Experiencing life in the workplace

Many will think this time of year is busy mainly for Year 11 students doing their GCSE exams.

But Year 10 students have been busy on work experience.

The one or two weeks they spend in the workplace gives them valuable experience of a working adults' day, and for many, experience in the field they would like to enter in only a few years time. Writing this as a work experience student, I can safely say spending just five days in an office instead of a classroom enlightens you to the world of work and gives you a much greater sense of what you want to do when you yourself become an adult.

While working at the Shepton Mallet Journal I asked a few students from Ansford School, Castle Cary, about their experiences of being part of the working cycle that keeps the country, and the world, running.

Sam White spent time at Emma Treehouse Ltd and said: "I am very keen on art and want to go into an illustrating company. I've been making brand new children's books, like puzzle books and touch and feel books. They're mainly for children aged zero to five". Joshua Holmes has been working in "Chips", a successful chain of shops specialising in video games, the closest of which is in Yeovil.

"I have a passion for video games and I'm enjoying my time here. It's not overly corporate and that's been great. I've enjoyed serving customers," Josh explained. "I've been doing a lot of stuff; ordering stock, making repairs and just doing general jobs around the store. It's been good."

Unlike others, some students have been working outside, like Geoffrey Earle-Marsh, who spent his placement at the National Trust's Stourhead.

"I've been working with the gardeners and wardens around the estate," he explained. "I wanted to do something outdoors. I didn't want to be stuck inside, so I chose Stourhead."

Also working outdoors are Emma Bell and Maisy Bull, spending their time at Mill on the Brue in Bruton.

"We've done lots of different tasks," they told us. "We did catering on Monday, and then worked with the children on Tuesday. We've done canoeing, gardening and housekeeping. A wide range of activities.

"We'd been here before, in 2005, and wanted to see what goes on behind the scenes. It sounded fun and we'd enjoyed it last time."

Work experience has proved to be a productive use of time for teenage students, combining fun with priceless exposure to what life is like in a job.

Matthew Lavender