I work for AFBB, a stately recognized vocational school situated in Berlin, Germany. We train apprentices aged between 17 and 25 in various fields of administrative professions. A four week work experience in the UK is one part of their internationally orientated qualifications.

Being Head of English Department and German Work Placement Organizer, it was my job to find a reliable partner who could guarantee quality placements in England. We have successfully worked with UK Work Placements since 2009, our students being offered demanding jobs with interesting tasks in the activity fields they had asked for.

It also feels good to know that our students are well-accommodated in nice host families and are in good hands from arrival to departure. Work Placements UK is definitely a professional partner if you want to hand over responsibilities.

Dagmar Niemeyer

Well, last March I had the opportunity to work with Denise at Work Placements UK and I could really appreciate her professional ability to carry out projects for those students who want to gain practical experience in a working environment. My students internship placement lasted two weeks; all of them had their experience in shops where they acted as sales assistants. By undertaking work placements, my students, aged between 16 and 17, could gain hands-on experience in real working environments, learn a broad range of practical skills and improve their English language abilities as well. Also, they had the possibility to live in an extremely relaxing and pleasant atmosphere in St Albans, a fantastic place close to London ( only a 20 minute jouney from London).

Carmela Maccarrone

I'm an English teacher at a German grammar school near Frankfurt. At our school I'm in charge of the work experience programme for the 14-/15-year-old students in England. However, as it is difficult to find host families and work placements from a distance I had to find someone in England to organize this part of our trip for us. I am glad to have found a truly reliable organizer in Work Placements UK. They deliver good work placements and host families, both in good time. In the past my students were allocated places in primary and nursery schools, in retail business ( sports shop, bookshop and florist) and at the local tourist information. I've enjoyed working with Work Placements UK since 2005 and am already looking forward to organizing next year's trip together.

Silke Polhede

Our school – Berufliche Schulen Altoetting – started working with Work Placements UK in 2010. Even though our schedule was very tight Work Placements UK was able to provide work placements and lovely host families for our 16 vocational stu-dents.

Finding suitable companies was a challenge because our students are being trained as chemical laboratory assistants, chefs, hotel managers, hair dressers and office admin-istration assistants. Work Placements UK met this challenge to our utmost satisfac-tion. Using individual telephone interviews and students' CVs Work Placements UK arranged appropriate placements for every student.

We received all the necessary information about the companies and the host families well in advance so that our students had a chance to obtain information on the com-panies and to contact their host families.

Each student got a Certificate of Work Experience as well as a reference letter from the employer on completion of the placement.

We were absolutely satisfied with the work Work Placements UK did and have therefore decided to work with them on a permanent basis.

Brigitte Michlbauer

Our school, IISS Alessandro Volta, Bagno a Ripoli, Florence, gives the 4th year students of 17/18 years of age the opportunity to spend 3 weeks on Work Placement in England to give them a 'real life' experience in another country and help them improve their English language skills. When we started this project, we looked for someone to help us organise this experience. We needed someone to find work placements and host families and give assistance during the students' time in London, as well as getting them a reference letter and an evaluation from the workplaces. Luckily, we found Workplacements UK and that is what they do for us. We have now been working successfully with them for at least seven years.

Denise Anderson is a pleasure to work with. She immediately understands your needs and gets on with the job. She has found us some very good work placements of all kinds from charity shops, chain stores (like Boots, WHSmith's) to florists and pottery workshops, trying her best to match students to the most suitable positions. We have had no organisational problems, always receiving the work placement and host family information at the established times and when changes have had to be made, or problems followed up, things have always gone smoothly.

Workplacements UK have organised the experience for us both in London and St Albans, and Denise is always ready to help find the best solutions for us, even when we propose something new. It is reassuring to know that we can rely on Denise and Workplacements UK to do a good job.

Irene Simpson

My first experience of working with Work Placements UK was in June 2010. I took a small group of Italian students to St.Albans where they worked in local retail outlets and were hosted by local families. The experience was so successful that I repeated it again this year. In my opinion this is an exceptional opportunity for our students. The agency director, Denise, is efficient and extremely helpful, supportive and understanding. I would definitely recommend this agency and above all that it enables us to offer our students a unique and very special time abroad that they will remember for a long time.

Margaret Mower