What is work experience and why is it important? Pages 5 – 7
Health & Safety – General guidance Page 8
Work Experience Placement Process Pages 9 – 10
Grofar – An introduction to the platform for Work Experience placements Page 11
Grofar – Notifying your coordinator about your work placement Pages 12 – 13
Grofar – Setting targets and completing your initial assessment Page 14
Grofar – Recording your work placement hours
Industry Placement & Work Experience Coordinators
Your Industry Placement & Work Experience Coordinator(s) (IPWECs) will be available to help you through each step of your work placement. You should familiarise yourself with who your IPWECs are.
There are coordinators at each campus. Their role is to make sure that your work placement is set up correctly, that your placement is safe and that you will be supervised and suitably trained to take part in your placement without any issues.
Bicton
Scott Rowson 07974 468443 scott.rowson@cornwall.ac.uk
Helen Maynard 07970 405993 helen.maynard@cornwall.ac.uk
Obtaining a work placement is a fantastic opportunity for you to really experience working in your chosen industry. Some work placements might even give you the opportunity to take on some interesting and challenging responsibilities. It might not be exciting all the time but if you show that you are willing to do the more menial tasks, then the more interesting ones may be entrusted to you! Your employer will be an excellent person to obtain a reference from, so do yourself proud - you are not only representing yourself but also Cornwall College.
If you are unsure of your career path, work placements are a perfect way to sample all the career options out there. It is a way of exploring different jobs without committing to anything and is the best way to get a real sense of your chosen industry. You will get to speak to employees and ask them questions. When you get closer to the action, you will know what it is like to be in that industry.
If you are between 16 and 18 years old, or 19-25 with an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP), it is a requirement that you undertake a Work Experience Placement while you are on your course. This involves working within a local business which is ideally, in the same industry as your course, i.e. if you are taking a hair dressing qualification you may work at a local hair salon.
The minimum amount of time you will spend on a work experience placement is one week (30 hours) but this will vary (up to 300+ hours) depending on your course. This will add immense value to your studies, giving you a much more rounded experience of the subject and providing you with a career edge when you look to enter the workplace.
If you are studying on a T-Level, you will spend a minimum of 45 days (315 hours) on work placements, over a two-year period.
Your Industry Placement & Work Experience Coordinator(s) (IPWECs) will be available to help you through each step of your work placement.
You should familiarise yourself with who your IPWECs are, and you will meet them in the first 4 weeks of your course during your Work Placement & Careers Programme Induction session.
You can contact our Work Experience team directly if you have any questions or need further assistance – workexperience@cornwall.ac.uk
As part of your journey with Cornwall College, you are expected to undertake one or more work placements. Work placements form part of your overall study programme.
A work placement;
✓ Gives you first-hand knowledge of what working in the industry is like and get the advantage of learning about new initiatives within the industry or sector an
✓ Gives you the opportunity to show motivation and interest for your career choice
✓ Gives you the opportunity to learn and showcase your abilities and enhancing your personal qualities such as reliability, good time-keeping and friendliness
✓ You will not only learn skills related to your course but you will also gain transferrable skills, such as customer service, working as a team, using your initiative and following instructions
✓ Allows you to explore career ideas
✓ Gives you valuable experience for your CV
✓ Employers increasingly favour candidates that have taken part in work placements. This is because it demonstrates passion, motivation and interest in your chosen career
When you are on your placement, there are expectations of both you and the employer that has offered you the placement. The expectations are largely common sense and should be easy to stick to.
Student expectations and responsibilities;
✓ Arrive on time
✓ Complete an induction on your first day
✓ Follow instructions and training given by your supervisor
✓ Wear appropriate clothing / Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
✓ Notify your supervisor of any absences
✓ Complete all tasks and activities to the best of your ability
✓ Speak up and ask questions
✓ Set targets and demonstrate progress towards industry standards
Employer expectations and responsibilities;
✓ Provide you with a suitably trained supervisor
✓ Complete an induction with you on your first day
✓ Ensure you are suitably trained to undertake tasks
✓ Verify your attendance on your placement
✓ Inform Cornwall College of any absences
✓ Help you to understand industry expectations
✓ Provide you with meaningful and constructive feedback
At Cornwall College, all students record details of their work placements on our online platform, Grofar. For 2024/25 you will also record progress in your Careers Programme.
Online notification, recording and tracking of your work placement
Easy to access – Log on with college login details
Works on any smart-enabled device or computer
Keep track of your progression and careers programme, and book careers appointments
Health & Safety – General Guidance
Health and Safety is a key important part of making sure your work placement provides you with a meaningful and safe experience.
We have included some key points regarding health and safety that you should be aware of, and understand to the best of your ability.
You are, for the purposes of your work placement, to be treated as an employee. This means that you do need to follow any health and safety guidelines and procedures set up by your work placement provider.
Working hours & breaks
You should not work more than 8 hours per day without at least 30 minutes for breaks. For days exceeding 8 hours, you must take at least 1 hour for breaks. Do not exceed more than 12 hours per day.
Block placements - Do not work more than 40 hours in a week if you are under 18, or 48 hours a week if you are 18 and older.
You should not start work before 6am or work past 10pm. Some industries do have earlier start or later finishing times, and where it is part of the job role that students are undertaking, you can start earlier e.g. Agriculture (milking duties starting at 5am), or finish later e.g. Hospitality (working in a pub until midnight). The maximum number of hours per day must still be adhered to.
You must have a 12-hour break between finishing a work day and starting the next one.
➢ Example for 12-hour break between work days: If you finish work on Monday at 8pm, you cannot start work the following day until at least 8am.
Work hours – lunch breaks don’t count towards overall work hours. If you do not add in a lunch break, the IPWEC will adjust your hours to take a lunch break into account
Handling substances at work
You should not handle chemicals, medications, fluids and substances without training and supervision. Each industry will have specific substances that will need to be used or handled.
Examples include:
• Hair dyes and perming solution
• Cleaning detergents and disinfectants
• Oils and fuels
• Biosafety material (blood, tissue, waste etc.)
You will receive training from Cornwall College and your placement provider on the safe handling of substances relevant to your course and career path.
➢ For off-road use - Full training must be given to the learner(s) by the employer, or learner needs to have a certificate of competence.
➢ For on-the-road use – The learner must hold a full UK driving licence (with category B1) and full training/certificate of competence. The employer must ensure that the vehicle has number plates, MOT and be insured for road use.
Use of Tractors
➢ Light usage on farm premises is permitted (muck scraping, light haulage).
➢ Learners should, where possible, avoid heavy industrial usage (ploughing, large haulage, silaging).
➢ Learners must hold a full DVLA driving licence for road use. The employer must ensure that the tractor has MOT, number plates and insurance.
Use of Forklift trucks – Learners must be 18+ (for insurance purposes), hold the relevant competence certificate, have the permission of the employer, and be supervised.
Use of work vans/cars – learners must have a full DVLA Licence, and have full explicit permission from the business owner. Use of work cars is not encouraged for work placements.
Using equipment and tools at work
Most settings will have some equipment or set of tools that will need to be used in the everyday undertaking of tasks. Everyday tools such as brushes/brooms, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, tumble driers, scissors, hand tools etc. are fine to use with minimum training and supervision needed.
Certain industry-specific equipment cannot be legally used at work without certain certificates.
➢ For example: Chainsaws – require CS30/CS31 ticket; Brushcutter/strimmer –requires certificate of competence; Welding – depending on type of welding (arc, MIG, fabrication), full qualification needed
Other settings may not need specific qualifications to operate equipment, but extensive or in-depth training could be needed – catering (mixing & cutting equipment), motor vehicle (body spraying, operating tyre replacement equipment) etc.
Please be aware of some of the types of equipment you might need to use and what, if any, accreditations are needed for them.
Manual handling
Avoid unnecessarily lifting of heavy items (up to 25kg for men & 16kg for women) without either assistance or equipment to help you. Please note - Safe lifting weight varies depending on what is being moved, how big it is, how it is being lifted etc.
Equipment to help with lifting – Wheelbarrow, Sack trucks, Pallet Trucks, hoist etc.
Where possible, avoid regularly working from height or depth over 2 metres.
Height/Depth working – Ladders, hoists, climbing equipment, lifts
You should familiarise yourself with the Health & Safety at Work poster and know where it is located. This is usually in the staff room, main office, reception or other main public space.
It contains important information:
• Contact information for your employer’s Health & Safety officer(s)
• Contact details for the Health and Safety Executive
• Employer & Employee responsibilities
• Fire Safety and Employment rights
Work Experience Placement Process
There is a standard 7-step process that all students need to follow, to make sure their work experience placement is set up and ready to start as soon as possible.
The process is straight forward. The work experience team can help you through each step of the process, and are available to answer any questions you may have.
1
You (the student) secure a work experience placement of your choice, and use Grofar to tell the work experience team at least 4 weeks before starting their placement.
The work experience team contacts your chosen parent(s) and employer for consent via Grofar to confirm the placement: Start date, End date, work day(s) and hours
2 3 4
You set targets and complete an initial assessment using Grofar
The work experience team link your placement to your college course via Grofar
The work experience team contacts your chosen employer to arrange a suitability site visit (if needed) and obtain insurance details. You will receive an email via your college email to tell you that your placement is ready to start. 6 5 7
You record your completed hours and experiences after each work placement day using Grofar on your phone or computer.
Throughout your placement, your coordinator visits/contacts your placement provider to get feedback and assess your progress against the targets you set.
Once your placement is finished, your coordinator will ask you for feedback. They will also request final feedback from your placement provider on your progress for the whole work experience placement.
You complete a final assessment using Grofar.
An introduction to your digital Work Placement logbook
GroFar is a web-based platform to track and monitor your work experience placements, as well as allowing you to digitally log and verify your hours. To access GroFar, use any internet Browser and visit https://auth.grofar.com.
This can be accessed using mobile devices as well as computers or laptops.
Using the link will take you to the following page. GroFar uses Single Sign on so it will use your college credentials to log you in. You need to ensure you use the Sign in with Microsoft button to login as we are a Microsoft college.
You can also access Grofar by scanning the QR code below, or any of the Grofar codes that are displayed around your college campus.
Grofar is formatted to adjust the screens for fit whichever device you choose to use.
Once you have logged in, you will be taken to your dashboard. Here is where you will access everything related to your work experience placement and careers programme.
The left-hand menu will allow you to navigate to the necessary areas you need for your work experience placement and careers programme.
Assessments and Feedback
Placement Details
Employer Details
Health & Safety
Placement goals
Log work placement hours
Access your careers programme & complete your careers action plan
Grofar – Notifying your coordinator about your work placement
Before you can start your placement, you must tell the work experience team where you are planning to go. You need to do this at least 4 weeks before you start your placement.
To do this, log into Grofar and follow the steps below.
Once you have completed the form, tick the box and select submit
Select Placements from the left-hand menu.
Once the placements page appears, click Add+ to begin filling in your placement information
You must complete all sections of the new placement form
If you need to get more information before being able to send the form to the work experience team, you can Save as Draft and come back to it later.
Grofar – Setting targets and completing your initial assessment
Once you have submitted your placement form and the work experience team have accepted it, you will need to set yourself targets and complete an initial assessment. This will help you decide what to work towards as you complete your work placement and will also help show how much you have learned while being on your placement.
Log into Grofar
Select the Placements tab. The placements information will appear on the right.
Select the correct work placement (if you have more than one) from the drop menu.
Scroll to the bottom of the placement information, and your list of tasks to complete will appear.
You will need to complete your initial assessment
When you have completed the initial assessment, you must tick to state that it is complete and submit it.
When you have completed your initial assessment, you will need to set your targets. We would like you to set a minimum of two targets.
Once your have completed your initial assessment and set your targets, your work experience coordinator will finalise your work placement, ready for you to start.
You will receive an email from Grofar to advise you that your work placement is ready.
On your first day of your work experience placement, you will need to complete an induction. There is an induction form on your placement information page on Grofar.
Please complete this as soon as possible after your first day of work experience.
Grofar – Recording your work placement hours
It is very important that you record your work experience hours on Grofar. Without these hours, your placement cannot be counted towards your course. All hours must be recorded in Grofar.
To record your hours, log into Grofar. Choose Timesheets from the left-hand menu
From the Timesheets page (this appears on the right), click to select which week you want to record hours for.
Select Log Hours
When the Log hours window pops up, select which placement you want to record hours against (if you have more than one)
Select which day(s) you attended the hours
Put in your start time, end time, and how long you took for lunch.
Click Save
Contact us if you have any questions or need any further information 0300 123 4785 workexperience@cornwall.ac.uk
