The work experience program offers S5 students the opportunity to have a real experience in a company or organisation. Students are expected to work and complete daily tasks as decided by the employer.  Hours should cover a normal, full time working day.

• All students who complete the Work Experience successfully will receive a Work Experience certificate assuming all administrative paper work is complete an handed in on time.  This can be presented to universities during the application process.
• We will support motivated students to make the most of their work experience, but we will not be able to search for companies likely to welcome them, given the number of students involved. As such, you should know that, even though we strongly advise that students complete work experience, we cannot impose it.
• Work Experience is possible during the last week(s) of school (24/06 – 05/07) or during holidays and weekends. (minimum 5 days)

How to participate ? (2023-2024)

• For the school year 2023-2024 school year the administrative aspects of the Work Experience will be organised via the Office 365 platform Teams WEX.
• A workshop for all students will be organised on October 12^th “2023

Insurance

• All students participating to the program will be covered by insurance provided by the school.
• Students can complete their Work Experience in all EU countries.  Work Experience placements in other countries might be authorised if parents/legal tutor absolve the Director of his responsibility related to the organisation and the follow-up of the work experience. Parents cover all costs related to transportation, repatriation, medical (hospitalisation regardless of the reason : sickness, accident,…) and declare in writing not to sue the European School for all matters related to a non EU work experience.

 Finding a company

• Students are expected to find a company by themselves.
• So far, the students have chosen various areas for their work experience: medicine, journalism, translation, science, IT, zoology, administration, etc.
• Spoken languages are mainly French and English but also Dutch, Spanish, German, Italian and others, as work experience can take place in an EU country. It can obviously be an opportunity to improve your language skills as well.

The project coordinator is available to help students with any special queries during the designated meeting times.

Work Experience administrative documents 

• The following documents are part of the process of finding a company and must be made available in the personal folder of the student in O365 teams WEX:

1. Application letter/e-mail
2. Europass CV
3. Contracts signed by Company, Student, School (3 kopies)
4. Work Experience report
5. Work experience evaluation by the Company/Organization supervisor

• A Work Experience certificate will be delivered to each participating student assuming all administrative paper work is complete and submitted in time.

 Why should you participate ?

• To discover the professional world;
• To check whether you clearly understand or to find out what a real job is all about;
• It’s a great opportunity to develop your knowledge, and your social and personal skills;
• To gain the necessary experience to apply to some universities.

Respect of « the behaviour code of the perfect trainee ! » :

• Perfect punctuality : If you use public transportation, make sure that you arrive on time. During school holiday, train/tram/MTR/buses are less frequent and the schedule might change
• Appropriate dress code : you are not going to the beach or night club.Even if the temperature rises, wear decent clothes
• A bit of foresight: some companies or organisations might offer lunch but, most of the time, you must pay for lunch yourself. Make sure that you have enough money with you, especially if your work experience place is far away from a cash machine
• Respect of « savoir-vivre » rules : do not raid the biscuits box or the Expresso machine. Wait until someone offers you a soft drink or a snack before helping yourself… Be polite : thank, greet and use appropriate vocabulary…
• And particularly, be curious, proactive, get interested in the way the company works overall, ask questions, concentrate when you have a rather complex task, discuss with your parents in the evening if you had a problem, create contacts with people around you,… and enjoy this experience so different from school !

 

OFFICE PRESENCE WORK EXPERIENCE

Mrs Van de Casteele

UCC-WORK-EXPERIENCE@eursc.eu

Tuesday 1pm – 2.20pm