School Work Experience Week: Preparing For Your Placement

Once you have your school work experience placement confirmed you will begin to prepare for your placement. It is likely your school will help you with some preparation such as rules and expectations, keeping in touch with the school and emergency contacts. However, there are some other things for you to consider.

If you are still looking for work experience have a look at our guide to finding a work experience placement.

Travel 

Whilst you will be used to travelling to and from school each day you will need to plan how you are going to get to and from your work experience. It may be that you’re close enough to walk there or you may need to use public transport unless someone is able to give you a lift.

If you need to travel there using public transport such as bus or train you will need to check the timetables to see which buses or trains will need to catch. You may need to make your own way to and from the bus stop or train station so this is also something you should also consider and factor into your journey time.

Once you have worked out how you will get there consider doing a few practice journeys beforehand to become familiar and confident with the route. This will also help you work out how long it should take so you can work out what time to leave home and which bus or train to catch.

Top Tips

• Consider allowing yourself extra time to get there. Better to be early than late.
• Find out if any of your friends are classmates will be travelling to the same area are catching the same bus or train. If so you may wish to arrange to meet and travel together.

Lunch Arrangements

Workplaces have lunchtimes just like you do in school. Find out in advance what the lunch arrangements are in the organisation you’ll be going to. They may tell you this upfront, your school may ask them or you could contact them to find out. If they have a cafeteria it is expected you’ll be able to have lunch there if you wish although you may need to pay. In the event that there is no cafeteria or you would prefer not to use it you will need to make your own lunch arrangements i.e take a packed lunch are use local shops or cafes.

Dress Code 

Whilst you will probably not need to wear your school uniform to work experience there may be some form of dress code you will be expected to follow. It is likely the organisation will let you know in advance what you should wear. Even if they don’t tell you it should be relatively easy to work out.

Specialist clothing such as health and safety clothes will be provided by the employer. Otherwise, you should ensure that you follow the dress code as best as you can although no one expects you to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe. If you will be based in an office you should aim for smart or smart casual. Placements that will be in factories or garages made acquire more industrial clothes. If your placement is in a leisure or sports environment such as a fitness gym you should wear comfortable sports clothing.

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