Year 11 students visited Birmingham Symphony Hall to enjoy the GCSE Poetry Live event on Monday 20th January.

This informative and enjoyable event was well received by a packed Symphony Hall, who were treated to both chief examiner sessions along with a range of live performances from the cream of  modern British poets who feature on the GCSE syllabus.

As ever the highlight being John Agard’s much-anticipated electrifying performance that drew together, science, mathematics, history and identity.

“Who knew there could be a poem about equilateral triangles wanting to be a snowflake”, said Rajbir, a member of our group.

The Year 11 work experience window has now sadly come to a close. This week Year 11 has been fortunate enough to have experienced working life either through a work placement outside of school or with staff members within school.  

Why do we do work experience?

Under the statutory guidance for schools, the government requires schools to offer unbiased careers advice and guidance, meaning schools must allow students to explore different avenues whether it be college, sixth form or apprenticeship. Our school will always support students and encourage them to use skills to reach out to places because they “want young people to be informed and to make good choices for their future career paths.”

What is the purpose of work experience?

Work experience help’s students gain an insight into the world of work and develop as young people. Most students who have been out of school have either realised that they want a career in that profession or want to do something completely different – which is the point of work experience. It allows teenagers to step out into the adult world and sort out their own life, they are given the chance to be independent by having to worry about timings, transportation, food etc. Mrs Gibbons, Assistant Principal, hopes that the students feel inspired, and that parents recognise the benefits of this week and possibly feel inspired to pursue their interest too because “there’s never an age when you should stop learning”.

When Mrs Gibbons was in Year 11 she did work experience in a primary school, where she realised she loved the environment of a school. However later on she realised that she didn’t want to work with young children because she couldn’t apply her law degree, so she decided that secondary school was the way to go. She found it interesting going back to her old primary school, because for her it was “interesting to see teachers in a new light and to see how hard they work”. At the age of 17, she did two weeks work experience, one week in a solicitors’ office where she got to go to a magistrate court and do solicitor duties in the office. The other week was spent at the custody office at a prison where she got to read interesting files, however, she couldn’t meet young offenders due to confidentiality but she did get to calculate sentences for the new arrivals. There were a few memorable moments including when the prison went on lockdown, and visitors were being restrained, one that she remembers vividly was when her food was served by adult long term offenders (who were serving time for murders and other crimes). She learnt about how prisons allow prisoners to show responsibility and self-reform by working so that if they do get released they have experience that could allow them to ease back into society.

Work experience was arranged by Miss Dell and Mrs Gibbons, who aided and supported students in finding a work placement, and worked tirelessly to create a collapsed timetable that enabled students who hadn’t found a placement to: hear about a broad range of careers; learn/develop skills that would benefit them in the working environment; participate in business related challenges; find a focus for their summer exams. Students found this week “helpful” as it gave them “better understanding of future career paths”. They also appreciated a change of focus after doing mocks because it provided them with “a sense of accomplishment” and gave them “motivation for GCSE” because they now know what is needed for their careers paths. 

It’s fair to say that it was an enjoyably memorable experience that has helped shaped the lives of many students, especially having spoken to guest speakers which included: a hairdresser, a paralegal, a nurse, a police officer,  a strengthening families worker, a West Midlands fire service firefighter, a pilot, and teachers (who were Mrs Gibbons and Mrs Hazeldine – interesting enough they both had very different journeys and showed how there are so many paths to becoming a teacher, every teacher’s journey is different. I challenge you to ask different teachers how they got into teaching and what their journey was like – their answers might just surprise you). All the talks were amazing and helped cement career decisions for some students and others gained more of an idea about what they want to do with their lives. Students found it inspirational to see people from the same communities as them go on to lead fulfilling lives. The speakers demonstrated that no matter your background as long as you have a passion you will succeed. Every speaker expressed how there are many different routes you can take to get to where you want to in life!

By Janis Liora Tchiesso Nantchouang

Year 11- Work Experience