Work experience placements for school students (years 10-13) and adult learners
Barts and The London offers work experience opportunities to school students who are undertaking a school work experience programme. Placements are available in a variety of areas, and are negotiated directly between the student and the placement itself, with conformation from the school that the placement is part of their official work experience programme.
Who can apply?
- School students in years 10–13 who are undertaking a placement as part of their schools work experience programme. Students must be at least 16 yrs of age in order to be accepted into a clinical placement.
- Adult learners who seek unpaid placement in the Trust for a finite period of time for reasons associated with either further or higher education (FE or HE), or continuing professional development (CPD) or because they wish to have a future career in the NHS.
- In line with our recruitment policy, the Trust favours applicants from schools in the Olympic boroughs (Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham, Waltham Forest, Greenwich, and Barking and Dagenham).
Additional information
Barts and The London receives a large amount of requests for these opportunities and will not be able to accommodate them all. Students are advised to consider carefully what their area of interest is and formulate their personal statement of application accordingly. If a student does not receive a response from a prospective sponsor within two weeks of their initial request for a placement, they should assume that there is no availability in that area.
Students will need to undertake pre-screening. Placement length will vary according to the placement area, but will not exceed two weeks.
How do I apply?
At Barts and The London NHS Trust, we offer work experience placements to school students from Easter of year 10 to year 13 in both clinical and non-clinical areas.
The minimum age for clerical placements is 14/15 years of age (after Easter in year 10); students must be between 16 and 18 years of age in order to undertake a clinical placement.
All placements are unpaid and the Trust will not meet any costs of travel, subsistence or accommodation.
Work placements are NOT available in whole or in part, in Theatres or Womens and Childrens services. Placements are allowed in Accident and Emergency, but students must not enter paediatric, gynaecological or resuscitation areas.
Requirements for work experience students
Contact placement sponsor with a short resumé of yourself and your experience, stating your reasons for having applied to that particular placement area.
Placement sponsor list
If accepted for placement, do the following:
- Agree dates, times, location and anticipated content of placement
- Arrange for your school work experience coordinator to email placement sponsor or local coordinator to confirm work experience is part of an official school work experience placement, advise the placement of any specific needs you may have and, if you have agreed a medical placement, that you are planning to enter the medical profession.
- Complete the following forms, and return them electronically to placement sponsor or local co-ordinator:
Requirements for Placement Sponsors
- Accept student for placement (students in clinical areas must be 16–18 years old, non-clinical placements can be offered to year 10–13 students) and agree dates, location and content of placement remembering this must be appropriate to the age and needs of the student
- Receive and screen students completed Occupational Health declaration form Form A.
- If answer to any of the questions is ‘yes’, you will need to email the student a full occupational health screening form to complete and return to the occupational health department for their clearance prior to the student undertaking the placement. This can take up to 6-8 weeks.
- Receive completed confirmation of placement terms Form B.
- Receive confirmation from students’ school that the placement is part of their official work experience programme, for medical placements that the student is expected to apply for a career in medicine, and information about any particular learning or other needs the student may have.
- Do one off risk assessment of workplace and activities, appropriate to age and specific needs of student, record this Risk Assessment Agreement - Form C. and email to school work experience coordinator and student.
- Plan programme of activity for placement to include supervision at appropriate level; students must be supervised at all times and in clinical areas can be observers only. For child protection reasons, placements must be planned so that students are not left alone with any single individual at all if possible, and for only short periods of time if it cannot be avoided.
- Do local induction Local Induction Checklist - Form D. for student on first day in placement.
- Support placement and agree to offer feedback as required by the student and the school.
Further details of work experience placements for school students can be found in the Trust core guidelines for work experience placements for school students.