Head’s blog
Our Year 11 pupils have all been busy in their various work placements this week. In addition to giving the pupils the opportunity to participate in a working environment, work experience develops the pupils’ employability skills and enhances personal and social education, improving their soft skills which are all transferable, providing a definite advantage in the future. They have been meeting and working with people at all levels which could open doors in the future – summer work, university, entry into graduate schemes and possibly future employment.
The kinds of work they have been involved in are from a wide range of environments: in the kitchens of famous restaurants; in the Harley Street health care consulting rooms; with structural engineers on the Stratford Transport for London site; in solicitors’ offices; in leading retail industry; in well-known pharmacies; in local hairdresser’s, at pre-school nurseries and the offices of sports magazines. Their teachers have visited them in their places of work and the feedback has been outstanding: the employers were extremely impressed with the positive attitude of our pupils and their sense of professionalism in all the various workplaces.
Our pupils have gained invaluable understanding of the intangible but all-important skills needed in the world of work. Even those pupils involved in humble employment have learnt about the importance of cooperation, collaboration and having a can-do attitude while at work. These skills are difficult to teach in class and are best learnt ‘on the job’ so we are particularly pleased at how well our first work experience week has gone.
