Alongside the support of our dedicated teams, we have provided a series of helpful guides to support all our partners as they take part in our programmes. These guides will take you through every step of the process – whether you are an employer hosting work experience, an educator preparing for work experience or a talk in your school, or a speaker planning an upcoming talk.
EMPLOYER GUIDANCE
Whether you are an employer currently hosting your own external work experience programme or working with us to provide a work experience placement we have created a series of guides to help inform a best practice approach to your work experience.
- WEX in a Box A complete guide to offering work experience containing everything you need to know, including:
- An overview of work experience, outlining the benefits to all stakeholders.
- Links to policies and research supporting the need for high quality work experience to help you build a case for creating a placement scheme.
- Best practice and SfS Success Benchmarks, all our experience, research and top tips to help you host high – quality placements.
- Practical step by step advice for organising and delivering your work experience.
- Handy checklists to make preparing your placements smooth and stress free.
- Best Practice Guide A comprehensive framework of how to structure a placement including example timetable and activities
- Opportunity Writing Guide The ultimate guide to writing a successful placement advert
- Work Experience Guidebook for Employers Find out why work experience really matters and how your organisation get involved.
If you have any questions about our work experience offering, please do not hesitate to contact our team.
EDUCATOR GUIDANCE
Work Experience
As well as the support of our dedicated education team, we also have lots of useful work experience resources – which can be accessed in our digital guide. There are how-to-videos, a student assembly presentation, a consent form template and so much more.
Talks
These guides set out the key steps to follow when planning a talk in a school and are split by virtual and in-person talks. They can also be used to help prepare and support your students in the lead up to the talk and help structure any questions or thoughts they may have before, during or after the talk.
In Person Talk
- Schools: Preparation Guide Information on the format, preparing students and themes to discuss with your speaker.
- Q&A Prep Sheet for Students This is to help students prepare for an interactive Q&A with the speaker, either in class or as homework.
- On the Day Hosting Guide This gives a checklist and some helpful guidance on how to make the most of your talk on the day.
- Student Feedback Form Please download and print copies of this short form to hand out to students before they leave the event space. Scan and send to: info@speakersforschools.org
- SFS logo (Zip) For projector or event materials. Click the link, then right click and select ‘Save Image As’.
Virtual Talk
- Schools Guide: Virtual talks Information on the format, preparing students and themes to discuss with your speaker
- Technical Guide for Virtual Talks Information on how to use a range of video calling platforms.
- On the day hosting This gives a checklist and some helpful guidance on how to make the most of your talk on the day.
If you have any questions about work experience or inspirational talks, please do not hesitate to contact our team
SPEAKER GUIDANCE
The following guides are designed to help guide speakers through the process of working with Speakers for Schools and our network of engaged schools from initial onboarding to delivery of the talk. Within these guides are everything you need to know from key planning steps, timings for the event, talk themes and top tips from past speakers and schools to plan a successful, high impact event.
General
- How it works (Speaker) An overview on how we work with you and what to expect as a speaker.
- Guide for speaking to SEN/ASN students A guide for speakers who would like to speak to students with Special Educational Needs/ Additional Support Needs.
In Person Talk
- Planning Your Talk (Format and Themes) A guide to build a student-friendly talk and top tips on what helps speakers leave an impact.
Virtual Talk
- Planning Your VTalk Information on the format, themes and using the virtual format effectively.
- Technical Guide for Virtual Talks Information on how to use a range of video calling platforms
Talk details are agreed between the speaker and the school but please do not hesitate to contact our team for more suggestions, guidance and help.