Work Experiance Year 10!

[Dana]

I live in wales, not far from the border to england and i need to find my work experiance, any ideas? Anything related to Acting or music. Sorry if this is in the wrong place, i just joined. Any help fully appreciated.

[Welsh Mum]

I know from personal expreience that any work expreience in atheatre is like gold dust so best of luck:) However, I do know someone who got it with WNO in Cardiff so you could try them. Also know someone who was at BBC Wales.

[pg]

Are you anywhere near Bromfield/Ludlow? Pentabus is based there, you could try contacting them.

[paulears]

You need to remember the lack of theatre work experience is mainly down to the fact it's actually illegal if the venue is a theatre (or nightclub, disco or bar) if the young person is under 16. It's one of the features of the Children's Act - where certain premises are obviously not where kids should be working! Theatre is one of them. I understand many of the others, abatoirs being a sensible one, I reckon - but the only possibility for under 16s is if the work experience venue take out a specific Children's License - and we all know how complicated that is for people unused to it.

When I was teaching at college, I noticed a really on the ball new usherette in the venue we worked closely with. I asked the duty manager who she was. A school student from the local high school. I mentioned the potential problem, they called the Town Hall to check - and were told it was fine. Then, two minutes later when the lady at the Town Hall mentioned it to her boss, there was a frantic phone call saying - no, it was illegal. I felt a bit bad, because she had to go - but nobody at the school knew about this either. The really daft thing is that commercial kitchens are also on the list - and how many schoolkids work in those, washing up for a few hours a week. In a holiday area like mine - the burger bars and cafes all have kids working over the summer - most illegally!

I have a really keen local lad who is 14 who has been plaguing me for some back stage experience and I have let him 'help' a bit twice now, but frankly it's a bit dodgy. We really don't have the people to supervise him, and the first time we were doing the Chuckle Brothers - their visiting company manager thought the same as me - he was ultra keen, and hanging around outside watching. We had a chat and I called his parents to ask for their permission. They didn't ask who I was, what he'd be doing and refused to come and collect him at the end of the show, suggesting I give him a lift! We insisted he left while it was light, at the interval. Strictly speaking this was wrong, but on that occasion, I risked it, and it was a kids show, with 1000 kids present, which eased my mind - but it was wrong. I suspect this is why getting theatre work experience in year 10 is so difficult. I can't give a 14 year old a lift home, only having met him that morning? Not nowadays. None of the staff have CRB checks, and mine expired ages ago.

Really difficult this one!

[islandofsodor]

The other reason it is so difficult is due to the way most schools organise work experience.

I have loads of requests for work experience (I run children's classes) but I work mostly at weekends and evenings with admin done during the week as and when I can from home.

School work experience has to be done on a certain week specified by the school and they expect 9am-5pm.

Now if someone could come during summer school week or the run up to start of term or end of term production when there is lots to do and see.

|My dad runs a medium sized construction industry company and has had to stop taking work experience students despite a long standing relationship with a local high school becasue the building sites he works on won't allow under 18's on even though the law says that work experience is exempt from the usual restrictions.

[islandofsodor]

Work experience in last year of compulsory schooling.

E+W.[F1(1)The enactments relating to the prohibition or regulation of the employment of children shall not apply to the employment of a child in his last two years of compulsory schooling if the employment is in pursuance of arrangements made—.

(a)by a local education authority, or.

(b)by the governing body of a school on behalf of such an authority,.

with a view to providing him with work experience as a part of his education.

(2)For the purposes of subsection (1) a child shall be taken to be in his last two years of compulsory schooling as from the beginning of the last two school years at his school during the whole or part of which he is of compulsory school age.].

(3)Subsection (1) shall not be taken to permit the employment of a person in any way contrary to—.

(a)an enactment which in terms applies to persons of less than, or not over, a specified age expressed as a number of years, or.

(b)section 1(2) of the M1Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act 1920 or section 55(1) of the M2Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (which prohibit the employment of children in ships)..

So unless the act restricting children working in theatres is expressed as prohibiting children under 16 years (and I think it is worded as under school leaving age rather than expressed in years) it would seem that for the specific purposes of work experience it is OK.

[pg]

Yes, I think it does need to be something with an "office" type base, so a theatre company or larger organisation is probably the best bet (though still likely to be tricky/competitive).

Another type of organisation worth researching/targetting would be Arts Festivals/Fringes - they have a lot of administration to do and some of them will have established office bases. Some will be run by volunteers from home/in spare time though, so probably wouldn't be equipped to take on work experience students. Underground Venues at Buxton Fringe take work experience students and they only have a temporary "office" during the Fringe itself.