Work Experience

Real workplaces. Real skills. Real futures.

Before our students leave us, we believe it is vital that they experience the realities of the working world at first hand. At Greater Peterborough UTC, as a STEM-specialist University Technical College, employer engagement sits at the very heart of everything we do — our students learn alongside employers every day, through technical projects, industry briefs and expert encounters. Experiences of the workplace are not a bolt-on here; they are a natural part of how our young people prepare for skilled and rewarding careers.

Work experience is offered to students in Years 10 and 12 and forms an integral part of our curriculum. Our approach reflects the Department for Education’s statutory guidance on careers (updated May 2025) and the strengthened Gatsby Benchmark 6: Experiences of Workplaces. This national shift towards Modern Work Experience moves beyond a single, one-off placement towards a broader, more meaningful and more progressive programme of workplace encounters that genuinely prepares students for their next step.

What “Modern Work Experience” means at GPUTC

Under the updated guidance, a workplace experience is only counted as meaningful where it:

• has a clear, agreed purpose that both the student and the employer understand;
• involves genuine, two-way interaction with the world of work; and
• is supported by proper preparation beforehand and structured reflection afterwards.

We plan our programme so that experiences are varied and progressive — building in breadth and depth as students move through the school. Rather than relying on one week out of the classroom, we offer a range of encounters that suit different learners, different industries and different career pathways. These can include:

• Work placements with local, regional and national employers;
• Work shadowing, giving students a first-hand view of specific roles and sectors such as engineering, manufacturing and the medical industries;
• Workplace visits and site tours, including our employer partners’ working premises;
• Employer-set projects and technical briefs delivered as part of our curriculum;
• In-person and virtual employer encounters, where virtual experiences complement — but never wholly replace — real, in-person contact with the workplace.

Where a student holds a part-time job, we recognise the valuable learning this brings; in line with the guidance, part-time work supports rather than replaces the wider experiences we provide.

Our Work Experience Programme

Students in Years 10 and 12 are offered the opportunity for work experience each year. We actively encourage students to source their own placements as part of their journey — building the research, communication, responsibility and resilience that employers and universities value, and that serve young people well for the rest of their working lives. Our Careers Team is always on hand to support this: we advise on suitable employers from our in-house knowledge and networks, and help every student secure a placement that is right for them.

Each experience is framed by preparation before the placement, support during it, and structured reflection afterwards — turning every encounter into a genuine stepping stone rather than a week away from lessons.

2026/2027 Work Experience Dates
Year 10 – March 15th – 19th
Year 12 – June 28th – 12th July

T Level industry placements

For students studying a T Level, the industry placement is a substantial and integral part of the qualification — a genuine period of employer-based work that puts classroom learning into practice and gives students real standing with the employers in their sector.

Each T Level industry placement is a minimum of 45 days (315 hours) with an employer.
At Greater Peterborough UTC, we deliver this as a block placement across two academic years:

• two weeks at the end of Year 12; followed by
• six weeks at the start of Year 13.

This model gives students a meaningful, sustained experience of the workplace, and allows them to build on their first block when they return for their final year — deepening their skills, confidence and professional networks over time.

As with all our placements, we encourage students to source their own, which is an excellent way to develop research, networking and communication skills. We also offer a number of placements through our valued employer partners. In keeping with the professional standards a T Level is designed to build, students apply for these places through a traditional job application process — gaining authentic, real-world experience of applying, interviewing and securing a role before they leave us.

For full details, please see the T Level pages.

International placements through the Turing Scheme

We are proud to broaden our students’ horizons beyond the local labour market through the UK Government’s Turing Scheme — the Department for Education’s programme funding international study and work placements.

As a school with a sixth form, Greater Peterborough UTC applies directly to the DfE for Turing Scheme funding through the further education funding stream, on behalf of our Year 12 & 13 students. Each application sets out our planned placements, the skills and outcomes students will gain, our safeguarding arrangements, and how we will ensure both value for money and access for young people from all backgrounds. Applications are assessed by independent assessors, and funding is awarded on a per-project basis for a single academic year.

We were delighted to be awarded Turing Scheme funding for the 2025/26 academic year, and we are now working on international work experience placements for our next cohort of Year 12 students. A Turing placement gives our young people the chance to develop transferable skills for life and work, experience a different culture, and build the independence and global outlook that today’s employers increasingly seek.

Turing Scheme funding is a contribution towards the costs of an international placement — including travel and living costs — helping to widen opportunity and make these life-changing experiences accessible to more of our students.

Keeping students safe

The safety and wellbeing of our students always comes first. All work experience is planned in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education and Health and Safety Executive guidance, with appropriate checks, risk assessments, supervision and safeguarding arrangements in place for every placement. We work closely with employers to ensure each experience is safe, suitable and purposeful, and we consider any Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) requirements where relevant to the placement.

The practical and legal side

A work experience placement is part of a student’s education. This means it is governed by health, safety and safeguarding law — not by the rules that apply to part-time paid jobs. The detail below helps students, parents, carers and employers understand what a placement involves.

For every placement, we work with the employer to ensure that:

• a suitable risk assessment is carried out and appropriate employer’s liability insurance is in place;
• students are properly supervised and given any training they need to stay safe;
• the placement is age-appropriate, so that younger students are only placed in suitable environments; and
• safeguarding is maintained throughout, in line with Keeping Children Safe in Education, including any DBS considerations relevant to the placement.

Work experience placements are unpaid, as they form part of a student’s educational development.

All placements are recorded and logged on Unifrog, which is where we as a school are able to check relevant insurance documents and receive both employer and parental consent.

A note on part-time work

Separate rules limit the hours and the types of paid work a young person can take on while still at school — for example, an evening or Saturday job. These rules are set out in local authority child employment byelaws and are entirely different from the arrangements for a school-organised work experience placement. They do not apply to the placements described on this page.

Employers — work with us

Our employer partners are at the heart of our students’ success. If your organisation would like to offer a placement, host a visit, provide work shadowing or set a real-world project brief, we would love to hear from you. Every experience you offer helps a young person picture their future — and helps you connect with the skilled workforce of tomorrow.

To find out more about work experience or partnering with Greater Peterborough UTC, please contact our Careers Team.

This page reflects the DfE statutory guidance Careers guidance and access for education and training providers (updated May 2025) and the revised Gatsby Benchmarks, in particular Benchmark 6: Experiences of Workplaces.

Case Study: A Real-World Success Story

In 2024, one of our Year 10 students, Lewis, requested an engineering work experience placement. Due to the complexities of business insurance, hands-on engineering opportunities for students under 16 are limited. However, our business partner, Omega Sinto, stepped in to provide a placement opportunity.

Lewis attended a preliminary interview and successfully secured a work experience placement. Following his week-long experience, he returned to school enthusiastic about his time at Omega Sinto. His dedication led him to complete an additional two-week placement during the 2024 summer holidays.

Now in Year 11, Lewis has continued his engagement with Omega Sinto as a student representative, further strengthening our business partnership. As a testament to his hard work and passion, he has secured an unconditional apprenticeship offer to begin after his GCSEs.

Sharing Student Experiences

We love receiving images and feedback from our students about their work experience placements. Hearing about their experiences helps us showcase the amazing opportunities available and inspires future students to explore their career aspirations. If you or your employer would like to share your work experience journey, please get in touch with our Careers Team. Your stories help us continue building valuable industry partnerships and create even more opportunities for our students.

Some of the feedback of the students from their placements

For more information on our work experience programme, or to discuss potential placements, please contact our Careers Team.