Our creative students had some fantastic experiences. Mollie, a Year 13 student, spent three days at Agent Marketing, where she contributed to their "All You Read is Love" campaign. She learned to create content in a new style and developed her camera skills, noting that meeting tight deadlines and collaborating with others gave her a "clear understanding of what working in the creative industries truly entails."

Students also had multiple placements at Skyhook Games. Mairiella and Katie spent four days learning about the different roles in game development, while Antony and Ellis found their four-day placement "amazing," with Ellis particularly intrigued by the bug-fixing process.

We asked Susan, Head of Studio at Skyhook Games, how Mairiella and Katie's work experience went. She shared, 

“They got on really well with the tasks set and seemed to have enjoyed it. Hopefully, they got a better idea of what is involved in game design and development, and they had an opportunity to sit with a couple of different artists, QA and marketing to get a feel for what people's roles involve."

Two students, Tom and Olivia, completed a coding placement at Jones AV. Our students produced some excellent work, programming operating theatre lights & cameras and a test documentation automation tool. 

We asked Tom what duties he did whilst on placement, he shared, "We were first shown their equipment and given information on what Jones AV do and how their integrated systems work and can benefit hospitals. Following this, I was then given a base template project in ImGui and C++, which I was able to learn and improve upon to add in functionality. For example, in my project, I created a disco mode which made the camera dance around and flash the light."

Our engineering and technology students also had a busy month. Aaron, a Year 13 student, spent five days at Studley Engineering, where he learned to TIG weld and helped build and pressure test a cooling system.

When we asked Aaron about the aspects he enjoyed the most, he mentioned that out of everything he mostly enjoyed working in the fabrication shop. He found it fascinating to learn how much effort goes into creating the pipes. In terms of how it has prepared him for the jobs of tomorrow, Aaron stated “This has been a great experience for me as I have now gained knowledge and experience of what it is like to work in industry and work together as a team.”

Year 13 student, Ziad, recently completed a four-day work experience placement at LJMU’s Faculty of Engineering and Technology.

Reflecting on his experience, Ziad shared "I learnt most of the engineering types and the specific roles and responsibilities that come along with it. I learnt how to use CAD software, electronics and design, how to use the Lathe machine to cut metals and design a plum bob, and I also learnt the hardware of a PC and how to fix them.

It has prepared me well as it has allowed me to decide on what field I want to get into in university as I was not sure beforehand."

Criminology

In the professional and social science sectors, students also gained valuable experience. Cerys, a Year 13 Sociology student, spent a day at global law firm Taylor Wessing. She learned that "commercial awareness is also very important" in addition to legal knowledge and felt the experience gave her "an insight into what truly happens in a law firm."

Law

Eleven of our students spent a day at Hillsborough Law Now, where they had a unique opportunity to learn about the legal and social aspects of this landmark campaign. This placement provided valuable insight into how the legal profession and social activism intersect to create change.

Sociology

Finally, Phoebe, a Year 12 Health Care student, self-sourced her own placement at a Special Educational Needs High School. This was a great "eye-opener" to non-NHS careers, and she has been gaining many skills, including expanding her knowledge of the Makaton sign language to communicate with non-verbal pupils.