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UCAS Discovery Exhibition -Norfolk show-ground

Explore a world of exciting possibilities after school and college.

Speak to our experts to help you decide on your next steps

At a UCAS Discovery event, you can discover all your options under one roof. We can help you find out about traditional degrees, apprenticeships, careers, and more.

What will you discover?

The aim of a Discovery event is to help you decide on your next steps. At the event, you can: 

• chat to unis and colleges about their courses and uni life
• speak to employers and apprenticeship providers about what an apprenticeship is like and the options available
• speak to qualified careers advisers about your future
• listen to talks from experts in their fields
• hang out with our UCAS experts to get dedicated support about your options

Ten questions to ask at an event

Year 12- Work Experience Week 

All students have the opportunity to self-refer a work placement for one week with an employer.

Finding placements

Thinking of ideas for work experience can be a challenge, and if you don’t live in an urban area, it can feel like there are very limited options. Rather than trying to find the ‘perfect’ opportunity, look for a placement that ticks as many boxes as possible. 

Instead of focusing on one specific job role, consider the wider career industry. For example, it may not be possible to shadow an anaesthetist, but you could explore other roles in the healthcare industry like working in a dental practice, nursing home, or GP clinic. These will all give you relevant experience that you can still learn from and reflect on in your applications. For ideas on work placements specific to each industry, take a look at our Get on the ladder series of Know-how guides, such as Get on the ladder: science, Get on the ladder: writing, editing, and publishing, and Get on the ladder: financial services. See all the guides in the Series here.

You could also think about the transferable skills that are relevant across industries to help you find a placement. For example, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to find work experience as an air steward, but you could reach out to customer services departments as the staff will use very similar skills in their day-to-day jobs.

Or you can think about experiences that are relevant to the school subject that is most related to the job or industry you’d like to go into.

Futures Day

Futures day is facilitated by UEA outreach team. During this event they will cover the following. 

• How to apply for student finance
• Information on maintenance and tuition fee loans
• Maintenance Grants & university bursaries 

Employer Talks 

Every other Thursday on the Pathways program. Different employers will visit to give talks on the field they work in. 

Helping you find your future

Unifrog is an online platform that we use to help you search for Post 16 and Post 18 qualifications and career pathways including apprenticeships..

We set up an account for you in Y7 onwards and help explain how to use it in your PSHEE/6th Form Studies lessons

Unifrog brings all the available information into one single, impartial, user-friendly platform that helps you to make the best choices and submit the strongest applications.

You can use Unifrog in the following ways:

• Explore what subjects you would be interested in studying and how these choices can lead to different career paths and higher education.
• Discover and sign up to online courses in areas that you’re interested in.
• See what is needed to make a successful application to a College/Sixth Form.
• Explore how to successfully apply to an apprenticeship or university course, including universities abroad.

The Placements tool aims to make life easy for everyone involved in work experience.Here is how it works.

In a nutshell

The placements tool aims to help manage the admin behind the placements process, making it easy:

• For students to get the ball rolling, then reflect on the placement afterwards;
• For the employer to follow and confirm that they follow best practices in:
  • Health and safety;
  • Covid safety guidelines;
  • Risk Assessment;
  • Insurance;
  • GDPR;
• For the parent / guardian to stay informed of what’s happening;
• For the teacher to have an overview of the whole process, including knowing at any time the status of each student’s placement.

Essentially the tool is a series of forms which need to be completed by specific people at specific times. We’ve woven through it explanations of technical terms, plus best practice guidance. As soon as one person fills in a form, the next person gets notified, so the whole process runs smoothly and automatically.

At the end of each placement, we ask the employer lead if they are up for hosting another student in the future. This creates for your school a searchable database of employers who are up for hosting placements.

To find the Placements tool! Head to your student homepage, underneath the tools with the title "Exploring Pathways."

Getting start with Unifrog Work Experience placement tool.