Experiencing the Workplace

Two of our dedicated students committed themselves to developing their future careers over Long Leave as Rohin (Lower Sixth) joined the Cisco work experience programme and Elina (Year 9) took on a virtual work experience course in Graphic Design.

“I aspire to be an Architect, so branching out from this, I found that Graphic Design would be a worthwhile course to try.” explained Elina. “In the course, there were nine modules, with each one having up to thirteen sections. Some sections were just lessons. However, some required writing a piece between 100-300 words. The lessons and writing tasks helped me develop my writing and reading skills. Alongside this, I also learnt some of the fundamental skills, such as the importance and meaning of line shape, colour, space, needed to design effectively as a graphic designer. I personally found this course quite fascinating as it gave me an insight into what a Graphic Designer’s daily job and life would look like.”

Rohin was selected by Cisco to join their weeklong ‘Pathway to your Future’ programme which offered a combination of seminars from ‘MyKindaFuture’ and live discussions via Cisco Webex. It was a competitive process and Rohin was lucky to be offered the opportunity to join the world’s foremost digital companies with a focus on inclusivity, connectivity and security.

Sally Saunders, Head of Careers, commented “Leighton Park has worked with Cisco for a number of years and the work experience programme on offer to students provides an excellent insight into the world of work. Students have the opportunity to meet a range of employees and try different departments as well as completing independent tasks. Work experience is a fantastic way of finding out more about a particular job or sector. It is also about experience of the workplace. Whilst it is not always possible to exactly replicate a certain job, a student is able to understand more about what it might entail, aspects they might be involved in and how they could progress over time.”

Leighton Park also offered work experience this term by welcoming French post-graduate student Maud Druine. Maud is no stranger to travel, currently studying in Lille having completed her first degree in Dijon and returning home to her parents in Chambrey, near Grenoble between times. When she joined Leighton Park Maud had already spent a week at Channing School in North London delivering Modern Foreign Language (MFL) support. Maud was attracted to Leighton Park by the green spaces and the location as she had not previously visited Reading and was keen to explore. Her time here has been spent observing lessons in Spanish, French, German and EAL in preparation for applying for her PGCE at one of four UK options (UCL, Portsmouth, Roehampton and Glasgow) next year. “I really like the contact with young people that teaching offers, especially teens.” She enthused, “ I can pass on my knowledge of French and German. At Leighton Park there is a lot of interaction between students and teachers, which is good because languages are supposed to be a live experience. There needs to be speaking. But it is different to France because there we spend a lot of time taking notes. This is a lovely school; everyone is very nice. I would come back if I could!”