Work Related Learning is a very important part of life at Cornfield in KS4 and involves going out to college every week, learning about life skills in school and, possibly most challenging, going to work experience.
Every term there is a week set aside when everyone in KS4 has the opportunity to go to join a workplace and learn about the real world. They can suggest where they’d like to go or we find places that we think will suit them, then they go to visit so that they meet the people and have a better idea of what they will be expected to do. Then comes the challenge – going there and staying, on your own, doing proper jobs and knowing that, although someone from school will drop in to make sure you’re ok, they are not just outside!
Every time we have Work Experience, we are amazed at how the boys succeed! They use strategies we’ve taught them; they ask when they aren’t sure and they show all the skills they have developed!
It’s a highlight for us all to see how well they fit into their placements and the references they get are a confidence boost that really makes a difference!
It’s a hard week to organise, a complicated week to arrange and a challenge for the boys but it is just so worthwhile!