Ludlow school pulls out of work experience scheme

A Shropshire secondary school has pulled out of a long-standing work experience scheme for year 10 pupils.

Ludlow Church of England School says it is becoming increasingly challenging to find employers, organise the placements and make sure pupils stay safe.

South Shropshire MP Stuart Anderson has written to the school asking it to reconsider.

Parent Pete Addis, from Ludlow, said his son is missing out on a valuable experience.

Ludlow C.E. School has written to parents telling them that it is not running the work experience programme this year for a range of reasons.

It said in recent years there have been incidents which have led to safeguarding concerns regarding Ludlow students and their location during the school day.

The school also cited the administration of the programme as another reason for its withdrawal. It said compliance and health and safety checks are a challenge.

The quality of workplace experiences is the third reason. It said it is increasingly difficult to secure placements in the local area which offer a suitable, high-quality experience.

Mr Addis said his son was looking forward to taking part in the work experience programme.

He said: "It teaches you the responsibility of getting up for work, going to work, meeting people, building relationships... and can be a step in the right direction for maybe the career they want to do".

Mr Addis, who runs a refrigeration business, said he had offered to take a work experience pupil, but got no response from the school.

He also asked the school if he could give his own son a work placement, but was told that it would be unauthorised and he surmised he would get a fine.

Mr Addis contacted his MP, the Conservative member for South Shropshire, Stuart Anderson. In reply, Mr Anderson said he had written to the headteacher Mark Burton asking him to "reconsider the decision to cancel work experience for year 10 pupils".

The Key Group, a school management software company, has carried out work experience research on 146,947 pupils in 756 schools.

It said their analysis showed 78% of schools had work experience programmes, but only 49% of pupils had taken part in them.

Report author Nicola West Jones said: "It can be really empowering for pupils at risk of being out of education, employment or training (Neet) once they leave school, especially if they come from homes where worklessness is endemic."

Battlefield farm shop, butchery and cafe in Shrewsbury has taken many work experience pupils in the past, but said it had paused the scheme for economic and administration reasons.

Owner and director Jeremy Jagger said they were being careful as the administration of the scheme had become more onerous. "We're also keeping the staffing tighter to protect workers, but not ruling out taking pupils in the future.

He said some students go on to become part-time workers which is valuable.

A spokesperson for the school said: "There is no link to the removal of work experience and Mr Burton [the headteacher] leaving. The decision to not run work experience this year was made very early on."

They also said that, "we intend to keep the policy under review for next year."

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