Getting the most out of Work Experience

 

Telephone the placement company before your work placement:

• to introduce yourself  to your  placement supervisor

• to ask for information about the company, what tasks you will be doing on the placement  and to confirm some practical arrangements (e.g. clothing, start and finish times)
• to answer questions from your placement supervisor, which might include explaining what you want from the placement.

 

Practice Active Listening – pay attention to other people so that they feel you understand what they are saying. You may need to do this in the following situations:

• induction briefing –  e.g. about health and safety procedures

• explanation of work tasks

• taking messages from customers or colleagues

• in team meetings where key facts and decisions are discussed

• listening and observing colleagues to learn new skills or techniques

• dealing with customers or service users

 

Speak clearly and logically:

• think through what you want to say, making sure you get the information in a logical order and do not forget anything
• write down the key points in order
• How clear was the information? Was anything missed out? Was the tone and speed appropriate?

 

Prepare for face-to-face meetings – you may need to do this with your supervisor  to:

• discuss your progress during a placement

• be given specific information about a particular task that you have been asked to do

• report or discuss a problem that may have arisen.

 

Take the opportunity to talk to people about their jobs, what they do and how they got there.

How to revise

With exams only weeks away for some students, here are some useful tips on revision:

1. Start revising early

- i.e. months, not days before the exam. Make a timetables (see samples) to plan your revision and stick to it.

2. Don't spend ages making your notes look pretty.

- This is just wasting time. For diagrams, include all the details you need to learn, but don't try to produce a work of art. Limit yourself to two or three colours so you don't get carried away colouring things in.

3. Take short breaks

- every hour, not every ten minutes.

4. Use revision guides

5. In study leave, start revising early

- i.e. 9am - that way, you'll get your day's work done much quicker and will have time to relax in the evening.

6. Stick revision notes all around your house

- so in the exam you think - "aha, quadratic equations, they were on the fridge..."

7. Get yourself drinks and snacks


- so you don't make excuses to stop every ten minutes...




8. Try reading difficult bits in funny accents - Australian is particularly good...




9. Sit at a proper desk, no revising in bed!




10. Don't put it off


- "Procrastination" is the long word for it. And it means rearranging stuff on your desk, getting a sudden urge after 16 years to tidy your room, playing the guitar, thinking about the weekend, writing love poems about that girl/boy you fancy, painting your toenails etc, etc... sit down at your desk and GET ON WITH IT!




11. Don't just read your notes, you have to write stuff down!




12. Don't turn yourself into a revision zombie
- if you stop doing anything else but revision you'll turn into a zombie, it's really important that you keep time to do things you enjoy... like cinema, shopping, sports, Frisbee, rock-climbing, making model planes, nose-picking, whatever tickles your ferret... when you're doing these, try to relax and totally forget about revision.

13. Do lots of practice exam papers

- this is especially important as you get close to the exams.

14. Read the exam timetable properly

- double check so you don't miss an exam and have plenty of time to prepare for it.

15. Find the right environment to revise

- NOT in front of the TV. NOT listening to the radio. Music can sometimes be OK, but you need to find the right kind. It's got to be something that's just there is the background that you're not thinking about at all. Music without signing is better as you won't be tempted to dance around your bedroom like a big fool.

Good luck!

Finding work experience in STEM...

Over 95% of students go on work experience in Years 10 or 11. Most placements are arranged for the latter half of the summer term in Year 10, to avoid disruption to timetabled learning. Some placements last three weeks, but most finish after two weeks, or even one.

 

If you are looking for a placement related to science or maths and haven’t been able to find one through school, then you may well have to find a placement yourself. You can get ideas from friends, family, online business directories or business directories in your local library, or have a look at the list below for ideas on where you can start your research:

 

The Design & Technology Association

British Science Association

Royal Society of Chemistry

Institute of Physics

STEMNET

National STEM Centre (includes e-library resources)

icould

Institute for Education Business Excellence

Student Job

https://www.rsb.org.uk/careers-and-cpd/careers/work-experience

https://successatschool.org/advicedetails/506/Work-Experience-Ideas

For more useful careers advice, and opportunities join SATROclub by emailing satroclub@satro.org.uk

Help Light a Spark!

“Enterprise means much more than just the ability to become an entrepreneur.  It is that quality that gives an individual a positive outlook, an ability to see the glass as half full rather than half empty, and is a valuable attribute for the whole of life.  It is a quality many bring with them on starting primary school but far too many leave secondary school without.”

Lord Young, Enterprise for All  (June 2014)

 

A new Government initiative to support schools by recruiting business volunteers to help with their enterprise and careers activities is currently being piloted around the country.   The Government have set up the Careers and Enterprise Company (www.careersandenterprise.co.uk) and asked Local Enterprise Partnerships to deliver on this project.  Enterprise M3 (www.enterprisem3.org.uk) covers the M3 corridor.

 

After a tendering exercise, SATRO (in partnership with the Basingstoke Consortium) have secured the contract from Enterprise M3.  In line with the initiative, SATRO have appointed an Enterprise Coordinator whose job it  will be to recruit volunteers from all areas of business. Those volunteers will aim to inspire and help young people, when they are looking at their futures.

 

SATRO are in the process of meeting with schools in Farnham and Waverley to see what they are currently doing and what they need help with - seeing where the gaps are if you like.  The feedback so far has been very positive.

 

The next piece in the jigsaw is to recruit those volunteers from local businesses - Enterprise Advisors (EAs) - to help support the schools' careers and enterprise activities, and that is what we are asking you to consider doing.

 

The model is for one EA to be linked to one school. He or she would be able to draw upon their local connections (and new ones made through the network) to help support individual schools’ specific needs. They would be supported by the Enterprise Coordinators: not just initially, but throughout.

 

What would it involve?  Well, that very much depends upon what would best help the individual schools.

 

Evidence shows that this kind of employer/business engagement produces positive outcomes not only for the young people involved, but also for the local economy. The benefits for business include: the opportunity to make new business contacts; positive local publicity; opportunities for their workforce to learn new skills by engaging with the schools; creating a motivated and able pool from which to recruit employees and meeting their social responsibility targets. 

 

Some of us were lucky enough when we were in school to encounter a person who somehow lit a spark and set us thinking about what we would like to do with our lives, we all remember them. So, if you think that you could help inspire young minds… help light a spark… and would like to know more, please email mo@satro.org.uk . 

 

 

GIVE-IT-AWAY to make a difference!

Give-It-Away donates £20,000 to support programmes run by SATRO 

Surrey-based charity SATRO is delighted to announce that Charlotte Grobien OBE, a unique and very special social entrepreneur, has stepped up to the challenge of changing young people’s lives by supporting our programmes to inspire them about their future careers.  Charlotte attended St Dunstan’s School, Woking on 15^th June where SATRO were delivering a Junior Business Game and presented her donation  cheque to Beccy Bowden, CEO, SATRO.  Beccy commented “It is an honour to work with someone as inspirational as Charlotte – not only has her donation enabled us to reach many more young people and ensure they take their next steps to a promising career,  I’m sure meeting her will also inspire them to achieve great things! There are many, many young people, even in a county as vibrant as Surrey, who struggle to find their way in life – often unseen and unknown about by the ‘general public’. Everyone at SATRO, staff and volunteers, is passionate about helping them and I'm delighted that all that hard work and determination has been rewarded by Charlotte’s support.”

Give-it-Away is unique in how it raises money for charity – it builds houses, sells them and then gives the profits to charities that fit with Charlotte’s charitable interests.  Charlotte supports small, local charities who work with vulnerable children and young people who have disabilities, learning problems, difficult home backgrounds and where there is also financial deprivation.  Charlotte’s donation will enable SATRO to run the Mobile Construction Classroom at Woodlands School, Leatherhead, support disadvantage students on their extended work placements and enable SATRO to reach out to young people with career and university advice.  She will also sponsor several events which are designed to stimulate and challenge young people and to develop skills in problem-solving, team-working and time management. These are skills which many employers value, especially those in STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) related industries.

Charlotte commented “I was delighted to meet SATRO recently and to hear about the enormous number of programmes they are running in the Surrey area which benefit young people who may be unable to identify what their role in business and industry could be on leaving school.  By engaging them at a young age in a variety of hands on projects, they are better able to see their future  potential in careers which they may not have thought of.  I was especially pleased to see a construction based challenge!  I am very committed to providing as much positive opportunity as early as possible for young people and am very pleased that my contribution will be put to practical use”.

Siemens ‘Next Big Thing’ Challenge 2015

How would you use technology to improve access to healthcare in remote parts of the world or response following natural disasters? A couple of the challenges thrown down by Siemens to schools taking part in this year’s Next Big Thing Challenge. The students were at Siemens offices in Frimley this morning to hear about these and the other challenges and meet their Siemens mentors.  Following first sessions with their mentors they have already started developing their ideas which will be judged by the dragons in May.