Work Experience
In Year 10, Braunton Academy students engage in a week's work experience. The onus is on students to find a placement and this helps them find out about a prospective career pathway. Students can investigate any career in any location they wish within the UK. The only limitation is that the placement must be health and safety checked and have Employer and Public Liability Insurance cover. In the past, students have undertaken placements all over the UK.
Work Experience is invaluable in finding out about the world of work and beginning to apply the skills that students are developing at Braunton Academy. It is all about helping the students achieve economic well being and giving more relevance to their learning so that they can make a positive contribution to the school's community.
In 2008 the school was awarded the 'Investors in Enterprise and Work Related Learning' Award in recognition of the quality of our careers and vocational programmes.
In 2013 Careers South West compiled destinations data for the 2012 cohorts in all of the 37 state secondary schools in Devon county. We were immensely proud to be in the top 3 state schools in Devon.
(Colyton Grammar 1st, Teign School 2nd and Braunton Academy 3rd out of 37 State secondary schools in Devon County).
•96.7% of former students are at College, Sixth forms or in employment with good quality training/apprenticeships.
•0.7% are employed with no training.
•0% are Not in Employment Education or Training(NEET).
•2.7% have relocated to other parts of the country.
Many of our former students go on to succeed at top Universities.
In the summer of 2010 we were delighted to become an investors in careers school.
There are a wide range of work experience opportunities that our Year 10 students can engage in every year. We are always very grateful to local employers who do an excellent job at mentoring our students on work placements. There are several useful sites that students may find useful in checking out. Try the following links:
Work Experience 2025
Our work experience for the academic year 2024 - 2025 took place the week beginning Monday 19th May 2025. Students attended placements as diverse as the Exeter Airport to the Calvert Trust. It was a great week for everybody with some fantastic experiences for our students.
Thank you to all the employers who took the time to organise placements for our students. This is a very valuable experience for them.
2026
Our work experience week for the academic year 2025 - 2026 will take on the week beginning the 18th May 2026. Please follow the link below to the letter the students have received regarding the programme.
We are now using Unifrog (www.unifrog.org) to manage the administration of the work experience programme – for example collecting information from the employer about their Risk Assessment and Health & Safety policy, as well as getting agreement from parents for the placement to go ahead.
Some important logistics:
- Students need to agree the placement with the employer first, and then students will get the ball rolling by adding the placement to their Unifrog account (they’ll find the Placements tool on their Unifrog homepage).
- The Unifrog system will then email the employer, the parent/guardian, and the school, to collect the necessary information and permissions. For the process to work, it’s essential that students add the initial information about the placement accurately. Below is a link to a form which details all the information you will need to enter your placement onto Unifrog.
Unifrog - Filling Out Your Student Initial Form
NHS Work Experience 2026
The NHS Foundation Trust are offering work experience at North Devon District Hospital, Barnstaple. The work experience week will run from Monday 6th July – Friday 10th July 2026.
If your child is interested in a career in healthcare, please ask them to email their application completed form to Karen Haste at karen.haste@nhs.net by Friday 28th November. The application form can be found on the link below. Ms Haste would prefer to receive the application in a PDF format. If you need your application to be scanned and sent, please speak to Mrs Martin in the Academy Reception who will do this for you.
As this programme is always oversubscribed the forms will be shortlisted, so please take time and complete all of the application form before submitting it. Interviews are scheduled to take place in the week commencing the 12th January 2026 but the exact date and time will be sent out nearer the time.
Please note that this opportunity is in addition to the Academy’s work experience week in May. Students who are successful in obtaining a placement with the NHS will also need to find a work experience placement for the week of 24th – 28th May 2026.
If you need any advice on completing the application form, or any questions about this work experience, please ask your son/daughter to see Mr Parsons or Mrs Martin.
NHS Work Experience Application form
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