Preparing for work

More than 40 members of Bexhill Chamber of Commerce and other professionals were invited to the school to take part in Preparing For Work, an event aimed at helping Year 10 pupils become familiar with what will be required when they try to find a job.

Assistant Principal Joanne Calladine-Evans said: "The employers are doing basic interviews with the children, looking at their CV's and talking about their interests, and then giving them feedback on how they came across.

"It is part of a package of work they are doing - they have been writing letters of application to their workplace, and doing health and safety preparation which is really important, and practicing phone conversations, so it is all about work-based skills.

"From the feedback when we held this last year, pupils said the interview was the most valuable experience of the morning. The event either gave them some very direct areas they needed to work on, or, on the whole, boosted their levels of confidence."

Almost 200 youngsters took part in the Preparing for Work event on Tuesday, each one having the opportunity to learn their own strengths and weaknesses in interview and prepare for upcoming work experience.

Taking part as an employer was Tracey Woollaston of Beauty Haven in Buckhurst Place, who said: "I think this has been brilliantly organised and I think it is a fantastic idea...It just gets them used to going into the outside environment, and prepares them for society. It is also a chance for all of us to get together and have a chat about the children and the school.

"It is about bring the whole community together - getting the children to know the employers, and getting the employers to know each other as well."

Michael Hodge, who worked in the diplomatic service for 37 years, said: "I think this is terrifically valuable. I was really amazed last year - there was very little I could teach the children that came to talk to me because they were so well rehearsed and well researched, and appeared to be so confident. They had worked it all out and knew what they were going to do. It was brilliant."

Richard Riley is a consultant in the nuclear industry who is regularly in the position of interviewing prospective employees.

He commented: "This is an encouraging and enjoyable experience. The pupils I have seen are motivated, well prepared and very committed to what they are doing and what they hope to do."