The Speakers for Schools Experience service is primarily an advertising and application portal where state school students can apply for work experience and similar opportunities at leading organisations who have advertised via the portal.
Employers, schools and students can all access the portal to advertise/apply for placements and access best practice guidance to assist with the running of placement.
Experience facilitates much-needed work experience and engagement opportunities between esteemed organisations and students who need these opportunities the most.
Employers: We work with leading firms and organisations across the UK.
Schools/Colleges/Academies: Any UK state secondary school, college or academy can apply, but please note we only have placements available in limited locations as we grow the programme.
Students: This programme targets students who are lacking access to top professions but are enthusiastic about taking up a placement with a leading employer. As a minimum criteria you must attend a state school/college/academy and be 14-19 years of age.
For more information about who we work with and how, please visit our About page here.
This programme is free of charge, as an extension of the focused work of Speakers for Schools with state schools/colleges/academies and leading figures. There are basic user agreements and requirements however for using the service to ensure quality and safeguarding.
In order to take part you will need to register for the Experience portal.
Click the ‘Sign Up’ button above and follow the simple application process, it takes just a couple of minutes to complete your full registration.
The Experience service was set up in 2017 (originally under the name ‘S4SNextGen’) and is continually growing. We have so far had placements across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and are working hard to broaden our reach further into different parts of the country.
If you would like to know if we have placements in your area, please register for the portal and click ”search for opportunities.”
Experience is a programme run by the charity Speakers for Schools, a UK education charity that helps level the playing field by breaking down barriers between state school students and the leading figures of today through free engagement opportunities. Please see our main site and Our People for more details.
The charity is kindly funded in full by the Law Family Charitable Foundation.
Our charity is made up of network of leading figures committed to giving their time each year to state schools, and helping level the playing field for young people of all backgrounds. Our ‘schools network’ is made up of nearly 50% of all UK state secondary schools, colleges and academies, all who have applied directly to our charity for the opportunity to host our speakers.
We work across the year to organise events during the term time, now offering over 1,200 school talks a year and over 1000 work experience and insight day placements with top companies linked to our esteemed speakers.
Any state maintained secondary school, college or academy in the UK with students 14-19 years old are eligible to use this service.
Whilst we are open to everyone, please be aware the programme prioritises schools/colleges with high levels of need without good links to reputable employers.
Unfortunately, we do not serve schools, colleges or academies outside of this remit, such as fee-paying institutions, due to our limited capacity and focus on supporting young people in the state sector.
If you believe you are eligible but your school does not appear on the registration list, please contact us at experience@speakersforschools.org
The Experience programme was set up in 2017 and is continually growing. We have so far had placements across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland and are working hard to broaden our reach further into different parts of the country.
Placements available at any given time do vary so please do register above and click view opportunities to see what is currently available. If there are no opportunities available in your area we will email you as soon as local opportunities are added.
Our online platform primarily advertises one to two week work experience opportunities and one day career insight days.
All placements are designed to be learning experiences that help students better understand the world of work, gain transferable skills and valuable insights about industries to help pave the way for their next steps.
All students at eligible schools are eligible to apply for placements. This programme is specifically targeted at high-need schools with poor access to work experience and students aged 14-19 with high need indicators (qualify for FSM, no previous or forthcoming work experience, no family networks to professions) so where high numbers of applications are received these students will be prioritised.
Grades, qualifications and existing industry interest are not a factor for application, but enthusiasm, open-mindedness and need for the experience are. Employers hope to reach the students who are least likely to come into their industry or profession, and might not have the awareness, confidence, or links to do so without good work experience.
We appreciate all students need work experience but given our remit as a charity and that this is a free service aiming to improve social mobility for young people, we hope educators can help us in reaching and encouraging those harder-to-access young people.
If you believe you are eligible but your school does not appear on the registration list, please contact us at experience@speakersforschools.org.
All interested students are welcome to apply to opportunities through the Experience platform.
Our employers often want to support social mobility and make their work places more inclusive and diverse, so will prioritise students who are higher need.
In order to access the portal and search for top opportunities for your students, you will first need to register for the portal. Click the ”sign up” button above and follow the simple application process, it takes just a couple of minutes to complete your full registration.
We will then call your school or check your website to ensure you are a teacher at the school. Once verified, we will approve your account.
Once registered, you are able to add multiple users. Your school can have multiple users (e.g. careers lead, head of year, form tutor etc.) who can each be allocated different students to manage (e.g. Year 10, STEM students, etc.).
Once registered, we will contact you when relevant opportunities come up in your area. Please add experience@speakersforschools.org to your safe senders list to ensure you don’t miss out on these emails.
Please see our dedicated virtual work experience Q&A here. And the Speakers for Schools safeguarding policy here.
Experience is powered by Speakers for Schools, a national education charity launched in 2011 that helps state secondary schools, colleges and academies access free high-profile talks from leading figures across all industries and backgrounds.
To find out more about registering for our school talks programme Inspiration, please visit www.speakersforschools.org/inspiration.
If you still have a question that hasn’t been answered or require further assistance, please contact us at experience@speakersforschools.org.