Long story short, yes it is extremely worth it!
My name is Finlay Miller and I am fortunate enough to have secured a place at J&PR for my Year 10 work experience.
So far I am loving it as I have learned so many skills that I will need in the future. I was recommended to come here for my work experience by a friend who had previously come here for hers two years ago.
She thought that it would be good for me since we both wanted to go into the same career when we are older. I am loving it so far and I have learned so many valuable things.
I recently heard on the radio about a school in Shropshire that has decided to cut off work experience for their students this year and in the years to come.
Work experience is extremely important for students and should be available to all who want to take part in it and want to be able to have the opportunity to gain that experience of being in a workplace environment.
I have learned many skills such as gaining even more confidence with doing new things and talking to new people I have never met before, how to write blogs and make social media posts.
These skills will all help me to grow as an individual and help me be more prepared for going into my future careers as a journalist. Having these experiences make employers more inclined to accept people into their company as you already know many things that will be needed for the job.
A study that was carried out by a school management software company and involved 146,974 students all across the country throughout a total of 756 schools.
Their analysis showed 78% of schools had opportunities for students to complete their work experience in year 10 but only 49% of students had actually taken part in them.
This proves that 51% of students don't gain the experience that is needed for the workplace, making it harder for them to find jobs in the future and taking part in them too.
I have a part time job, working at Long Lane Cafe every Saturday and that has given me information and experience that I did not have beforehand.
It has taught me how to talk to people in a professional manner and take orders from people. I have been able to transfer a lot of the skills that I have learned from there into my work experience.
During my time at J&PR I had the opportunity to go to the Shropshire Chamber Business Expo where I was able to meet so many different people within the industry.
Everyone there was extremely kind and welcoming and I learned a lot about where I want to go in the future while I was there.
Being at this expo with Kirsty allowed me to see how business decisions go and how they move forward on their topics with one another. I found it really interesting to watch as she would talk to everyone like they were old friends and not people she had never met before.
My whole overall experience at J&PR has been amazing and I want everyone to have the opportunity and experience that I have had.
Overall I don't think that this Shropshire school should have stopped offering work experience because it teaches students real life skills that are needed for the future and allows us to learn things that we would not be able to learn in school.
