Year 12 Students Gain Valuable Experience in the Working World
Last week, our Year 12 students stepped out of the classroom and into the world of work as part of our annual Work Experience Week. The initiative provides students with a valuable opportunity to explore potential career paths and gain first-hand experience in a wide variety of professional environments.
Demonstrating impressive independence and initiative, students secured their own placements across a broad spectrum of industries from large corporations such as Mars Wrigley to bespoke design-led companies like architecture and interiors practice Mclaren.Exell.
Olly spent the week at Tandam Property Asset Management where he gained exposure to both property and asset management, working across a diverse portfolio of retail and commercial properties. He assisted with site visits, contributed towards service charge budgets and reviewed lease agreements to identify compliance issues and ESG considerations, giving him a valuable introduction to this industry.
While Harry had an exciting week at Heathrow. He reports...
"The first two days I was shadowing the aircraft engineers in the hangar who were working on a A350 (different ones on each day), they were all helpful and showed me around the plane describing how each part works and what they must check for. I was lucky enough to help with some maintenance on an engine and help replace a tyre and a brake. The rest of the week I was working on the line (in the airport terminal where passengers would board or leave). Here it was way more hectic as the deadlines were much shorter but to be honest, I preferred the fast pace of it. Again, shadowing the engineers who were so helpful, showing me around the plane and explaining how things worked.
We went to many different planes each day and there wasn’t any major repairs or maintenance unlike the hangar. It was an amazing experience as it has really helped me decide what I might do as all the engineers said they got there through an apprenticeship which they highly recommended and was something I hadn’t really considered before.
It was honestly so impactful to me, and I feel as though the week couldn’t have gone better, I'm just so grateful to of had this opportunity."
Our students have gained unforgettable experience across such a variety of sectors, including accounting at Kirk Rice LLP, video production and animation at Dreaming Fish Productions Ltd and law enforcement with Thames Valley Police. Others with an eye on a future in education secured placements at the University of Oxford and Ascot Heath Primary School.
One Year 12 student summed the whole initiative up: "doing a week of work experience really opened my eyes to what the real world is like — it gave me confidence, helped me figure out what I enjoy, and made Sixth Form feel more connected to the future I want."
We are extremely proud of the professionalism and enthusiasm our students have shown throughout the week and look forward to hearing more about their experiences and how they’ve been inspired for their life post Charters.
