Work experience students

If you have been asked if you can take a young person for unpaid work experience placement, the following needs to be considered:

• approval from your HOS/HOD
• the individual must be supervised at all times
• the individual must be on campus for the unpaid work experience placement
• consideration is needed as to the type of work and what is appropriate to be given to them being supervised at all times
• a meeting with the individual is needed once approval has been given from the HOS/HOD
• you need to establish with them if they have any health and wellbeing conditions that need to be considered of that individual before agreeing to have them to ensure reasonable adjustments need to be put in place prior to the placement commencing. Advice can be sought from ohquery@essex.ac.uk
• currently no DBS checks of the work experience supervisor are required however this may change in the future

If all of the above is met and no concerns regarding health and wellbeing, the following documents are required to record the unpaid work experience which should be kept by the dept/section and a copy given to the young person for a period of up to seven years.

Forms to be completed

• Suggested wording for agreement of work experience placements for emails if no school/college form completed (.docx)
• Induction checklist for work experience placements (.docx)
• Work experience and risk assessment template – Colchester Campus (.docx)
• Work experience and risk assessment template – Southend Campus (.docx)

IT access

You will also need to adhere to advice regarding IT access and access information regarding safeguarding and health and safety.

Please adhere to advice regarding IT access for work experience placements:

• please ensure that students using our IT systems are supervised and that they use it solely for work-related matters. If a student fails to meet with this requirement and also further requirements detailed in the work experience form, the placement may be withdrawn.
• if IT access is required for the placement, please contact staffing@essex.ac.uk for an NS1 form. This is only available for school children aged 15 and over.

If you have any concerns regarding the use of IT whilst the student is on placement with you, please contact it.helpdesk@essex.ac.uk

Safeguarding and health and safety

All staff working with the young person should access the links below regarding safeguarding and health and safety information and the work experience supervisor should manage this.

The University is both legally obliged and committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of those who are under 18 years of age, or who are adults at risk, within our community and these obligations extend to all who participate in our activities, services or facilities, whether they are staff, students or visitors.

• Policy on Safeguarding Children and Adults at Risk (.pdf)
• Guidance for staff and students working or volunteering with vulnerable groups 
• Safeguarding guidance for online activities and services to children
• How to report a safeguarding concern

The Safeguarding webpages also give an overview of safeguarding training resources. You may wish to consider undertaking the in-house Introduction to Safeguarding Moodle module which may be helpful in supporting those who will be working and supporting the children who are on work experience. This goes into more details about the types of abuse and neglect, our safeguarding obligations and routes for sharing concerns and there is a comprehensive handout to download with the module.

Safeguarding unaccompanied children - whilst this predominantly relates to events on campus, this guidance takes a risk-based approach and there are key considerations that can be included in the risk assessment.

Other useful sites for further guidance

• NSPCC guidance on keeping children safe at work
• HSE health and safety - Young people at work: work experience

Albert Sloman Library

Please also be aware and inform your work experience student of the following:

• young people under the age of 17 are not allowed access to the Albert Sloman Library unaccompanied
• no young person under the age of 17 accompanied or not, are not permitted to use the Paternoster lift due to health and safety reasons

Absence

If the student is absent at all during the placement please contact the school/college to inform the school.