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Bottisham Village College


		11-16 schools

		6th form schools

		Colleges

About the case study

This case study illustrates how work-related learning can be provided at key stage 4. It shows work-related links with employers and a further education college, and provision of vocational qualifications. The individual student examples are illustrative and based on students following different programmes at the school.

The school

Bottisham Village College is a mixed 11-16 rural comprehensive school in Cambridgeshire with approximately 1,000 students on roll, 4 per cent of whom have special educational needs without statements.

All students take part in a planned programme of work experience and are guided in choosing placements from those supplied by a local education business link organisation.

Preparation for work experience includes information on the local labour market, skills for employment, health and safety, and rights and responsibilities at work. Students use a diary to focus on the differences between school and work, career opportunities and how businesses are organised and fit into the local economy. Many of the school’s courses require students to identify where particular subjects are used in the workplace and to report on this in the debrief and evaluation sessions after the work experience.

Careers education and guidance for all students focuses on the transition from school to post-16 courses and work-based opportunities. This enables students to recognise the qualities and skills employers want, to assess local labour market information and to understand the need for lifelong learning. The Connexions service works in partnership with the school to provide information and guidance for students. Students complete progress files in PSHE lessons.

Many GCSE subjects enhance students’ work-related learning by relating particular topics to the workplace. The school has conducted an audit of where aspects of work-related learning occur in the curriculum to ensure that it is providing a full range of opportunities for students to learn about work and to develop enterprise and employability skills.

Some students opt for the ASDAN youth award or access vocational courses at the local further education college. Enterprise activities are available, including planning and organising the year 11 leavers’ ball or the non-uniform day, when students organise activities to raise money for charity.

Student examples

David’s work-related learning is acquired through his GCSE programme and work experience.

David is studying 10 GCSEs. As part of his geography GCSE he is investigating economic systems, including regional economic change, and looking at how tertiary industries, tourism and transport in the region affect the economy and local employment patterns. Further opportunities to investigate labour market information are provided in careers lessons.

As part of his design and technology coursework in resistant materials, David is required to design a product and then investigate how it could be adapted for mass production. This has involved a visit to a local manufacturer who uses computer technology to produce small precision parts for other businesses. The visit included a presentation on how small businesses survive in a rural economy.

In English, as part of background study to a novel, David has been involved in discussions about the Wall Street crash, the Depression and the stock market today.

David has a part-time job mending bicycles in his village, which he considers is teaching him important enterprise skills. David’s work experience in the bicycle shop made him aware of the profits involved in selling and hiring bicycles and of the expenses and overheads that a business incurs. He used a diary to record situations in his work experience when he practised his skills and these were discussed in the school’s debriefing session. David has had a careers guidance interview with the Connexions service and hopes to go into the business sector after university.

Kim’s work-related learning is acquired through her GCSE subjects, which include applied ICT, and in careers and PSHE lessons.

As part of the applied ICT course, Kim’s class visited a local hypermarket where they were shown how computers are used to control the stock, and the relationship between the tills and the ordering system. A return visit is planned to look at the store’s online service and how this might expand. In another part of the course, Kim investigated how the school’s ICT system manages its business processes, such as purchasing.

Kim has learned about VAT and compound interest in her GCSE mathematics lessons and about budgeting and money management in PSHE lessons; this involved talks delivered by a local bank employee.

Kim’s work experience at a local nursery school enabled her to practise her communication skills and she helped develop a website for the nursery during her placement. She also looked at how the children progressed into primary school and the information the nursery supplied to the school. The nursery was part of a large company and Kim was able to look at financial aspects of the company and how it helped its employees to continue working when they had a family. Kim recorded her observations in a diary and made a presentation during the work experience debriefing session. She also had an opportunity to discuss the skills she had developed, and her career intentions, during a careers guidance interview. Careers lessons have looked at local and national employment opportunities.

Gavin is following an alternative programme of study that includes work-related learning in school and at a local college.

At school, Gavin is taking GCSEs in English, mathematics and science and the ASDAN youth award. At college he is following a multiskills course and is working towards NVQ level 1 in horticulture. As part of his NVQ course he is involved in a community gardening project for adults with learning difficulties. The project has developed a sensory garden, and a small business selling bedding plants has been set up. As part of his multiskills course, Gavin works at a range of trades including plumbing, glazing and carpentry. This course introduces him to the different trades and looks at career routes within them.

Gavin had a careers guidance interview with a Connexions adviser and has been involved in a small business enterprise scheme, using his metalwork skills to make some copper jewellery at school. His portfolio for the ASDAN youth award scheme includes application forms, CVs and interview skills. His year 10 work experience at a local builders’ merchants enabled him to complete a study of the company, which included looking at the company’s structure, health and safety and working conditions.