A placement can fall apart over something small: the wrong shoes, no way to get there for an 8am start, or discovering on the morning that Garda Vetting was needed and nobody started it. That is the participating work today: a conditions checklist for your own target organisation so none of that is a surprise.

You sit between a yes from an organisation and your first day there. Today you close the practical gaps before contact hardens into a confirmed placement.

Three terms you will use while building today's checklist. Read each row once, then keep them open while you work.

Garda Vetting in practice (what you need today)

• It applies when the role involves children or vulnerable adults
• The host organisation usually starts it; you do not freelance it alone
• It can take weeks, so flag it early
• You may need to supply ID documents
• If you are unsure whether it applies, or you are worried about what it involves for you, speak to your LCW teacher or school placement coordinator (and guidance counsellor if needed) before you contact the organisation on your own

First the class builds one shared checklist under five headings: what every student should verify before day one. Agree the wording together. A line only goes on when it is something you could actually check with a named organisation.

Then create or open your Workplace Conditions document at S2.2/Workplace Conditions[Organisation].docx in your Strand 2.2 Digital Portfolio folder (start blank from the five agreed headings if the file does not exist yet). Copy the agreed shape and complete it for your own named target organisation. If you still have no confirmed target, pick a realistic backup organisation from the sectors your teacher names and complete the checklist against that. Every heading needs a real answer or a clear next step (who you will ask, and by when).

In-class minimum: finish Contact and getting there, Hours and the nature of the work, Dress code and presentation, plus your Garda Vetting note before the end of this step. Any remaining Health, safety and training rows can be finished for homework if needed, with the due point your teacher sets.

Finish with a short Garda Vetting note: whether it is likely to be required (required / not required / unsure), why, who usually starts it, what you may need to supply, and what you will do next. If you are unsure or your placement raises a safeguarding question, speak to your LCW teacher or school placement coordinator (and guidance counsellor if needed) before chasing the host alone.

This checklist sits beside the first-contact email you will send or have already sent. A supervisor can answer most of these questions; you need to know which ones to ask.

This is Strand 2.2 placement preparation. Save the finished document to your Digital Portfolio under Strand 2.2 as supporting evidence for later Portfolio in Action work. It is not an Applied Learning Task on its own.

Talk these through with the person beside you, using your own checklist as the evidence.

• Which single blank on your checklist would cause the most damage if you only discovered it on the morning of day one, and what is your next step to close it?
• If Garda Vetting might apply to your placement, what has to happen before you can start, and whose job is each part?

Then, on the Workplace Conditions document itself, add two mandatory lines under your checklist:

1. Highest-risk blank if left until the morning of day one
2. Named person you will ask, and by when

Save the document to S2.2/Workplace Conditions[Organisation].docx in your Strand 2.2 Digital Portfolio folder. If you are still unsure about Garda Vetting or worried about what it involves, speak to your LCW teacher or school guidance counsellor before you contact the organisation alone.

Today you participated in the practical side of workplace preparation: turning vague readiness into a checkable list for a real organisation.

• You met three key terms: Garda Vetting, dress code, and health and safety
• You helped build a shared before-day-one checklist under five headings
• You completed your own Workplace Conditions document at S2.2/Workplace Conditions[Organisation].docx for your target (or backup) organisation
• You wrote a Garda Vetting note: whether it is likely needed, why, who starts it, and what follows
• You named the blank most likely to cause trouble on the morning of day one, plus who you will ask and by when

This document is Strand 2.2 placement preparation in your Digital Portfolio. It supports later Portfolio in Action work; it is not an Applied Learning Task on its own.