Work Experience & Placements

HOW DO STUDENT PLACEMENTS BENEFIT YOUR ORGANISATION?

Work experience and placements are a flexible method of student support without the associated commitment of taking on a new employee. We offer specialist support for placements through the College’s dedicated Work Placement Team.

We can help you to:

• Attract motivated young people to your business with fresh ideas and often highly developed digital capability.
• Improve the recruitment pipeline.
• Address local and national skills gaps developing in young people the skills your industry needs.
• Develop employee mentoring and management skills.
• Build a more diverse and creative workforce.
• Play an important role in the local community.
• Build partnerships with local training and education providers.
• Save on recruitment costs, providing the opportunity to see what the young person can offer, on a no obligation employment basis.

Download Work Placement Leaflet

Placement Overview

All full-time students carry out some form of work placement or experience during their time at College. This can be working on an employer-led project, spending a few days with a company, or something more substantial like a yearlong placement with an employer working for one or two days a week.

We work with local, regional and national organisations to provide work experience and placements. Our relationships with businesses are an important aspect of developing students and supporting their career progression.

We offer a variety of different placement models, which can be tailored to your specific business needs. We work closely with you to understand your offer and needs to ensure that the placement benefits our students and your business.

We have three types of placement:

(1) Qualification Requirement Work Placements

We provide courses with mandatory placement hours associated to the qualification. This means that students on these courses must attend a placement and meet a minimum number of hours to achieve the qualification. Courses areas with mandatory placements include:

• Health and Social Care
• Childcare and Early Years
• Animal Management
• Floristry
• Teacher Education and Teaching Assistants
• Sports Coaching

If you can provide a student placement, please complete the form at the bottom of this page and a member of our Work Placement Team will contact you.

(2) INDUSTRY PLACEMENTS

Students complete a minimum of 315 hours, over one or two academic years. This means that you have an additional member of staff for a significant period of time.

For T Level subjects, we have four key pathways for 2023/24:

• Health and Social Care: Mental Health, Nursing and Healthcare Professional
• Education: Teaching and Early Years Education
• Civils: Design, Plan and Survey for Construction
• Digital: Digital Design and Development
• Business: Management and Administration

Alongside these core T Levels, we are also looking for employers for our Industry Placement Pilot scheme through the ESFA. Students are looking for Industry Placements in the following subjects:

• Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy
• Catering and Hospitality
• Construction – Electrical Installation, Joinery, Plumbing, Painting, Plastering, Brickwork
• Engineering – Electrical and Mechanical
• Creative – Graphics, Photography and Fashion

Students on Industry Placements are supported by a dedicated Work Placement Assessor who monitors their progress over the 300+ hours during placement.

Please contact us through the form below and our Work Placement Team will provide guidance and information on Industry Placements.

(3) Study Programme Placements

These are placements that all students have to complete. They are a minimum of 15 hours across an academic year, however we do encourage them to do more. Every student is encouraged to find some form of work experience associated with their course. They can carry out these placements through working on-site, on an employer-led project, or on a virtual placement.