Benefitting from Work Experience

A student who has been thinking about his future, is Henry in the Lower Sixth. Currently studying Politics, Economics and Business, in the recent half term, Henry undertook not one but four work experience programmes through Springpod.

Explaining his motivation behind applying, Henry said “Sally (Saunders, Head of Careers and Year 9) told me about all of this. I had no idea that Springpod or InvestIn existed. Chatting to her was really helpful. She told me which degrees and careers could suit my interests and strengths.”

After he has completed his Sixth Form studies, Henry hopes to pursue Philosophy at university. “Talking to Sally helped me to understand how I can apply philosophy to a career and get relevant work experience, as philosophy is fundamentally thinking.”

With his careers advice in hand, Henry was delighted to be enrolled in two marketing courses, one coming from accredited provider, the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and the other providing a good introduction into the sector.

“The second marketing course with CIM was very informative and I felt I learnt a lot. Marketing is the career I would like to go into.” commented Henry as he shared his SWOT tables and completed activities from the course, navigating between reading material and pre-recorded lectures from his laptop. “I used the company Netflix to apply my knowledge and complete the activities in and around live lectures.” Awash with enthusiasm he added, “My dad has recently set up a healthcare business. I’d like to get involved with the marketing for that and help in any way I can.”

Alongside these courses, Henry completed business and wealth management work experience with Invest Tech and an aeronautics course with Airbus. Achieving the latter course with friend Rohin, Henry was glad to experience an industry he had not previously considered: “I found that course fun and useful but I think Rohin really got a lot from it because he would like to pursue a career in this.”

Keeping his horizons broad, Sally and Henry also discussed his ambition to join the army, as well as potential routes into this that he hadn’t previously considered, such as university sponsorship. “I’m now weighing up my decisions. I have a lot to think about and feel this is all going in the right direction” he reflected.

Another person backing Henry’s aspirations is his Politics Teacher, Richard: “Richard Duckett is my favourite teacher! He is really approachable, understanding, and says he enjoys my passion for the subject.” Recently, Richard has recommended a range of literature, including the likes of Rousseau. Henry is currently reading The Social Contract. “I’m glad that he’s suggested Rousseau as he appears on a lot of the university reading lists and he’s very influential in philosophy and politics.” Commented Henry.