At the end of the summer term, our Year 12 pupils took part in a dedicated Work Experience Week, gaining first-hand insight into a broad range of careers. Pupils secured placements across a wide variety of industries, including finance, healthcare, law, education, media, technology, engineering, hospitality, retail, sport, property, and design.
Opportunities ranged from global firms such as BNP Paribas to more specialist organisations including veterinary practices, primary schools, sports rehab clinics, marketing agencies, and luxury design studios. Many pupils also explored roles within family businesses or shadowed professionals in areas such as journalism, politics, physiotherapy, and motorsport.
The week offered an invaluable opportunity for pupils to explore potential career paths, develop professional skills, and gain confidence in workplace settings – all preparing them for life beyond Shiplake.
Head of Careers, Mrs Rapple Moore, writes:
‘Work experience is an invaluable experience for our young people. A placement will give them transferable skills that they don't even realise they are gaining, such as taking orders, working under pressure and the importance of being pro-active and working as part of a team. They may be able to build contacts for the future or even get an offer of more work at a later date, and even if the type of work is not something they are considering, they will have gained a good understanding of the reality of life in the workplace.
Our pupils will have learned more than they realise from their week in the workplace, from understanding more about how the world of work operates to realising the importance of being able to take direction and being proactive, punctual, polite and independent. We have received some excellent feedback, both from their employers and from the pupils themselves, who really enjoyed their placements.’
It was wonderful to read so much positive feedback from those overseeing the placements. Our pupils made positive impressions on everyone they met and demonstrated good work ethics, a willingness to learn, and excellent attitudes.
Here are just a few of the comments received:
- Matilda demonstrated a truly proactive attitude, handling back-to-back calls on complex topics with ease. She was friendly and open with colleagues - both in the office and remotely - and showed great willingness to take ownership and act quickly on tasks we requested, such as reviewing Excel files for a customer event and refining slides for an important meeting in line with our corporate guidelines.
- Freddie showed real strength in working with the children, joining in enthusiastically and supporting both groups and individual readers. He was particularly helpful during core learning sessions and approached tasks with a calm, supportive attitude.
- Amelie had a positive attitude toward work, showing enthusiasm and commitment to the tasks given, she asked questions and took feedback on board. She built good relationships with colleagues, communicating respectfully and working well within the team. She will be missed!
- Saachi asked excellent questions, showed great listening skills, was organised, and had things to get on with and read when there was downtime. She was punctual and showed a real level of maturity beyond her years.
- Kit demonstrated enthusiasm and a strong commitment to the tasks, while responding positively to constructive feedback – which is a real asset in team-based work. He adhered to our key expectations in the workplace, collaborated well with others and demonstrated ambition combined with personal reliability in completing daily responsibilities.
- I was incredibly impressed with both Izzy & Elliot's attitudes and willingness to learn. They worked brilliantly with all members of the team as well as demonstrating strong initiative across all tasks. Their time management across tasks was exemplary and throughout the whole placement they were engaged, demonstrated a strong willingness to learn, asking intelligent questions and showing interest and enthusiasm across everything, including creative confidence in an all agency brainstorming session.
- Attitude to work was excellent as was his willingness to learn. He followed routines well, which was particularly challenging as each day was different. He was adaptable to lunch times as some site related work was unpredictable. Chris worked well with his colleagues and was friendly.
- Angus was fantastic - he came with a "can do" attitude, taking on tasks with enthusiasm and completing them quickly and to a good standard. He demonstrated strengths in building relationships with the team and has great people skills.
- It was a true pleasure to spend time with Bethany during her work experience. She was fully engaged in all the activities we worked on together and showed a genuine curiosity by asking thoughtful questions. Her creativity really stood out throughout, and I believe she has great potential to become an exceptional art psychotherapist.
