Office Administrator - Administration work

No special clothing or equipment required

Very good work experience, recommend it to anyone. Very good working environment, very relaxed. All employees and bosses very humorous.

Great experience, definitely do it again. Got a very well paid job due to my exceptional performance!

Alex Wood

RESPONSIBILITIES & DUTIES. Make sure the children have something to do and not just sat there. Tidy away the things they had out.

HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES SPECIAL CLOTHING. Didn’t really have any real safety issues I had to follow I could wear any clothing which is suitable.

My thoughts on my work experience

It was really good and I'm sure that I want to work with children as a career.

Rebecca Clare - 2003

I worked in class 3 with children aged between 8-10. I helped out with the reading and spellings. I also taught my own German lesion to a group of five children. I was also asked to do I display in there hall which I did with a group of children again. At lunch I would go and play with the children in the play area.

At the end of lunch I would take the whole class back in to the classroom and take the resister. Then we would have silent reading and I would listen to a few read every day. We had assumedly twice a week Tuesday and Friday.

On Tuesday they were practising songs for when they have their summer concert. Also the vicar came to wish them good luck. Then on Friday they had prized giving to all of the swimming and football teams. Also to people from each class get a certificate each week for doing some thing outstanding. I also had a games lesson with them where we played rounders and I had to keep count of the scores. Also every morning we would go out side to do some circuit training to get them awake for the mornings work.

I really enjoyed my week but certainly know I don’t want to be a teacher. Every one made me feel so welcome and at the end of the week I brought all of the children some sweets and a card to say thank you.

Charlotte Blake - 2003

I went to the art and design department at local printers called Orchestra Wotton.

I worked in front of the computers everyday. For the first couple of days I worked on the computers getting to know how to use them and understand how the work and trying simple jobs such as altering tax return forms. I also used a program to manipulate photos, enhance the colours and airbrush away marks and scratches.

The next couple of days I had a tour around the factory and learned how the machinery works and how documents are mass-produced. I also had a chance to alter real work for companies such as ‘Lloyds’ and ‘new look’.

On the last day, I spent the day in another office, again working with computers but for different reasons.

After this week I have learned that this is not the kind of job that I would like to pursue a career in, as it can be boring and not very challenging.

Amy Baker – 2003

At the shop my responsibilities included answering the phone, taking messages, pricing things, carrying boats, unpacking boats and cleaning up.

During my work experience, I completed a whole range of tasks. On the first day, We went around pretty much the whole of the south of England delivering kayaks and boats to sports centres, scout huts and youth clubs.

On the second day we went to “Palm” and “Dagger” products. Here they made products such as wetsuits and high-class kayaks. We went here to collect some helmets and to check out some of the new products. On Wednesday, went to the fire brigade in Bristol to try and sell them some drysuits that could prove useful for some tricky rescues. On the way back, we went to another kayaking shop to check out the competition.

For the last couple of days we hung around the shop cleaning up.

Nick Sargent - 2003

Pangolin Editions make the moulds for artists to have their sculptures reproduced exactly, repair sculptures, enlarge sculptures and cast them into bronze.

Monday

• On the first day a mould had just been broken so it was my job to prepare the plaster jackets to be used again. I had to use shellac, which I had to paint everywhere where the rubber mould was going to touch. I had to do this to lots of the different moulds

Tuesday

• On Tuesday a market of a unicorn by Damian Hurst had to be moulded so it could be enlarged. The plaster jacket had to be oiled first so it was easy for the rubber to fit in and pull out. Then when the rubber was in the jacket some plaster had to be put in so I had to paint in first to get all the detail in then a layer of scrim and plaster went in. When I had done both halves the plaster jackets were put together and I had to hammer on the dogs to hold them together. Then some more plaster had to be made up and pored into the mould. When in was set I took it out the mould.

Wednesday

• On Wednesday there wasn’t much for me to do so I just done odd jobs. I had to put clay balls over the holes in the plaster jackets so when the rubber was poured in the rubber did not come out the holes. Also I had to make lots of clay strips, cones and balls to use for on the moulds. Towards the end of the day I had nothing to do so the people I was working with said that I could cast my hands. So some rubber was prepared and the poured it in to a bucket, I then put my hands in the bucket and waited for it to set. When it had set I took my hands out carefully and then poured in the plaster and when it was dry I broke the mould and took my hands out

Thursday

• On Thursday I went downstairs in to the wax room. Firstly I took the unicorn horn from the other day, oiled it and put the rubber in as before. I then had to paint on the wax to get the detail out then I just had to build up the layers until it was about 4mm thick. Then the two halves were put together and wax was run through. When the wax had set the horn was taken out and then I had to get rid of the seam line.

Friday

• On the last day I was in the wax room again doing the same to a rubber mould that had been taken off the side of a building. I done the same but it didn’t have to be put together because it was a plaque. Then in had to go to the cast room and prepare the waxes to be cast.

Helen Vines - 2003

Watching, generally helping out with things that needed to be done.

I was shown where the fire exit was and that was the only health and safety issue I needed to know.

I had to wear blue tracksuit bottoms and a white top, purely so they could keep the pattern going because they all wore blue and white.

My work experience was very enjoyable, but at times it could be a little boring, because as I was at a physiotherapists, I wasn’t allowed to help with treatment or touch the patients because of insurance reasons, so I watched the whole time. Although watching could be a little bit of a bore sometimes, the things I learned were very useful to me and it helped me make up my mind on whether I wanted to do this for a living.

Cheryl Johnson

I was muck spreading on Monday. I had to use a tractor to load the spreader and a different tractor to spread it.

On Tuesday and Wednesday I was still muck spreading.

On Thursday I was thistle topping using a mower machine I pulled behind a tractor. I also put up an electric fence to keep the cattle in.

In Friday I did two more fields of topping and scrapped out the cow house using a machine.

Ben Adams - 2003

Responsibilities: During the work placement I was located on the training course. This is where the 6 stages of the training of civilians to become police constables take’s place. I was taking part in the training exercises that the stage 5 officers were doing. Each time I had to pose as a different role, including a drug dealer and a victim of crime. The officers had to search and arrest me if appropriate and describe under what grounds they were doing so. This was to re-enact possible situations e.g. I took part in a small operation in which a suspected drug dealer was stationed at a house.

I also had to do a project about the grounds and facilities in the HQ’s, which was completed on the last day.

Jo Collins - 2003

Responsibilities and duties: Crime scene investigation duties (fingerprinting and informing), keeping custody of 12 young Russian children with the youth involvement officer, marking mobile phones in secondary schools, sending out notices to the parents of young offenders to inform them of their child’s crime.

Health and safety issues or special clothing: No special clothing was needed there was only a smart casual dress code. A visitors badge was always required when in the station. For health and safety reasons I was only allowed to go out to crime scenes for one day as insurance was a problem when assisting an officer. Also when out visiting the firing range I was not allowed to handle the guns for safety purposes or be around any prisoners in the cells.

Daily Diary

Monday:

• Today I had to get up to be at the police station at 7am. When I arrived no-one from the crime scene investigation team were in so I got a demonstration of new equipment VIPER, a new way of creating a parade for witnesses. At 12 Warren, the second in charge arrived and I was able to go out to 3 crime scenes returning at 3pm.

Tuesday:

• Today I started at 7am. On Tuesday I spent the day with my aunt PC Woods in the custody department. I was able to visit the empty detention cells, and both male and female empty cells. I was also able to have my fingerprints recorded and take a breath-a-liser test and watch to booking in of a criminal and shown where they would be taken before and after court. I finished at 3pm.

Wednesday:

• On this day I was allowed to accompany Fred Barnes the youth involvement officer on a trip with Russian foreign exchange children to head quarters where we visited the underwater search team, the police horse training facility, the police search helicopters and visit the police training firing range and gun storage. We returned at 4.15.

Thursday:

• It was a 10.30am late start Thursday as I again accompanied the youth involvement officer when he visited Glenburn secondary school to mark the children’s mobile phones. This only took about 2 hours so we returned to Ormskirk Police department to see the MAPS team and I assisted by sending out notes to parents of teens who had been caught doing something they shouldn’t have like skipping school. I finished at 4.

Friday:

• For my final day I had to arrive at Lancashire police department for 7am to meet Nicola Ekersley to be taken to Chorley police department to see their crime scene investigation department. I was not allowed to go out for insurance policies but I was able to hear stories and see picture of past cases. I finished at 3.30pm.

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed my work experience as it gave me a real insight into the different departments of different police stations as you see the true real stuff that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. I didn’t like the very early starts but the early finishing times were better and make up for the starts. I now know what it would take to be in the police and will consider it further in the future.

Mel Bradshaw - 2003