Working Towards a Better Future

At the end of the summer term, over seventy Sixth Form students were able to put away their books as they ventured out into the real world of employment and took up work placements in a wide variety of industries including financial, engineering, manufacturing, museum, leisure, hospitality, legal and marketing. The aim of the work opportunities, arranged by our Work Placement Coordinator, Mrs Sadat-Shafai, was two-fold, firstly to give the students a flavour of life in their chosen field of work and secondly to help them build some essential employment skills.

The feedback received from the employers was exceptional, with some students subsequently offered apprenticeships and further opportunities as a result, including Ben Oakley who secured an apprenticeship with bank, BNY Mellon in Manchester. He received glowing reports from the company following his placement and subsequently applied for the apprenticeship with them, scoring 100% during the interview testing! 

Some of the great comments for other students we received were: 

• On Josh Robertson, from BNY Mellon: “Josh has been exceptional, keen to learn and ask questions It is clear he has a future in Finance.”
• On Ollie Grice from Beartown Brewery: “[Ollie] fitted perfectly into the team. Great attitude and worked really hard.”
• On James Tyrer and Reece Carbutt Beech from Barclays: “They both presented fantastically! All students created their presentation from scratch, they also included a quiz on Barclays (which they created) to make it more interactive for the audience.”

Luke Skelding spent the week with Cheshire East Council Democratic Services, which he said gave him “a really good insight into local politics.”

Matthew Needham, studying A Levels in Biology, Chemistry and Maths, worked with Staffordshire University Department of Engineering in the summer, working on a project investigating the 'Fabrication of a Polymeric Solar Cell. In October he started a another placement with East Cheshire NHS trust, becoming their 100th work placement student.

In addition to the Summer Work placements, many students also take the opportunity to spend time in the holidays to build up their work experience and skills. In the Easter break, four students gave up part of their holiday to participate in placements:

• Alex Bell is studying A level Geography and used his studies in his placement in Cheshire East Council’s Spatial Planning Department in Sandbach. The Local Plan Project and Capacity Officer commented that: “Alex fitted in really well and completed all the work given to him quickly and efficiently.”
• Sam Harden is studying A level History and thinking of taking it to degree level so work experience at Congleton Museum was ideal for him. Sam felt working in the museum was a great experience and not only linked into general British history but also into his history course. He enjoyed communicating with the visitors and received great feedback from the staff at the museum.
• Tom Hodgetts spent a day at Staffordshire University working with the IT technicians. He gained experience of the role of a technician and commented that it was a really insightful and enjoyable day.
• James Holland was interested in a career in Engineering and spent the week working in various departments at Siemens, which meant he gained a good overview of how different aspects of the company operate.

Mrs Sadat-Shafai explained why student placements are so important:

"These work opportunities are invaluable for our students, who learn so much. They develop skills they are able to use later in life and the experience does make them far more understanding of the world beyond the school gates and the pressures that they will be under after they leave us.   

"Our work placements are also a great link with local businesses who are always so supportive of us and work with us to help provide the most useful and effective opportunities for our students. I would like to thank all of our business partners who have enabled our young people to be able to learn so much in such a short space of time. We are always keen to hear from any local businesses that would be able to offer a work placement opportunity to one of our students."