Work Experience

Finally got round to blogging this…

Back in November I had to apply for my work experience placements. The school use the local business partnership group, I applied for 4 of their placements all of which were unsuccessful. I was moaning about this on twitter when one of my twitter friends offered me the chance for work experience with them. I thought nothing of it at first as it’d be in London and I didn’t think my Mum would let me work in London for a week. However, then @pennynash said her sister may let me stay with her and eventually hat was confirmed and somehow, I still don’t quite know how, I persuaded my Mum.  It was all sorted out with school and everyone and then in May, off I went.

I trotted into work after a very fun commute with traffic jams, train rides and a stroll through central London. It was a lovely big building, I’d been to visit before, back in February. But I’d never been inside. This was the point at which I was most nervous! I was escorted up to the correct floor where a white wall met me, a plain wall with nothing but a “UK Border Agency” sign on it. In I went.

I was given a tour and introduced to members of the team, they were all very lovely. I’m not going to go into too much detail about the days’ activities. They mainly consisted of sitting in on meeting, helping with some tasks and shadowing and finding out about the programme. I found out that the world is full of Acronyms!

The only day with a huge bit of variation was the Wednesday. I got the opportunity to visit the main Home Office headquarters. This was just for me to have a look around the brilliant building, but as the day went on. Things began to unravel politically. It was the day when the new government’s cabinet was being announced and a new Home Secretary became more and more likely as the day went on. Then at lunchtime, she was announced. Theresa May. As is customary in the Home Office, new secretaries give an opening speech in the atrium of the building, which is surrounded by balconies. The Civil Servants all watch. It must be a very daunting experience. As the afternoon went on it began to look as though Theresa’s opening speech was going to be very late, but then the announcement came.

We all flocked out onto the balconies to see as she spoke about what the government and herself aimed to do. I felt very privileged to have been there to see it. The highlight of my week! It was a fantastic week and I’d love to go back again. My colleagues were lovely and really welcoming, I learnt an awful lot and I think my confidence has improved!

Gifted and Talented Week

During two weeks of May all of my school year take part in work experience. Most people, like my sister, for the full two weeks, while a select few do it for one with the other week spent on trips. This select few is the Gifted and Talented students. I am one of those. The first day was bank holiday so I did my usual of pottering around the village, the second day however was more productive. We had a day trip to London. We got off the minibuses at Richmond and went on the Underground into Central London, this in itself was good fun! Upon arrival in Westminster we walked to the Houses of Parliament for our tour, arranged by our MP, and for which we were already late. It was unsurprisingly empty of any excitement due to the election on that Thursday. But it was really interesting. I decided I want to become a Lord! Once our tour was finished we went for a walk up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, a nice pleasant stroll. In the afternoon we did one of the few things in London I’d never done; went on the London eye. I hate heights and I was rather scared, but eventually I got to enjoy it. I’d love to go again so I can enjoy it properly. This was the end of the day and we struggled through the traffic to get home 2 hours late!

Wednesday was one of my two short days, I had a business lunch. This was where we got the chance to talk to a range of employers about their careers and then got lunch. Out of all the people there, none of them really interested me. Lunch was good and I got to finish my day after lunch so that was an added bonus. Thursday was another half day. We went to Fareham College. It’s not really a college I had in mind to go to but it was nice to have a look round. We had a mock science lesson which was good before getting a lunch which we weren’t expecting! I popped into town after this to visit my sister on her placement at Dorothy Perkins.

Friday was the other long and interesting day. We went on a trip to Oxford university. I expected this to be a very interesting day and I wasn’t let down. It started with a stop at the services for Krispy Kreme and yum yums, so I was happy! Then when we arrived we got biscuits, so I was happier. Then we started the real activity. We had a talk about higher education and Oxford University which was very informative. After this we had a tour of one of Oxford’s colleges. This was also good as it was used in the filming of Harry Potter. We then had lunch in the room which was Harry Potter’s great hall. After lunch we had a physics session which was challenging but interesting before our quick tour of the city itself. I decided I want to go to Oxford (or Cambridge).

All in all it was a great week and let’s hope this week, my work experience week here in London, is just as great!