contact details)
• Enclosing an employer’s reply slip with this letter: a document which all employers must return giving formal consent to a placement.
• Both a template letter of application and the employers reply slip can be found below.

Student Template Letter and Employers Reply Slip

Your child will be given access to a database of work experience providers, however family contacts and Google searches for employers yield the majority of placements every year. Employers need to be made aware that the insurance requirement is relatively limited:

• Employers’ Liability Insurance and Public Liability Insurance.
• Where the student will be a vehicle passenger, business vehicle insurance.

The template letter of application found at the link above and on Student Resources SharePoint, it contains a paragraph summary of this information which employers need to be made aware of. We advise students to use this, word for word.

LINK2+ Database