Year 10 Work Experience and Careers Day

During the Summer Term Year 10 pupils are given the opportunity to experience the ‘World of Work’ through a one-week session of work experience from Monday 24 June until Friday 28 June. This has proved to be very successful over a number of years.

In order for the experience to be as productive for the pupils as possible, they were asked to find their own placement, using connections they may already have, and to make suggestions to the school.

The pupils have benefited from a range of experiences, such as travelling independently and developing social and work related skills in an unfamiliar environment. In most cases, the placement had some relevance to pupils’ interests and prospective career choices.

This year, the employment placements included:

Interior design

Engineering

Architecture

Accounting

Hospitality

Education

Well done to our Year 10 pupils who have received very complimentary reports from their host employers.

The Year 10 careers programme culminated in the annual careers and mock interview day on Friday 5 July 2019. The day consisted of two sessions. In the morning, the pupils had the opportunity to listen to seasoned professionals who introduced them to their respective professions.

The speakers were:

Karen Holden (Law)

Paul Newman (Journalism)

Han Newman (Sport Psychology)

Sinead Greenaway (Media)

Lewis Gladwell (Quantity Surveying)

Neil Porter (Civil Engineering)

After the morning sessions, the pupils and the speakers were treated to a drinks reception and lunch, hosted by Mr Clair and Mrs Huxford.

In the afternoon, the pupils were subjected to 30 minutes of interviews, during which they had to talk about their ambitions, interests and involvement in everyday school life.

The interview panel was very impressed with our pupils and gave them some constructive feedback at the end of the session. The Year 10 group, soon to be in Year 11, has gained valuable experience in how to conduct themselves in a formal interview scenario, an experience which will be extremely useful for the imminent sixth form application process.

The Year 10 pupils would like to thank everybody who made the day possible.