Work Experience
At The Friary, we run a comprehensive Raising Aspirations Programme which includes a wide range of activities that run all the way through the school. This includes Focus Weeks on careers, destinations and apprenticeships; employability workshops; mock interviews with local business leaders; UCAS evenings and visits from local universities, along with presentations by apprenticeship providers to students and parents. The school also provides students will access to Unifrog, a comprehensive destinations platform which helps young people find and apply for training and education opportunities throughout the UK.
From 2026 - 2027, we are pleased to add workplace experiences to our offer and strongly believe that the benefits to the students will be invaluable to their personal development.
Work experience, which already takes place in Year 12, will be introduced at Key Stage 4, where students in Year 10 will have a week's formal experience in a workplace outside school.
This is an opportunity for learners to experience the world of work at first hand. The main objective is for them to gain skills, knowledge and experience of the working day, as well as developing their understanding of employer expectations such as getting to work on time, making a useful contribution to their team and being enthusiastic about the work that they have been asked to carry out. We hope ‘experience of the workplace’ is an opportunity to try something new and work in a different environment.
You can find our step-by-step guide to securing a work experience placement below:
The onus is on students and parents to find a suitable placement in a workplace which interests them, though advice and guidance will be provided throughout the process.
Our careers provision is externally audited by The Careers & Enterprise Company in order to assess how we perform against other schools in meeting the Gatsby Benchmarks. The Gatsby Benchmarks are a national framework of eight key guidelines that define the best careers provision in secondary schools.
Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3 students will also have a week's worth of workplace experiences. This will be spread over Years 7 to 9 and will take place via trips and visits. These trips and visit will support aspects the school curriculum whilst allowing students to visit real workplaces, widening their lived experience. There will be structured opportunities for students to think about their interests and career options in real-world contexts.
Further Information
Support and information for helping your child with their career and education decisions can be found here.
For more information about the school's offer, please see Careers.