Dear Parent, Carer or Guardian

Work experience week (WEX) & social action project: 18 - 22 May 2026

I hope this letter finds you all well and that your young person continues to thrive at College.

As part of the first-year programme of study, all Year 1 students complete a week of work experience in May. Traditionally, students are encouraged to source their own placements, with guidance and support from the Careers team. However, securing a meaningful opportunity can sometimes be challenging. To ensure every student benefits from valuable experience, this year we surveyed the cohort to determine their preference: sourcing their own placement or participating in a College-organised social action project. The social action project will provide volunteering opportunities or enable students to plan and organise their own charity event within the College, allowing them to gain practical, real-world experience.

If your young person has opted for a social action project:

• The WEX Co-ordinator will contact students early in the Spring term to explain the next steps. They will have an opportunity to meet their volunteering group before May. The first day of the work experience week, Monday 18 May, will be in College, planning for their volunteer experience and then students will be out for the remainder of the week. We will advise nearer the time on the exact details.

If your young person has opted for a self sourced work experience:

• They need to start looking for a placement now. This should ideally be in WEX week from 18 May; but we understand that not all employers will be able to accommodate a week's placement then so students can of course set up WEX in their holidays. Over the course of the first year they should be recording at least 21 hours; but this can be through a number of placements.

Setting up the placement:

Once they have found a placement and it is during term time they need to complete a consent form on Unifrog. This is really important as we are responsible for our students during placement. If a student is completing a placement in the holidays they do not need to complete the consent form.

Your young person will be taught how to use the Unifrog placement tool during tutorial. You will receive an email from Unifrog to consent to the placement. A student cannot go out on placement during college time unless you agree to it. Here is a user guide in case you want to help.

The deadline for entering all the details on Unifrog for the placement is 20 March. This is because we need time to chase employers and check risk assessments.

If your young person has not secured a placement by this date we will need to move them to a social action project; this ensures that everyone has a meaningful experience.

If by 18 May your young person has completed their WEX in the holidays there will be extra advertised activities in progression week in college for them to opt into.

During and after the placement:

Students will be asked to complete a WEX activity log which employers will sign off. This will then be uploaded to their tutorial Classroom. This employer sign off sheet has to be recorded with the Department for Education so is a vital part of the experience. An example of an activity log is HERE. If they complete numerous placements they can upload all of their logs.

Students will also be sent the following information - WEX FAQ's.

They can also use this helpful WEX Roadmap to help keep track of what needs doing when: WEX Roadmap.

YOUR HELP needed

If you work in an industry where you think you are able to offer a young person a placement, even if it's only a half day please do email teh@varndean.ac.uk with your offers of support. Thank you.

I hope this helps to clarify the position with WEX placements and the procedures students will be asked to follow.

If you have any questions then please do email our WEX Co-ordinator Teresa Hoyles, teh@varndean.ac.uk or Careers@varndean.ac.uk.

Best wishes

Jo Hambleton, Assistant Principal