Work Experience, Volunteer and Study Placements

Work Experience, Volunteer and Study Placements

We offer an extensive in-school careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) throughout the Sixth Form through our Beyond Cherwell programme and our specialist Sixth Form team and advisers. This is a phased and iterative process, with a mixture of compulsory whole-cohort activities, tutorial support and optional enrichment activities. This includes extensive networks with employers, charities, universities and specialist providers, such as our ‘World of Work’ programme. 

These activities are designed to align closely with our core curriculum and to take into account the phase of the year, whilst also protecting lessons at core times of the year around assessments, major deadlines and core curriculum transition points.

We know that work experience, volunteer placements and extended study placements can be hugely powerful to students to help them to prepare for their next steps beyond school. Effective placements can help to clarify expectations, test motivation, assess and improve readiness, exemplify skills and inspire enthusiasm. 

To be beneficial, placements need to be structured, deliberate and designed by organisations or individuals with experience in education or training. They are most effective when they are purposeful, deliberate and timed to align with students’ learning, so that they can apply what they learn and see beyond the placement. They should supplement and extend other forms of research (such as Open Days, websites, talks and in-school support), rather than replace these.

In the first instance, students should explore whether you can complete the placement outside school hours or school term. Before requesting absence, students should consider their reasons for wanting to undertake the placement; they should have a clear idea of what they hope to achieve from their placement and the value that it will give them over and above their normal school provision. 

Students must request absence for their placement if it falls within school hours or school term. They should submit their form (in school or electronically by email) to their Deputy Head of Year. 

Sixth Form Work Experience, Volunteer and Study Placements: Request For Absence

If you have any questions about arrangements for work experience, volunteer or study placements, please do not hesitate to speak to the Sixth Form team (Charlotte Richer, Head of Sixth Form: cricher@cherwellschool.org)