Work Experience for Autistic Students

An autistic employee packing chocolate boxes in the Harry Specters factory

Real work experience for autistic students in a chocolate production environment

Step inside a working chocolate factory and experience what it means to be part of a real team.

Our work experience placements in Ely, Cambridgeshire are designed to help autistic students and young people build confidence, develop practical skills, and gain genuine insight into the workplace. This isn’t a simulated setting - it’s a real production environment, with real expectations and meaningful opportunities to grow.

Work Experience FAQs

Our chocolate factory is a busy, hands-on production environment where products are made, packed and prepared every day.
This means:
- Constant movement and activity
- Machinery and background noise
- Tasks that involve standing and repetition
- Working as part of a team
- Periods where things can become fast-paced, especially during large orders
For many, this is where confidence grows. For some, it can feel overwhelming.
We believe it’s important to be open about this, so that every placement has the best chance of being a positive experience.
This type of placement tends to work well for individuals who:
- Enjoy practical, hands-on tasks
- Are comfortable in a busy, sometimes unpredictable work environment
- Can spend periods of time on their feet
- Are open to working alongside others
If you’re unsure whether this would be the right fit, you’re always welcome to get in touch and talk it through.
At the moment, we’re only able to offer work experience placements to students where it forms part of a school, college, or university course.
We’re a small, busy team and are not able to provide one-to-one support during work experience placements.
For this reason, each student must be accompanied by a parent, carer, support worker, or teacher for the duration of their placement.
This helps ensure that everyone feels supported, safe, and able to get the most out of their time with us.
All placements take place at our chocolate factory in Ely, Cambridgeshire.
We’re not currently able to offer remote or virtual work experience, as placements are based within our production environment.
Our factory is open:
- Monday to Friday
- 9:00am – 5:00pm
We aim to be flexible where possible. As a guide, most work experience placements run from 10:00am – 2:00pm
We’ll always look to agree a schedule that works for both the student and our team.
We’re based in Ely, so we recommend checking travel arrangements in advance.
Chocolate making is a specialist skill that requires training and experience, so we’re not able to offer this as part of a work experience placement.
Placements focus on giving a realistic insight into our production environment and how the business operates day to day.
Our priority is to make sure that every work experience placement is a positive and supportive experience.
If, at any stage, it becomes clear that the environment isn’t the right fit, we’ll have an open and honest conversation with the student and their parent, carer, or support worker.
In some cases, this may mean that we don’t move forward with a placement, or that we bring a placement to an earlier close.
We know this can be disappointing, but our aim is always to make sure that each experience is the right one - where individuals feel comfortable, supported, and able to succeed.

Our chocolate factory is a busy, hands-on production environment where products are made, packed and prepared every day.
This means:
- Constant movement and activity
- Machinery and background noise
- Tasks that involve standing and repetition
- Working as part of a team
- Periods where things can become fast-paced, especially during large orders
For many, this is where confidence grows. For some, it can feel overwhelming.
We believe it’s important to be open about this, so that every placement has the best chance of being a positive experience.
At the moment, we’re only able to offer work experience placements to students where it forms part of a school, college, or university course.
All placements take place at our chocolate factory in Ely, Cambridgeshire.
We’re not currently able to offer remote or virtual work experience, as placements are based within our production environment.
Chocolate making is a specialist skill that requires training and experience, so we’re not able to offer this as part of a work experience placement.
Placements focus on giving a realistic insight into our production environment and how the business operates day to day.

This type of placement tends to work well for individuals who:
- Enjoy practical, hands-on tasks
- Are comfortable in a busy, sometimes unpredictable work environment
- Can spend periods of time on their feet
- Are open to working alongside others
If you’re unsure whether this would be the right fit, you’re always welcome to get in touch and talk it through.
We’re a small, busy team and are not able to provide one-to-one support during work experience placements.
For this reason, each student must be accompanied by a parent, carer, support worker, or teacher for the duration of their placement.
This helps ensure that everyone feels supported, safe, and able to get the most out of their time with us.
Our factory is open:
- Monday to Friday
- 9:00am – 5:00pm
We aim to be flexible where possible. As a guide, most work experience placements run from 10:00am – 2:00pm
We’ll always look to agree a schedule that works for both the student and our team.
We’re based in Ely, so we recommend checking travel arrangements in advance.
Our priority is to make sure that every work experience placement is a positive and supportive experience.
If, at any stage, it becomes clear that the environment isn’t the right fit, we’ll have an open and honest conversation with the student and their parent, carer, or support worker.
In some cases, this may mean that we don’t move forward with a placement, or that we bring a placement to an earlier close.
We know this can be disappointing, but our aim is always to make sure that each experience is the right one - where individuals feel comfortable, supported, and able to succeed.

Our Application Process

We take a careful and considered approach to every work experience application, to make sure the environment is right for you - and that we can offer a positive experience.

Step 1 – Share information

Email us at sales@harryschocs.co.uk with the following:

A copy of the EHCP
Completed application and work placement assessment forms (linked below)
Anything else we should be aware of, that isn't covered in the forms or EHCP

Step 2 – Initial review

We’ll review the information to understand whether our environment is likely to be a good fit.

Step 3 – Visit and informal chat

If it looks like a good match, we’ll invite the student, along with a parent, carer, support worker, or teacher, to visit us.

This gives us a chance to:

Get to know strengths and interests
Understand what they enjoy doing
Explore how they might fit within the team

It’s just as important that we’re right for you, as you are for us.

Download Application Forms

Application form
Work Placement Assessment form

What families and students say

"The change in Thomas has been quite remarkable - firstly since joining he has some out of his shell - engaging in more social conversations - it isn't an area that Thomas has ever flourished in as he struggles with small talk - he is now learning how to engage and have thoughtful but brief conversations."

Parent of a work experience student
"Thank you for letting me do work experience with you. I have really enjoyed it."

Oliver, work experience student
"Lucy’s had such a great time working with you and she’s learned so much,which we know will stand her in good stead in the future."

Parent of Work Experience Student

An autistic employee performing quality checks on two personalised chocolates

Part of something bigger

Our work experience placements are part of a wider mission - creating employment opportunities for autistic people, building confidence, and changing perceptions around autism in the workplace.

Discover our Social Impact