Virtual Work Experience

Due to the pandemic, work experience that was planned in the summer term for our Year 10 and Year 12 students was unfortunately cancelled, but that did not stop some of our students in finding other ways of interacting with employers and finding out about the world of work.

During lockdown, some of our students took up the fantastic offers of virtual work experience from companies such as Spotify, Mediacom, Young Academies, Brighton & Sussex Medical School, PwC, Glen Howells Architect and Johnson Matthey. These were great opportunities for students to find out more about different types of businesses by attending online workshops and taking part in projects and assignments with other students from across the country.

Year 13 students Tamara Mpofu-Manyanda and Lena Akhter both attended a virtual week at Spotify at the end of June. Both students worked in teams on a task of advertising a Netflix movie on Spotify. This included online sessions learning about advertising on Spotify by using audio adverts and banner ads. At the end of the week the teams gave presentations on three advertising ideas and were judged by a panel from Spotify. Lena said, “It was a useful experience as I learnt how to target adverts and use data as well as the methods used to advertise the product”.

Year 11 student Fife Olusanya had an amazing opportunity to attend a virtual week at Glenn Howells Architects who are based in Birmingham. Fife learnt about different aspects of architecture and worked in groups and individually on building plans for a five storey model which he made out of cardboard. Fife said, “It was a good experience learning about aspects of architecture and is definitely a career I am interested in when I leave school”.

Malikah Muhammed in Year 13 attended a virtual insight day at Mediacom who are a leading media firm. Malikah took part in activities discussing marketing strategies and how and why they are effective. Malikah said, “It was really interesting to learn about marketing and to get an insight into the career I want to go into”.

Some of our students are now planning to take up virtual work experience placements in October half term. If you are an employer and can offer virtual work experience, please get in touch with Mrs Drummond, Employer Engagement Officer at cldrummond@sandwellacademy.com