Year 10 students at the Stephen Longfellow Academy were given the opportunity to undertake a work experience placement. Work experience supports students to gain a better understanding of a career, learn some new skills and experience the world of work.
Students were given a choice of several different job sectors to choose from. The sectors offered included: Sport, Horticulture, Site Maintenance, Business and Admin, Catering, Childcare/Education, Beauty, Motor Vehicle, Retail and Logistics, IT and Engineering. Students were given the chance to undertake a range of activities and shadow staff members in their day to day working. Students were prepared for their work experiences in form time through a work experience PowerPoint presentation delivered in form time and then selected the areas they would like to work in.
For the Childcare experience, students worked in the academy’s Primary provision and across external Gorse Trust Primary schools. Tasks included: supporting younger children in the classroom, supporting at breaks and lunches and setting up basic activities, displays and shadowing teachers.
For the Catering experience, students worked in the academy kitchen, preparing different foods for the day and serving them.
For the Site Maintenance experience, students shadowed the site team and undertook tasks such as replacing locks on doors, fixing shelves, tables, bookcases, repair of a CCTV camera and installation of a large shed on school premises.
For Horticulture, students worked with a member of staff to manage the plants and garden area and bed in new plants. Within Sport, students worked alongside the PE department to set up activities and lessons for younger students.
For the Beauty experience, The Stephen Longfellow Academy worked in partnership with Beautylicious and Glam Aura, two salons in LS10 and LS11 and students attended these two placements observing treatments and supporting the hair and beauty staff on site.
Building on last year’s work experience offer, several new placements were created for students this year, such as:
- external Childcare placements within Gorse Trust Primary Schools
- external Retail and Logistics placement with HSS Tool Hire
- external Motor vehicle placement with Waincliffe Motors
- external Engineering placement with Salts Security
- external Engineering placement with Vallely Tankers
- external animal welfare and Café with RSPB St Aidens
New Internal placements this year were:
IT placement
Noise Academy placement, Teaching Dj-ing to primary students
Feedback from Employers
| “He was very willing to get involved and showed a genuine interest in vehicle repair, well done.” Mani Sandhu (Manager at Waincliffe Motors) |
| “Very well behaved and enthusiastic. Just needs a bit more resilience but otherwise a good worker.” Jamie Manning (Site Manager at Stephen Longfellow Academy) |
| “Fantastic work and good communication. Proud of the skills shown by the girls.”
Sinead Garside (Beautician & Salon owner at Beautylicious) |
| “Im going to base it as trial shift which means I would give him a position as prep chef.”
James O’Connor (Chef – Taylor Shaw) |
| “S was very hardworking during her work experience. She picked up new skills very quickly, overcame challenges and showed good resilience pleasure to have her.
Amy Harker (Business Administrator at Stephen Longfellow Academy) |
| “Some confidence issues to begin with but really grew into the tutor role by the second period.” Alex Townsley (Noise Academy Tutor) |
| “O showed real interest throughout the experience. He was prepared to participate in all tasks and showed confidence and working safely with all tools used.” Jamie Manning (Site Manager) |
| “No issues with C, she was very well behaved and paid attention to detail. She demonstrated good installation skills. Ed Begentajev (Senior Technical Engineer) |
| “It was lovely to see T involved with the children; she interacted well and supported them with their routines”. Kirsty Hill (Teacher- Morley Newlands) |
Student Feedback Comments on work experience
| “I really liked it; it boosted my confidence and communication skills.” T |
| “The people were nice, and I liked the placement. I would like to do a longer experience”. K |
| “It was pretty good, better than I thought. I think I like this job.” L |
| “I enjoyed my time at Beautylicious, and I would like to do it again.” B |
| “I would like to do work experience again. Didn’t realise the admin team are so busy, Mr Poskitt needs to give them a raise!” S |
| I enjoyed it and learned lots of new things to do with IT and computers. C |
Every student who engaged in work experience completed their work experience booklet. The booklet helped them highlight what skills they had learned and activities they undertook. All participating students were provided a certificate to acknowledge their engagement. The Careers department will support all students to add the recent work experience to their student CV’s in Year 11.
The work experience offer was a very positive programme for Year 10 students. All the students who engaged demonstrated positive behaviour, which was mentioned in most of the employer feedback found in the booklets. Students clearly benefited from the experiences and built confidence and skills for the future. Across the two weeks there were 62 successful placements, 27 external (offsite) and 35 internal. The placements ranged between 1- and 5-day placements.
For many students the placements have helped them make informed decisions about their future options and they have learned key skills on placement, which is evidenced in their work experience booklets.
Overall work experience at The Stephen Longfellow Academy has been a success and we intend to increase our offer next year with more employers and increased duration of placements.
Raj Gill (Director of Careers)