This week, students at Wickersley Sixth Form start the Autumn Get Work Ready programme, where they will gain valuable work experience by completing short-term placements across chosen departments at Wickersley Partnership Trust.

23 students will be taking part in the programme this term – a sharp increase since the scheme launched in the spring with eight participants. 

We understand that students’ career routes are constantly evolving and not everyone wants to study at university after they’ve left Sixth Form. That’s why we developed this 13 week programme – a mixture of classroom-based sessions and real-life work experience – aimed at students who want to enter employment or work-based training after they leave us. However, Get Work Ready isn’t just for ‘non-uni’ students, anyone can enrol and take part to reap the far-reaching benefits of work experience – after all, young people who have completed work experience are more likely to be successful in their search for a job. 

This group of students will intern departments across WPT’s schools and Central Team, including: Administration, Premises, Finance, HR, IT, Media, Primary PE, Primary Teaching and Secondary English.

The aim of the 12-25 hour internship programme is for students to:

• Know our core values and the purpose of the department
• Know their department’s key policies and procedures
• Use appropriate verbal and non-verbal communications, including written and digital
• Be able to organise themselves, prioritise workloads/activities and work to meet deadlines
• Demonstrate patience, calmness and professionalism
• Show a positive and enthusiastic attitude to work
• Demonstrate commitment and motivation to learn
• Demonstrate numeracy and IT/computer literacy
• Frequently and consistently communicate and work effectively with others
• Demonstrate personal pride in the job through appropriate dress, behaviour and positive and confident language

Since the start of this academic year, students have been attending dedicated careers lessons in preparation for their work placements, learning everything from work contracts to organising finances. From here, they selected which area they would like to intern in from the departments that we offered. These included:

• Finance
• Clerical/Business Administration
• Reception
• Data
• IT support 
• HR 
• Site Management/Premises
• Teaching
• Media 
• Primary PE/Sports Coaching
• Leadership

Scott Gaynor, Head of Wickersley Sixth Form, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for students to be immersed in a real-life professional setting and develop the skills essential for success in the world of work.”

We’re looking forward to welcoming all of the placement students to our Central Team and schools for the next few weeks, and seeing them develop essential skills to kick-start their working lives.

We will share what our Get Work Ready students get up to as they settle into their placements over the next few weeks.