Work experience in Year 10 means spending time with an employer to see what a job is really like, do real tasks and get feedback. In England, government guidance says every pupil should have one week’s worth of work experience placements during Years 10 and 11, and schools should be reforming their programmes from September 2026 (DfE statutory careers guidance, updated June 2026).
This guide is for students, parents and careers leaders in England. The guidance and frameworks below apply to schools in England. Schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland follow their own arrangements. Each school also organises work experience in its own way, so check the details with yours.
On this page:
- What Year 10 work experience is
- Choosing a sector to try
- How to find a placement
- Email template for an employer
- Safety, safeguarding and insurance
- Preparation checklist
- Reflection sheet
- For careers leaders: Gatsby Benchmark 6 and the statutory guidance
What Year 10 work experience is
The Department for Education’s statutory guidance describes work experience in two stages:
- Years 7 to 9: one week’s worth of shorter, employer-led activities to explore different industries.
- Years 10 to 11: one week’s worth of placements. Pupils can do their 5 days with one or more employers, in any sector, spread flexibly across Years 10 and 11.
Placements should be in person and immersive, so you experience a real working environment. Remote or hybrid placements are meant only for exceptional circumstances, alongside in-person activity rather than instead of it. The 2 weeks are in addition to any part-time job or volunteering you do.
A good placement gives you a clear purpose, real conversations with staff, a task to do, and feedback on your work. Afterwards, you should have a chance to reflect on what you learned. Those are the elements of a “meaningful” experience in Gatsby Benchmark 6, England’s benchmark for experiences of workplaces.
Ask your school: when placements happen, whether the school arranges them or you find your own, what the deadline is, and which forms you and the employer need to complete.
Choosing a sector to try
A placement is a chance to test an idea, not to commit to a career. Pick a sector you want to find out more about, even if you are not sure about it. Finding out that something is not for you is a useful result too.
If your school uses MyCareerChoices, MyFutureChoice’s careers programme for students aged 14 to 16, you can use it to narrow down your choice:
- Look at the career areas suggested by your questionnaire results.
- Read two or three careers in WORKBRIEF, our careers database. Note what a working day involves, the training and entry routes, and what you would want to see for yourself.
- Choose the sector where you have the most unanswered questions. Those questions become your goals for the placement.
- List the kinds of local employers in that sector: for example, a vet’s practice, an engineering firm, a council department, a hospital trust or a small business.
If your school does not use MyCareerChoices, the National Careers Service job profiles can help with the same steps.
How to find a placement
If your school arranges placements, follow its process. If you are asked to find your own:
- Check the rules first. Ask which employers the school will accept, what checks it needs, and the deadline.
- Ask your school for contacts. Most schools in England belong to a local careers hub, which connects them with local employers.
- Make a list of 5 to 10 employers. Include large and small organisations. Look for a contact name on their website.
- Use the people you know, but look further too. Family and friends can help, and so can local businesses you have never visited.
- Send a short, polite email. Use the template below and change it for each employer.
- Follow up. If you hear nothing after about a week, send one polite reminder or phone.
- Tell your school as soon as an employer says yes, so the school can make its checks.
The National Careers Service explains other types of work experience, such as work shadowing and workplace visits.
Email template for an employer
Replace everything in square brackets. Keep it short, and check the spelling of the person’s name and the company.
Subject: Year 10 work experience request: [your name], [your school]
Dear [name, or Sir or Madam],
My name is [your name] and I am a Year 10 student at [school name] in [town]. Our school’s work experience placements take place on [dates], and I would like to ask whether I could spend this time with [organisation].
I am interested in [sector or job] because [one or two sentences: what you have done or researched, and what you want to find out]. I am keen to help with real tasks and to learn how your team works.
My school will arrange the paperwork and can explain what is involved for you. My school contact is [name, role, email or phone].
Thank you for considering my request. I would be happy to send more information or to talk by phone.
Yours sincerely (or Kind regards),
[your full name]
[your school email address]
Use your school email address if you have one, and ask a parent, carer or teacher to read your email before you send it.
Safety, safeguarding and insurance
These are the basics from official guidance. Your school’s own process comes first.
Health and safety
- The employer has the main responsibility for a work experience student’s health and safety (HSE: work experience).
- Employers should review their risk assessment before the student starts if they have not employed young people recently or are taking on a work experience student for the first time.
- Employers should tell parents and carers about any significant risks and how they control them. Parents and carers can make sure the school knows about any medical or behavioural conditions that might affect their child on placement (HSE: advice for parents and carers).
- The school, as organiser, should take reasonable, proportionate steps to check that the employer manages the risks, by talking to the employer about the tasks, precautions, induction and supervision (HSE: advice for work experience organisers).
Insurance
HSE says an employer’s existing employers’ liability insurance covers work placements if the insurer is a member of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) or Lloyd’s, so the employer does not need extra cover. Organisers may ask the employer for evidence of this insurance (HSE: work experience; HSE: organisers).
Safeguarding and DBS checks
- Schools organising placements should make sure the employer has policies and procedures to protect children from harm (Keeping children safe in education 2026, paragraph 406).
- If the person teaching, training, instructing, caring for or supervising the pupil will do so frequently, or for more than three days in a 30-day period, or overnight, that is regulated activity. Someone on the children’s barred list must not take part in regulated activity (paragraph 407). Other staff who are not supervising the pupil are not in regulated activity (paragraph 408).
- The rules changed on 1 September 2026, when the Crime and Policing Act 2026 removed the “supervision exemption” from the definition of regulated activity with children (GOV.UK: supervision exemption changes). Advice an employer was given before then may be out of date.
- The school decides which checks are needed, using Keeping children safe in education, and will tell the employer.
If you are an employer: HSE says there are very few work activities that a student cannot do because of health and safety law. Talk to the school before the placement about the student’s tasks, supervision and any needs, and ask what safeguarding checks it requires.
Preparation checklist
Two weeks before:
- I know the address, start and finish times, and who to report to.
- I have planned my journey and done a test run if it is somewhere new.
- I know what to wear, and whether I need any equipment.
- I know the arrangements for lunch and breaks.
- My school has all the forms it needs, and knows about any health needs.
- I have read the employer’s website and know what the organisation does.
The week before:
- I have written 2 or 3 goals: what I want to learn or try.
- I have written 3 questions to ask staff, for example: How did you get into this job? What does a normal day look like? What skills matter most here?
- I have the employer’s phone number in case I am late or ill, and I know who to contact at school if there is a problem.
- I have a notebook for my reflection notes.
On the day: arrive a little early, listen carefully at your induction, follow the safety rules, and ask if you are unsure about anything. Write a few notes at the end of each day.
Reflection sheet
Complete this within a few days of finishing, while it is fresh. Keep it: you can use it later in applications for college, apprenticeships, jobs or university.
| Question | My notes |
|---|---|
| Where was my placement, and what does the organisation do? | |
| What tasks did I do? | |
| Which goals did I meet? Which did I not, and why? | |
| Who did I talk to, and what did I learn about their jobs and how they got them? | |
| What skills did I use or improve? Give one example for each. | |
| What feedback did the employer give me? | |
| What surprised me? | |
| Would I like to work in this sector? Why, or why not? | |
| Does this change anything about my subject choices or plans after 16? | |
| What will I do next? (For example: research another career, try a different sector, talk to my careers adviser.) |
Ask your supervisor for feedback before you leave, and send a short thank-you email afterwards.
For careers leaders: Gatsby Benchmark 6 and the statutory guidance
The updated Gatsby Benchmarks apply in England from September 2025. Benchmark 6, Experiences of workplaces, states that every learner should have first-hand experiences of workplaces to help their exploration of career opportunities and expand their networks. For schools, the criteria are (Gatsby: guide to Benchmark 6):
- “By the age of 16, every pupil should have had meaningful experiences of workplaces.”
- “By the age of 18, every pupil should have had at least one further meaningful experience.”
A meaningful experience will have a clear purpose shared with the employer and the young person; learning outcomes suited to the young person; extensive two-way interaction with employees; the chance to meet a range of people; a task set by the employer or a piece of relevant work; feedback from the employer; and an opportunity to reflect afterwards. Both the young person and the employer should be supported to prepare, with additional or different support where needed for vulnerable and disadvantaged young people and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The statutory guidance (updated 23 June 2026) adds the 2 weeks’ worth model described above: one week of activities in Years 7 to 9 and one week of placements in Years 10 to 11, additional to part-time work or volunteering. From September 2026, schools should be reforming their work experience programmes in line with it. The guidance points to local careers hubs for support, and to The Careers & Enterprise Company’s modern work experience resources, including the equalex framework of learning outcomes.
Mapping this page to the Benchmark 6 definition:
| Element of a meaningful experience | How this page can help |
|---|---|
| Clear purpose and learning outcomes | Students set 2 or 3 goals in the preparation checklist. Share them with the employer before the placement. |
| Preparation for the young person | Sector research with MyCareerChoices and WORKBRIEF, the email template and the preparation checklist. |
| Two-way interaction and meeting a range of people | Prepared questions for staff, recorded in the reflection sheet. |
| A task set by the employer | Agree a task with the employer when you brief them. |
| Feedback from the employer | The reflection sheet asks students to record it. |
| Reflection afterwards | The reflection sheet, followed by a tutor or careers adviser conversation. |
Two practical points. First, keep encounters (Benchmark 5) and experiences (Benchmark 6) separate in your planning and records; The Careers & Enterprise Company’s modern work experience FAQs note that they have separate definitions. Second, check your safeguarding process against Keeping children safe in education 2026 with your designated safeguarding lead, because the definition of regulated activity changed on 1 September 2026.
Under Benchmark 3, keep records of each pupil’s participation and the advice given. The reflection sheet can feed into those records and into a later guidance meeting. Our Gatsby Benchmarks guide covers all eight updated benchmarks.
MyCareerChoices helps students choose a sector to try, starting from their own interests, and WORKBRIEF gives them career information to prepare with. Book a demo to see how it could support your work experience programme.
Next steps
- Students: ask your school how placements work this year, then use the email template and checklists on this page.
- Parents and carers: ask the school for the dates and process, and tell it about any health or support needs.
- Careers leaders: book a demo of MyCareerChoices.
Still choosing subjects? Read our guide to GCSE options: how to choose.