Work Experience

Work Experience at Granville Academy 

At Granville Academy, we provide our Year 10 students with the opportunity to carry out a week's Work Experience in the summer term. Following the Covid restrictions being lifted, our Year 10 students were able to go out on a placement to a variety of providers/roles in the summer of 2022,  some of which are below: 

Conkers and Calke Abbey,  Assistant Ranger
Primary School Assistant at several primary schools
Events Assistant
Motor Vehicle Mechanic with several local garages
South Derbyshire County Council
Accountancy Assistant
Cattery and Animal Care Assistant
Retail Assistants with Morrisons in Swadlincote
Green Assistant with JCB Golf Academy

This year, we will introduce students to work experience in November 2022, so they have plenty of time to gain a work experience placement.

Work Experience week will begin week commencing Monday 10th July 2023. 

The application process is student led. Here are the steps the students will follow to secure a placement:

1. Email employers to enquire about a placement (using an email example we have provided).
2. If an employer agrees to having them for a placement, students need to log onto www.unifrog.org, then click on “add a placement”.  They then complete an online form, called “Student Initial Form”. (Unifrog is an online careers platform that we use throughout The de Ferrers Trust Schools). 
3. Once complete, the form is sent automatically via email to the employer and parents/carers.  Once students have completed their initial forms, and clicked “Submit”, the forms are then sent to Mr Lambeth, Work Experience/Careers Lead, for authorisation.  

As a school, we have a high regard for careers development for our students, and see their Year 10 Work Experience as a vital step in them leaving education and becoming young adults. It offers them the chance to try the career they are interested in, and sometimes it helps students to see whether it really is something they want to do in the future. Some students make such a great impression that employers offer potential jobs/apprenticeships for when they leave school.

Here are some quotes from our students, who went out on work experience in July 2022, so you can see the impact the week had on them: 
 
“It was an amazing experience and I loved every second of it!”

“I  did something different everyday and the children were lovely, as well as the teachers being really friendly and helpful”

“There were a variety of different tasks, which were engaging and the team I was working with were very polite and approachable. Overall it was a very enjoyable experience.”

Employers also gave positive feedback:

“She was absolutely wonderful! She was helpful and kind, communicated well and was willing to have a go at any task offered to her. She not only assisted the Technicians and Tutors, but also had a go at plaster-boarding, internal and external plastering and tiling. I hope she found her week here beneficial and we wish her the best of luck for the future”

“Both students were really enthusiastic and a credit to your school. Should either wish to have a career in childcare, I would welcome them, as either students on placement or as apprentices”