work experience Yr10 secondary mainstream

[julieann]

Has anyone's child had a work experience placement in yr 10?

 

I support a yr 10 pupil who dual places at a specialist school.

She has 3 days at specialist school and 2 days at secondary mainstream. We have just found out that the specialist school pupils in her year are on work experience next week and she started too late to get a placement. They have asked us at mainstream school to have her all week.

 

I have arranged 3 days of different fun activities within the school so that she isn't doing lessons.

 

Helping in reprographics, helping with drinks and cakes at breaktime in canteen, baking choc chip cookies, sewing bookmark, helping in library, stamping new text books. Her mum is happy with this but says that when we at mainstream school have our work experience in 4 weeks time she wants her daughter to have a proper work experience placement out of school for the 2 days that she isn't at her specialist school.

 

I have been with my pupil for 4 years and she still has a mental age of around 10yrs although she has matured physically (14yrs)

She has lots of positive qualities and abilities but isn't able to follow basic instructions without constant prompting and encouragement. Has no sense of time or urgency, will wander off with anyone who speaks nicely to her, does not understand money values, isn't allowed to go shopping on her own, has no road sense, will only use a computer to look at rap singers, will run about flapping and pacing when given unstructured time.

 

The school felt that my pupils risk accessment would be to high for an employer to be willing to take her on a work experience

placement. Also she doesn't like going to new places or meeting people she doesn't know. I think mum also thinks I will be able to go with her which is out of the question.

 

[julieann]

Apologies for triple posting. My computer has been playing up and I thought it hadn't posted. If someone can remove other two postings much appreciated.

[baddad]

hi julieann -

 

from the details you've given I can understand the whole 'risk assessment' thing, but not sure what else you could try... two thoughts though...

 

1) perhaps if she's going to be in school you could do a sort of 'semi' work experience, perhaps helping with a reception class or something with you on hand to pick up the slack left by the reception class teacher/ta taking on the extra responsibility for your little girl?

 

2) My (autie) nephew helps out at a couple of charity shops on a voluntary basis. Maybe 'voluntary' work experience could be easier to access in terms of risk assesment? My own son is only 11, but has already expressed an interest in doing voluntary work at an animal rescue centre. Perhaps this could be an option?

 

Good luck!

 

L&P

 

BD

 

 

[NobbyNobbs]

i would also recommend considering a charity, church or somewhere else where there is 'work' to be done, but it is far more informal. this wouldl also help with there only being two days of it. otherwise, school office work, helping out at lunch in the kitchen etc might be a useful option. she could do short spells of different types of work around school, cleaning, groundskeeping, library... that way she wouldn't need to be too deeply involved in any one task.

[julieann]

 

Good ideas Baddad but her mum wants her to do her work experience in a shop or office in the town.

 

Her mum has suggested that she will ask the man who runs the smoothie bar in the town if he will take her.

 

It is on the high Street which is a busy main road with heavy traffic and the double doors are often propped open.

 

[Kathryn]

Even the smoothie bar will have to have a risk assessment done won't they as far as I remember? I don't expect there's much you can do if that's what her mum's decided. Who exactly is responsible for pupils during this time - school or parent? I'm not sure.

 

L did her year 10 work experience in the school office. She was mainly doing stuff on the computer and enjoyed it.

 

K x

[oxgirl]

Does she have any special interests at all? My lad is obsessed with fish and snails and I'm arranging for him to do his work experience at our local aquatic centre (he's Y10 at the mo, but they don't actually do their WE until November next year, when he'll be Y11).

Is there a reason why you wouldn't be able to accompany the girl on her WE? My lad is in an ASD unit attached to mainstream school and his TA would go with him to the WE if it was needed, they've done it with previous students, but we're hoping that he might be able to do a few mornings without support. I would have thought if your young girl needed extra support then the school would allow you to go with her?

 

~ Mel ~

[baddad]

Does she have any special interests at all? My lad is obsessed with fish and snails

~ Mel ~

 

I prefer chips with mine

[Mandapanda]

I have been with my pupil for 4 years and she still has a mental age of around 10yrs although she has matured physically (14yrs)

She has lots of positive qualities and abilities but isn't able to follow basic instructions without constant prompting and encouragement. Has no sense of time or urgency, will wander off with anyone who speaks nicely to her, does not understand money values, isn't allowed to go shopping on her own, has no road sense, will only use a computer to look at rap singers, will run about flapping and pacing when given unstructured time.

 

At the risk of upsetting lots of people, do you think her mother may have unrealistic expectations? It sounds to me, in my personal opinion, based on the above information, that she shouldn't be doing work experience at this stage.

 

My son did work experience at a secondary school (not the one he attended), and they were brilliant with him. However, he is not as severely affected as this girl sounds.

[oxgirl]

I prefer chips with mine

 

 

Haha. I'll tell Jay that.

 

~ Mel ~

[oxgirl]

At the risk of upsetting lots of people, do you think her mother may have unrealistic expectations? It sounds to me, in my personal opinion, based on the above information, that she shouldn't be doing work experience at this stage.

 

My son did work experience at a secondary school (not the one he attended), and they were brilliant with him. However, he is not as severely affected as this girl sounds.

 

A lad in the unit with Jay who is a year old is non-verbal and he did work experience. He did just one day a week and his TA went with him. It obviously has to be somewhere that they've used regularly, but there wasn't a problem. What about approaching a large supermarket?

 

~ Mel ~

Edited May 1, 2009 by oxgirl

[julieann]

Thank-you to everyone who responded to my request for advice.

 

Mandapanda

Having got to know with my pupil and her mum over the last 4 years I feel that I could be to blame for part of the problem. Over the last 4 years my pupils mum has tended to use me as a babysitter. Looking after her daughter out of lessons when she isn't well and mum doesn't want her at home because she is working. Staying with her daughter when mum is late picking up at the end of school day due to work committments. I think mum knows her daughters limitations in the workplace but expects whoever gives her a placement to more or less babysit her.

 

 

Baddad

Her obsession is usually computer based. At the moment it is anything to do with Chris Brown . She has had to have time off school because she is so stressed about the fact he could be going to jail.

 

 

Kathryn

If the work experience is set up through the school then they are responsible. I know the careers organiser phones every day to all the work placements to make sure the pupil turns up and to ask if there are any problems. The employer also has to fill out a report on the pupil which is sent to the school.

If the parent organises the placement they are responsible.

 

After a chat with our careers organiser the latest update is that my pupils mum is going to see if she can get a one day work experience at a music shop were my pupil has flute lessons. It's still on the high street but at least they know her and their doors will be closed.

 

Incidently I asked my pupil what the specialist school had said she must do when they were on work experience and she said they told her to stay at home This is actually unlawful exclusion.

[Diane]

My DS attends a special school he is now 15. He started a years work experience half way through year 9. His outreach worker went with him and stayed with him one afternoon (3 hours) a week he worked as a mechanic at NACRO and the chap who taught him was experienced with kids on the spectrum. His outreach worker was not at his side the whole time she spent time in the office and he knew he go to her when ever he needed. He did not have his breaks with the others but with her.

 

He managed to stay for a year doing 3 hours a week with this level of support and gained a qualification from it. The rest of his time he spent at home as he was still with the mainstream school although he transferred to the special school at the beginning of year 10 and the work experience continued for a while.

 

NACRO is a charity for disaffected children. I am not suggesting for one minute that this is what she does but I wonder if there are any other such organisations out there who do a similiar thing. I think there is a cafe somewhere in our area which has been set up for people with varying difficulties to give them work experience.

 

 

 

 

[julieann]

Hi Diane

 

Your area sounds great. I'm not aware of anything like that in my area. The problem is that her mum doesn't want her daughter to go to a work experience for people with various difficulties. She wants her daughter to go to a placement and be treated the same as the NT pupils at the school.

 

 

[julieann]

 

Update on Y10 work experience:

 

My pupil started her 3 day work experience in different areas around the school.

 

We went in the school kitchens. I had already arranged with the staff that my pupil would be allowed to put out the drinks and serve the cakes at breaktime on condition she wore clean trainers as the floor might be slippery.

 

I had given her a timetable of our 3 days work experience and she started by saying she really didn't want to serve the cakes. I said that was fine she didn't have to. The drinks trolley was at the back of the kitchens so we started taking assorted bottles and cartons out of their plastic wrapping and putting them into small plastic crates for lunchtime. I gave instructions like put two purple bottles in each crate. My pupil wasn't able to follow this instruction and kept putting all the purple bottles in the same crate.

 

I looked towards the serving hatches as they went up at the front of the kitchen/ dining area and when I looked back my pupil was crouched as low as you can get on the floor. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was hiding because she didn't want the other girls to see her as they might talk about her.

I managed to pursuade her to stand up and once she realised that the other pupils were too busy buying their food to look at her she seemed to be ok. Then she started asking why the pupils weren't looking at her. Was it because they didn't like her etc. I tried her again with the drinks in the crate but she wasn't able to put two of each bottle and carton in the crates.

 

In the afternoon we were stamping the school name on new text books and my pupil said that she really liked doing that. So thats positive.

 

I am hoping that by observing these 3 days I will be able to come up with something that my pupil could do in a 1 day out of school placement in 3 weeks time.

 

 

[julieann]

 

Sent to new topic

 

Does anyone know how far my duties as Learning Support Assistant extend?

 

 

Edited May 14, 2009 by julieann

[Mandapanda]

I tried her again with the drinks in the crate but she wasn't able to put two of each bottle and carton in the crates.

 

In the afternoon we were stamping the school name on new text books and my pupil said that she really liked doing that. So thats positive.

 

The second task is a very simple straightforward process, involving only one step. The first one is a little more complex, isn't it? It might be best to concentrate on the most straightforward and concrete of tasks for her. My son used to like tidying the shelves in the chemist (when I was shopping in there - they loved us coming in!). He would make sure all the matching hair bands were together, etc. Perhaps she could be found somewhere to do this? This way she wouldn't really have to deal with customers (strangers) and it is a very orderly thing to do which may suit her.