It’s National Careers Week!

It’s National Careers Week 2021 and to celebrate we are sharing our pupils’ work experience stories. Against a backdrop of Covid-19, external work experience opportunities were unavailable this year, however, to ensure pupils didn’t miss out, we put together a programme of work placements within school departments.

During careers lessons, pupils had a chance to view all of the job descriptions and picked two for consideration. They identified their own key skills and qualities and considered how they matched to the job placements available. Mini application forms were completed and pupils attended interviews.

Pupils applying for teaching assistant roles had their interviews with an external Headteacher conducted over zoom. These pupils are planning to move into mainstream placements and we felt they needed some interview practice away from the familiarity of St Dominic’s staff.

The work experience ran over two weeks with most pupils completing a two-day placement. The feedback from both pupils and staff was positive.

The pupil in the photograph said: “My work experience with the grounds team was good. I learnt some new practical skills and enjoyed driving the tractor and using other machinery such as the leaf blower and strimmer.” A member of staff from the site team commented: “As a site team we think it is a great idea to have students doing work experience with the grounds staff. We have found that the majority have a really good time and learn a lot. This lad was a great example as we felt that it done him a world of good and lifted his self-esteem.”