W: www.ie-today.co.uk


PAID JOBS UNDERTAKEN BY TAUNTON SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SUMMER 2013


CASE STUDY: KATE RIDER YEAR 13


I got a job as part of a small team at a wholesale supplier of young plants, supplying garden centres and landscape contractors. I enjoyed working as part of a group and learning how to cope under pressure. It was very nice to have my own income, and I know my organisational skills improved. It was interesting to learn how a business runs and how to interact with clients. It wasn’t all work though – photography is my main hobby and I did a week-long course with the Field Studies Council, which was great.


Catering/hospitality trade – pubs, restaurants, cafés and hotels as (variously) kitchen porter, cook, receptionist, waiting tables, cleaning (15 students) Working in a care home Gardening (four students) Teaching English Working in a dive shop Modelling (fashion) Babysitting/childminding (four students) Cleaning vans Selling solar panels (two students) Fitting solar panels Painting and decorating (2 students) Photographer’s assistant Public relations – paid work experience (Germany) Libyan Women’s Forum – grass-roots NGO – assisting with publicity and writing 


Retail – including a Russian supermarket (four students)   Banking (four students – in Czech Republic, China, Germany and Nigeria respectively)  Factory worker Manufacturing (two students) Providing IT support and coding 





(three students) Lifeguard (three students) Sailing instructor (three students) Sorting stores/warehouse contents (two students) Animal feed sales 





Zoo work – feeding animals Secondhand car sales 


been learned along the way. “The experience developed my social skills and perseverance,” says one student; “I learned nothing can embarrass you unless you let it,” says another; and “I learned to be less needy,” confesses a third. Many pupils immersed themselves


in projects of special personal interest – drama, music and foreign languages feature prominently in their feedback. What unites the participants is the passion with which they pursue these interests – seeking out opportunities such as acting with a touring Shakespeare company, taking part in national music competitions and organising exchange visits with French or Spanish counterparts. “You have to put yourself into it or you won’t get a positive result,” is the way one sixth former describes the motivation that drives her and her peers. Archaeology, photography, ceramics,


shooting and singing were among new specialisms developed over the summer holidays last year by Taunton School pupils keen to expand their skills set. Well used to participating in a wide


variety of sports during term-time, the students who took part in the survey were involved in an impressive diversity of summer sporting activities. The list is almost an A-Z – starting with alpine trekking and ending with yoga, and including everything from distance running, rowing and


“I WAS INSPIRED TO DO MORE LAST SUMMER BECAUSE I’D BEEN


BORED IN PREVIOUS YEARS” STUDENT, TAUNTON SCHOOL


triathlon to canyoning, skydiving, waterskiing and martial arts. With the prospect of higher education


or the world of work on the near horizon, many pupils are keen to gain work experience to help inform their future choices or give credibility to the personal statement that will be needed for university applications. Hospitals, lawyers, architects, vets,


CASE STUDY: NADYA SADOVINA, YEAR 12


I went home to Russia for most of the holidays and earned money by working in a supermarket in Moscow. It was interesting to learn how to deliver customer service and I was pleased to earn my own money. I also did some volunteer work at Childhood in Moscow – it was good to learn how best to support the children there, who don’t really have the luckiest start in life. I’d be happy to do the same again this year.


fi nance houses, the hospitality trade and manufacturing fi rms all obliged by giving Taunton School students a taste of working life in summer 2013. In some cases this proved to be as valuable in showing them what they do not want to do for a living as in reinforcing their ambitions to pursue a particular career path. Expeditions forming part of the Duke


of Edinburgh Awards schemes or under the banner of the army or naval cadets were mentioned as highlights of the school holidays by several students. “I was inspired to do more last summer


because I’d been bored in previous years,” said one 16-year-old, who combined work experience in a radiology department with teaching sailing, at ending Army CCF camp and learning how to fl y with the Royal Naval Gliding Club. “I met new people, made new friends, learnt new skills and earned some money as well.” iE


Taunton School W: www.tauntonschool.co.uk


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