Did my works exerience at Cleveland Flying School and Teesside ATC, best week of my life to that point!
At CFS, mostly running errands for the FI's, but also got pretty much one trip per day in an a/c to somewhere (mostly maintenance flights etc, but one lovely trip out for lunch to Leeds)
Spent the whole day in the tower at the end of the week, both in the radar room, and the "Greenhouse". Very interesting, and picked up some good tips from there..
Between second and third years of Uni, spent the summer at FRAviation in operations, more of a "formal" work placement (less trips, more working, no sudoku
) but there was also a lad on (Yr. 11) work experience that I was lookin after for a while. He got a jumpseat ride IIRC.
Short answer - Stuff is out there if your willing to look for it. Dont discount the Flying schools (after all, every pilot has been through one and you never know who you might meet... (I once met Brian Lecomber, which may mean more to the older Prooners!)), and be a little bit imaginative in who you apply to (i.e. not just airlines/atc/ramp agents - try fire fighters, maintenance organisations, cargo handlers....blitz anyone and everyone you can think of. After all, how much is a stamp nowadays?)
Best of luck
Matt