Year 10 in the World of Work
Our Year 10 students were on work experience last week. They have done superbly, finding their own placements, with the support of family, the community and school community. They have been involved in a diverse range of roles and industries, including service industries, animal care, construction, local government, IT, education, charities, hospitality, retail, sports, research to name a few.
They have worked on important skills to prepare themselves for their futures and positively represented themselves and our school in the community. The response we have had from the employers and students is impressive. Some of the skills highlighted by employers and students alike are communication skills, listening, questioning, fitness for purpose, analysis, resilience and problem solving.
From a local paper (Woking News & Mail): "P has been diligent, hard-working and very competent. The skills she has learnt involve researching and writing copy for a variety of newspaper articles." She may even be published this week!Local council (Woking BC): "L has been able to use her writing and comprehension skills to develop an excellent case study for our Planet Woking website. She attended an online meeting with me and met our digital advertising / social media consultants to understand how we work in partnership with them to communicate and engage with the public. L has been a credit to Winston Churchill - polite and efficient and has engaged positively with me during her time with the Green Infrastructure team." They have published an article on their website Planet Woking, written by the student about 'Plastic Free July' Plastic Free July - An article by Lauren Sweetman - Planet Woking
Art Gallery (The Tate): "Both students were an absolute credit to Winston, and it looks as if they enjoyed their time with us.... the team would be very pleased to welcome them back in the future." Feedback from the students: "I will most definitely come back! (and I would love to work here in the future) Thank you so much for this experience" She felt she had learnt "how to professionally interact with members of the public" and "how much more there is to Tate (behind the scenes & events etc)"
A secure mobile communications company (Serbus): "J has been an excellent member of our team for this week. J has been punctual, polite and keen throughout. J has shown a natural aptitude for accounts/book keeping and has been allowed to do much of the company invoicing and bank payments, culminating in making some transactions with minimal supervision - the aim being to ensure he trusted his own judgement.J has also produced a number of documents for presentation to the management, related to marketing merchandise and external meeting room venues that he was asked to identify and price."
A Retail store (Tesco, Knaphill): "They have picked up quickly around date rotation and all tasks that have been given. They are very polite, Communication skills are getting better each day they are with us."
A construction company (Thakeham Homes): "We have ensured that the student has experienced a wide range of activities within as many of our departments as time has allowed. We had a fantastic day at our development at Pease Pottage where she was able to have a tour of our show homes, sales and then time on the construction site where she was shown our plots in progress from literally the ground up.
Her confidence has grown through the week enormously and she has been a pleasure to have here. She has asked questions, shown enthusiasm and had a positive attitude to everything that she has been shown."
Charitable Homeless Day Service (Guildford Action): "J has been amazing. It's quite a challenging environment but he has helped with admin, speaking to service users and attended a group off premises. He has really great listening skills and is smiley and friendly. Some of the jobs he's had have been a bit boring but he has just got on with it. He has arrived on time every day, dressed appropriately ad worked really hard."
Restaurant (Island House): "Willingess to learn, positivity, listening, engagement, open minded"
Web Design & Development (Akiko Design): "The student was treated as any other member of the team, with respect, openness and professionalism. The behaviour of the student was excellent, polite and confident. The student has learnt how to build a website, using basic HTML & CSS, Wordpress and installing plugins."
A hair dressers (Peter Jones Hair Design): "good time keeping friendly, good communication with older people and improved day by day, willing to learn new skills."
A primary school: "They have had opportunities to work with younger children supporting them with their learning tasks, reading and at play times. They have also helped to run our sports day events. The students who have worked with us have been punctual, willing to take direction and on the whole shown good initiative. They have shown patience and kindness to our pupils too."
As a student or parent you can explore the Careers Section on Frog for a wide range of information and opportunities. The schools works to the Gatsby Benchmarks and has a programme of careers education beginning in Year 7, through to Year 11 and support with transition.
