Tag: Work Experience

Volunteering has been the first step of my career path in teaching

Author Careers Team | Posted on

Chloe Henderson, Art and Writing student, finds her inspiration from young people in Bristol

I am extremely committed to helping instil confidence in young people and inspiring them to believe in their goals is the most rewarding thing.

In the November of 2020, I discovered Action Tutoring through the University’s volunteering section on the website. I completed an application and attended roughly 7 hours of training, covering safeguarding and structuring lessons etc.

As an English tutor, my role is to motivate, support and engage young people in their reading comprehension, spelling, creative writing and confidence. I have worked with year 7s and 11s and have taught 1- 3 pupils at a time.

Each week I tutor a group of pupils for an hour. I have a workbook that contains key resources and the learning objectives for each year group and what they need to be focusing on in order to pass their GCSEs or SATs. Each week I prepare warm-up activities that recap on the previous lesson and go over any elements they are struggling with. Then I carry on with the rest of the lesson and also give time for the pupils to share their thoughts and encourage them to work both independently and as a team.

My work for the charity has been greatly appreciated as they have really struggled to find volunteers to match the increase in demand, due to Covid. It’s great to help the charity to continue to do its amazing work.

During the pandemic, a lot of young people have lacked valuable in-person lessons and many families have simultaneously been under unexpected financial stress. Action Tutoring gives extra support to students who are on pupil premium. This is something I resonated with as having a younger sister of a similar age I can understand that the lack of in-person time in school has not only had an effect on pupil’s learning but also their confidence in subjects. The first occasion where I realised the impact we had was last year when I was tutoring a Year 11 student, at the end of the term I had been tutoring him he thanked me and told me he felt confident about his exam. This experience has now inspired me to become a teacher myself as I understand the impact of inspiring and helping young people.

Image courtesy of Action Tutoring

In January 2021, when I first started I was extremely nervous and I felt quite inadequate as when completing our training most of the other volunteers were much older and were ex-teachers/tutors. The first pupil I taught online due to school closures. This was daunting and in retrospect having experienced in-person tutoring, tutoring online was much harder and was quite a jump in the deep end considering I did not have any experience in this field. However, having joined in the deep end in a new field I was quickly able to build up confidence with each session I ran.

Knowledge wise, I have enriched my understanding of curriculums and exam criteria for the different Key stages in order to deliver the most successful and rewarding lessons ensuring I increase their chances of getting the grades they can achieve. Additionally, I have been able to expand my skills in lesson planning and assessing the success of a lesson, so I can continue to improve for my students.

I am constantly using my own initiative and creativity to come up with ideas that keep the lesson both engaging and rewarding for the students. For example, creating mindmaps, drawing visualisation of characters in books and having group discussions on books we have all been reading.

As this volunteering experience has been so rewarding and insightful to the world of teaching I have now decided that I would love to become an Art teacher. Volunteering has been the first step of my career path and since I have volunteered to do Art days at primary schools. I gained work experience both as an English and Art teacher at The Cotswold secondary school. Volunteering started my journey and gave me the confidence to seek work experience and other opportunities, so much so that I have been confirmed a place to do my Art and Design PGCE at UWE this September.

My NHS volunteer role helped me achieve my ultimate dream -qualifying as a Solicitor

Author Careers Team | Posted on

James Hathaway, Advanced Legal Practice student, talks about his furlough experience

During 2020 I was furloughed for a number of months, I was undertaking my masters in law alongside my employment following my LPC course.

All of my academic studies and work experience relate to law. I have always been interested in psychology, studying this at A level, but had no real experience. My cousin was working at a crisis centre and hearing of this work re-sparked this interest, leading me to apply for a volunteering role for Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership.

After an initial interview they offered me a volunteer role as Assistant Ward Psychologist on the Silver Birch Ward. This was an acute adult inpatient ward for individuals who were incapable of supporting themselves outside of hospital due to complex mental health care needs.

I assisted the Ward Psychologist to implement and trial a new bibliotherapy session for the patients. This involved designing a programme that would focus on a specific theme each session and finding texts that were appropriate for this. The focus of this particular programme was poetry as it was proven to be effective in getting patients to talk about powerful emotions without it being too direct.

Part of this work involved reading research papers on this topic. The Ward Phycologist had been wanting to trial this for some time but did not have the staffing available. Through the hours I offered as a volunteer this allowed implementation of this session as well as the admin support needed for searching for materials and record keeping of the sessions.

The sessions proved extremely popular with service users who gave positive feedback, with some requesting certain texts and literature to be incorporated. This also provided useful insight for the psychologist. I would take notes on individuals reactions to the texts and their interactions with the group. We would later discuss these and assess the responses.

I also helped create a guide by writing collections all of the texts used, the themes and overviews of the responses received for other NHS services to implement their own bibliotherapy sessions.

I knew this experience would help develop my interpersonal and communication skills, both of these are key elements to my legal work. This work took place in a challenging environment where noticing and reacting to individuals social ques were key. This helped me learn a lot about body language and its role in communication.

I learned so much during this role, the Ward Phycologist I assisted noted my keen interest and offered me to read their research papers on the subject. This gave me a detailed insight to a profession where I had previously had none. Reading these papers also gave me a chance to practice my academic skills in analysis and research.

I also developed effective note taking skills whilst still remaining engaged and present. This has proven to be a valuable transferrable skill for my work I had not initially considered.

The feedback to our bibliotherapy session was so positive service users successfully requested it be permanently implemented. This whole experience has helped me to maintain my confidence in my abilities during an uncertain period in my working life. Being furloughed impacted my confidence and started to impact my mental wellbeing, volunteering helped me to continue to feel valued and maintain confidence in my skills.

This volunteer role has assisted me in achieving my Trainee Contract and my ultimate dream as qualifying as a Solicitor. This has given me a powerful insight into the impact volunteering can have. I would definitely consider volunteering again in any area as even a small commitment can have a large impact on others wellbeing.

United Nation Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 11. Goal 3 is good health and wellbeing. Goal 11 is sustainable cities and communities

How volunteering at Bristol Drug Project helped me choose a new career path

Author hannahnuttall | Posted on

Lainie-Jayne Smith, Criminology BA (Hons)

My reasons for volunteering

After finishing my second year, I became aware of how valuable my time is and started to realise how much I needed to take advantage of summer break. I also wanted to get an in-depth, hands-on understanding of roles that were available in my area. 

How I got involved

Once I started looking, there were roles everywhere. Social media was one of the biggest platforms for volunteering advertisements. I searched keywords such as “young people”, “volunteering”, “vulnerable people” and I was presented with a variety of roles. Each application process was similar, I had to fill out some information about me, hobbies, experiences, etc. Once I heard back, I would go to an interview and started my role at soon after! 

My role at Bristol Drug Project

At Bristol Drug Project, I worked with children that came from families whose parents had addiction problems and required interventions within their homes. Once a week, I would collect the children on a bus from all around Bristol, and then we would play games, have open conversations, eat together and overall make sure they were happy and content. We offer a safe space for children to express themselves when things are a struggle at home, this also gave the parents some personal time too. The aim is to create a happier environment within the home, so all parties can be happy and content.  

What I have learnt

It helped me realise, after speaking with experienced people that work with vulnerable young people, that there are so many routes to take and so many different careers to explore. I found that maybe the industry isn’t how I thought it was, I found that in certain positions the amount of help you can give is limited. This was a struggle for me but also led me to understand that supporting individuals at any stage of their life is important and essential. So, this has led to my new career choice of hopefully getting into probation work which is something I hadn’t thought about before. 

It has dramatically aided my confidence, interview skills and has given me a lot of experience that I wouldn’t have if I didn’t spend my summer with this organisation!

Just offering my help one day a week, I feel like I have made such a difference for the children I worked with. I also got to understand and appreciate the young people. Listening to them and applying this to my module helped me to develop a deeper understanding of what exactly youth face in this day and age. It really got me thinking about what could be done to ensure stability in their lives. 

My top tips

My advice to a volunteer would be don’t be too specific, and don’t limit yourself to one role. There are so many roles out there, with organisations willing and waiting – you can set your availability, find groups and organisations that are flexible, and this way you can delve into a variety of roles.  

In terms of your application write everything down on a document and refer back to this when filling them out. This way you don’t waste time repeating yourself. Also, I found that some organisations want to get to know you! It doesn’t need to be overly formal, express yourselves in your applications… you never know where you could end up! 

Most importantly, remind yourself you are there by choice, even if it’s 1 hour out of your day, you are making a difference no matter what role you are in – and that in itself is priceless. 

Volunteering at Mud Pie Explorers was key to my professional development… and lots of fun!

Author hannahnuttall | Posted on

by Natalia Jarvis, BSc (Hons) Psychology

I spent ten months volunteering for Mud Pie Explorers, a Bristol-based Community Interest Company, that runs Forest School sessions for children in local green spaces. Forest Schools are child-led and offer a holistic way for children to develop skills and improve their confidence in a woodland setting.

My journey to becoming a Forest School Support Volunteer

Whilst looking for a psychology-related volunteering opportunity to enhance my CV, I came across an advert on UWE InfoHub for a Forest School Support volunteer. I would definitely recommend InfoHub as a platform for finding volunteering, work experience or paid jobs, as there are lots of great roles are posted on there – including ones that you can’t find on a generic online search. It is also really easy to use the filters to find what you are looking for.

I had never worked with children before but I love the outdoors and had become really interested in developmental and child psychology, so I thought that this role would be really enjoyable and beneficial to my career pathway too. After successfully applying, I met with Nickie, a Level 3 Forest School Leader and the manager of Mud Pies, who matched me up with two weekly sessions. One for home-educated children with a range of additional needs, and one for girls with autism.

We spotted lots of wildlife at Forest School (I never got a photo of the deer!)

My experience of volunteering with Mud Pies

My role as a volunteer was to work with Nickie to facilitate child-led play. This meant giving the children freedom to explore and let their natural curiosity flourish, rather than deciding what they do or organising structured activities. A typical session for me might involve encouraging a child to climb higher in the tree, supervising them while they practice with a flint and steel, or joining in with their “velociraptor mum” game! It was really rewarding developing relationships with the children and seeing them grow in confidence and ability. I had so much fun at Forest School and it was always something to look forward to in my week.

I loved embracing the outdoors and sharing this with the children; the smiles on their faces when they realised how muddy they had become after “mudsliding” in the rain were just priceless.

What did I gain from my experience?

Becoming a Forest School support volunteer was something completely new to me and a chance to leave my comfort zone, which in itself really built my confidence and self-belief. Volunteering was also a way for me to bring my university studies to life and apply what I had learned. I actually wrote an essay for my Psychology course on the benefits of Forest School for child development.

Volunteering with Mud Pies undoubtedly played a massive part in my success in gaining my sandwich placement, an exciting role working within the clinical therapy team at Cotswold Chine School, which I am hoping will in turn maximise my employment prospects when I graduate. I really believe that being a Forest School volunteer has had a massive positive impact on my professional development, and I loved every minute of it.

Some of the nature art that I attempted at Mud Pies!

My life changing volunteering at St Werburgh’s City Farm

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Jasmine Tidswell talks about her journey to studying Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Science at UWE Bristol

This volunteering experience was life changing for me for a number of reasons.

I moved to Bristol from London in June 2020 just after the first national lockdown to enrol in the Environmental Science Access course at City of Bristol College. My plan was to go on to study Conservation and Ecology at UWE which I am now doing.

Moving to a new city amidst a global pandemic with social gathering very restricted left me feeling isolated and unsure how to find a sense of community in an unfamiliar place. Volunteering at the farm and being welcomed into their vast and diverse community helped me find a sense of belonging.

During my volunteering period, I had a mentor, a member of staff who directed and assisted me in my tasks, he was also very focused on my personal wellbeing and helped to support me through a very difficult time as I lost two friends to suicide in January 2021, without this space to talk freely, work with my hands and benefit from the peaceful nature at the site I would not have coped as well as I did. 

I spent four hours every week helping with various jobs around the farm from labour intensive tasks, such as mucking out the animals, to organisational tasks, like ensuring that wheelchair users had good access around the site.

It was important to ensure the farm remained a clean and safe environment for visitors and neighbours.  I organised the composting piles, ensuring the usable compost is accessible for use throughout the farm to fertilise the food growing beds. These are used by various volunteer groups including adults with learning and physical disabilities and children so the compost pile needs to be safe and accessible.  

I also helped medicate a sick ram. It takes plenty of hands to keep a ram calm and still whilst medicating it, unfortunately, the ram passed away as the condition was too severe.  In the Spring, four lambs were born who had been fathered by the ram, having the opportunity to connect naturally to the circle of life and death puts everything into perspective.

I would sew seeds, weed vegetable beds and clean seed trays for the plant nursery ‘Propagation Place’. This allowed the plant nursery managers to spend more time leading more enriching activities with other volunteer groups who are often referred to Propagation Place to improve their mental wellbeing.  In the summer I helped to run a BBQ in the summer, using some of the harvested crops from Propagation Place to make a range of dishes to offer to the volunteers referred through the mental health charity MIND.

I found working with other volunteers and hearing about the challenges in their lives to be thought provoking and heart warming as the sense of support and community that was built by working together and listening to each other was uplifting. I learnt a multitude of new skills and knowledge about animal care, seed sewing, crop harvesting.

Towards the end of my volunteer programme, I heard that Propagation Place were hiring plant nursery assistants though the Kickstarter Scheme, as I was eligible I applied, keen to remain at the farm and further my skills and connections there, I was successful and completed a 6 month contract for them from April to October 2021 where I learned a lot about propagating plants as well as sustainable horticultural practices & completed first aid training. I still work odd days at the farm, helping with the animals, site maintenance, and in the office providing support to the new kickstart workers. 

I began as a volunteer, I progressed as a staff member, and I intend to use the skills and connection that I am gaining at university to become a lifelong advocate for the farm. 

I feel very proud of my small part, volunteering with One25

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Chloe Horton, UWE Bristol Mental Health Nursing Student

I feel very passionately about helping to protect the women One25 support. 

One25 is a charity providing support for the most marginalised women in the Bristol community. Their service users are street sex working women. I have volunteered at the drop in where the women can access emotional support, a hot meal, condoms, underwear, a nurse, a GP and also caseworkers which have a range of specialisms including domestic abuse and drugs.  

At the drop in I spend time in the kitchen serving the women and also talking with the women, seeing how they’re getting on and supporting them with practical tasks such as accessing their GP.  

I more often volunteer on the outreach van which goes out in evenings to serve a particular area where sex workers work. Women can call the van, or we spot the women, providing them with a hot drink, food, warm clothing, condoms, harm reduction packs for drug users and emotional support. The women REALLY appreciate the van and the support they gain from it. Some women will just pop to the window and get their needs met and some women will come on to the van and sit, have a hot chocolate and a good old chat. The women are sometimes intoxicated and One25 work closely with local organisations to ensure the safety of the women.  

As a student Mental Health Nurse volunteering has helped me develop my skills hugely. Just spending time with the women, that at times can be distressed, has benefited my practice. It has enabled me to gain more confidence and also to use the skills I am learning on my course with the women I am speaking to. 

I have always been interested in working with vulnerable people and having now volunteered for One25 my desire to do this has increased. 

I absolutely love volunteering and feel very proud for my albeit small part of One25.  

Global Goal 5 Gender Equality and 3 Good Health and Wellbeing

To be a leader is to serve with purpose

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Paul Anomah, MSc Financial Technology student, talks through his Common Purpose, Global Leaders Experience

To have been selected  to participate in the UWE Common Purpose Global Citizenship and Inclusive Leadership Programmes was a great privilege and unique opportunity. Interacting with student leaders from various parts of the world broadened my perspectives and understanding of how others uniquely perceive situations, handle challenges, and view leadership.

My UWE Bristol Common Purpose Experience

Understanding the individual motivation of my peers for contributing towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) during group discussions was really encouraging. I was able to see the devotion and service true leadership requires as well as the hunger of young people not unlike myself to create innovative, achievable, and efficient solutions to the SDGs in various fields

Global Goals, Local Roles

I have always been passionate about helping to eradicate water-borne diseases and maintain clean environments in my local community Wusuta, in the Volta region of Ghana, where I originate from. I believe we all have a responsibility in facilitating the success of the UN SDGs, one local community at a time. Playing my part in achieving SDG-6 (Clean Water and Sanitation for all) has been part of my daily life since I turned 18. It was simple, the reality for many around me was dirty and contaminated water and lack of knowledge regarding maintaining clean water sources and habits. I was determined to make a change and empower those I could, using the knowledge and passion I had.  

To achieve my goals, I have learned through the Common Purpose Leader experience, the importance of celebrating and engaging with diverse suggestions, understandings and perspectives regardless of identity or background. This skill encourages collective engagement in providing lasting solutions to problems. Changing preconceptions and raising awareness of unconscious biases eliminates discrimination and enables collaboration and better leadership.

I developed a 3-part strategy,  educating my community on ways to eradicate water-borne diseases, engaging the district assembly to uphold their campaign promises  and advocating for better infrastructure to enable safer, equal water access and usage. Having participated in the Global Leadership Programme, I am further enthused to attain a personal goal of ensuring at least 50% access to a piped water system in my local community by 2027 as well as a functioning recycling plant for plastic and other waste materials.  

Change is near

As an agent of generational and global change, there is a responsibility I owe to those that will come after me.. I learned throughout the Common Purpose experience the importance of creating an environment of peace, value, understanding and inclusivity. I have learnt further the value of building trust, confidence, and togetherness  to enable people to have their voices heard.

Inclusivity and the common goal to achieve equality

I have developed as a person, within the four days of engagement. I will carry forward  community inclusiveness and be courageous enough to engage with more people and with ‘uncomfortable’ discussions that can result in new, tailored, and unique resolutions for issues that affect many in their daily lives. 

The sense of achievement and skills developed

Having to work as a group to develop an approach to foster communal participation towards finding solutions to problems that exist in our everyday communities was very engaging and mind opening. I further expanded on my skills of active and critical listening, and mutual dialogue: great skills for a future leader. I also experienced the power of collaboration and the distinctive role it plays in confidently bringing out the ideas of others once they feel part of the process . As a future leader, I have also become further enlightened on how systematic bias can affect the contributions of people from minority backgrounds and the significance of preventing this in every space

My Legal Career Journey So Far

Author charlottecolvin | Posted on

Charlotte Colvin, a Law LLB student, talks about her career journey so far and what she might have done differently

I started studying at UWE in 2018 and was unsure of where to begin in order to get the kind of work experience I wanted. I had very little knowledge of the legal industry at the time and was very overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information available about a career in Law. I ended up applying to the Aspiring Solicitor’s Foundation scheme, which is aimed at First Year students and attended some of their events. It was very intimidating to approach lawyers and ask them about their career path, especially when I felt that my background was so different to theirs.

I began the Aspiring Solicitor’s Aspire programme in my second year and started attending firm open days, travelling anywhere from London to Birmingham. I completely rewrote my CV, learnt more about interview techniques and brushed up on my commercial awareness. By chance, I signed up for the Aspiring Solicitors Commercial Awareness competition and, surprisingly, reached the Final in January of that year. I was also trying to juggle multiple jobs and extra-curricular activities with my course load. I found it very challenging to handle all of these commitments, but I was beginning to make progress and had begun to see some improvement in the results of my vacation scheme applications and was hoping to secure a placement year at a law firm.

Then coronavirus hit, and the world shut down. I was devastated that all of the work I had put into making progress had seemingly gone to waste. Luckily, I managed to secure a placement at UWE, working within the Careers and Enterprise department.

desk set up at home

If I were able to go back to my first year, I would have approached it slightly differently. Whilst I was very worried about having enough work experience to demonstrate my skillset, I did end up burning out multiple times. I would probably take on fewer commitments to allow myself to look after myself better at university. I also would have contacted the Careers department in my first year for some guidance, as I was coming from a place of very limited knowledge. If I had some guidance sooner, I think I may have had a more structured approach to my professional development.

I would also have been more proactive in my search for shadowing roles, as it is very hard to get an understanding of the day-to-day role of a lawyer without getting to spend some time in a law firm

Overall, I have managed to learn a lot in my last few years at UWE and have developed a range of transferable skills.

How my experience with pro bono work has impacted my career journey

Author charlottecolvin | Posted on

Kashif Imambaccass, UWE Law Student, shares his experience of pro bono work at UWE

My interest in pro bono was initially piqued in my first year and I ended up joining in my second year, after using Blackboard to compare different pro bono opportunities and attending the Pro Bono talk. It was there I heard about African Prisons Project Pro bono group. I was immediately impressed by the work that they do and the impact that they have on the justice system in Africa. They teach inmates in African prisons how to access justice by assisting them in undertaking Law degrees remotely. I approached Kelly Eastham and Nakita Hedges, who were involved in the leadership of the group at the time, and asked if I could take a leadership role as I had had prior involvement in social activism in Mauritius. They agreed and at the start of 2019, I began having meetings with them on strategy and formed the three subgroups – fundraising, media and blogs and teaching. We also nominated leaders for each individual group and I was nominated to lead the teaching group.

Working with the group was amazing – our faculty contact Kathy Brown was the backbone of the organization and has motivated us to develop the organization further after handing over the group to us. We invited new members across the university to get involved and organized both a bake sale and a book collection for our students in Kenya.

In January of 2020, our group had grown significantly, with 70 new members. We had also started developing podcasts to support the learning of the inmates. We were also beginning to plan for the visit of Morris, one of APP’s graduates who had been wrongfully sentenced to life for aggravated armed robbery. We set up a visit at UWE on the 10th of February for him to give a talk, which ended up being so successful that we ran out of space in the lecture hall. Morris spoke about his fight for freedom and how he has freed over 300 inmates since.

His talk sparked a lot of interest and APP was invited to a dinner at Lincoln’s Inn in London, along with Morris. I was able to network with judges, barristers and solicitors who were intrigued by APP’s work. We also set up a fundraising event at a local pub a few weeks after, raising over £300.

And then Covid-19 hit. I had to leave the UK on the 16th of March. The borders were closing and the airports were insanely busy. Luckily, we were able to continue our work with APP and adapted our work to provide remote learning over Zoom. All of our current tutees passed with flying colours. With our fundraising money from March, we were able to make bail for four female minor offenders. We also received some sponsorship from the law firm, RPC, at this time.

Despite the barriers posed by working in different time zones and trying to navigate social activism in a new world, APP continued to thrive. In fact, we began to rebrand APP as EFJ – Educating for Justice, a completely independent non-profit. We broadened our offer as a group and began to work with inmates in more communities. We have been working with Justice Defenders and have established a subgroup at Oxford University. As chairperson of EFJ, I have been responsible for liaising with all of our affiliates, as well as assisting with launching our new initiatives, in particular our programme based in Mauritius working with juvenile offenders.

Overall, pro bono has opened so many doors for me. Through my work with EFJ, I have been able to secure a mini-pupillage with the Directors of Public Prosecutions Office under Mr Santokee. Through this role, I have been involved in research work, bundling and court prep and juggling EFJ, a pupillage and university feels like great preparation for a career as a barrister. I could not recommend pro bono work enough to any Law student looking to develop skills for a career in the legal industry.

For more about EFJ, go to https://educatingforjustice.org.uk/.

How my placement at UWE has been a transformational year

Author Careers Team | Posted on

Jennifer Yau, Law with Criminology Student shares her experience of undertaking a placement year within the UWE Careers and Enterprise Department

Whilst looking to undertake a placement year, I never thought to look at internal roles within the university. I was surprised to find that the Careers and Enterprise Department had recently started recruiting placement students. But it turns out, this is the position that you should really want – to acquire all the skills you learn, the flexibility to embark on your own projects and genuinely transform yourself into a confident individual. 

I loved my placement year- everything was well balanced whilst I was working simultaneously on two teams – Study Abroad and Placement Management. The teams were very supportive and were accommodating, giving me the freedom to carry out my own projects and collaborate with others- such as promotional and marketing ideas. I was able to develop my employability skills; for instance, enterprise and digital competency whilst creating Sway workbooks, website updates and blogs. It was great to work on a team which was friendly and very inclusive- even though we were temporary staff, I had set daily goals; for example, carrying out reporting and sending data to the marketing team on Thursday. 

Through my own initiative, I got involved with the “Mentorship” and “Reading Buddies” programmes run by UWE’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity team for the charity Ablaze. The mentorship program included developing workshops and learning materials to support students from 12-15 years old in local schools, helping them to understand their options and keep engaged with school and allowed me to work collaboratively with colleagues from other departments at UWE. I mentored for the first time ever – this was an incredible experience in helping young adults open their eyes to a wide range of careers and skills available. One highlight was running the “minute meditation” and the silent wave in the room as the students genuinely concentrated. The other program focussed on one-to-one reading support to primary school children, helping to achieve Bristol’s ambition of ensuring that all children can read fluently by age 11. This was also a first for me, it felt great to support pupils and help them improve their confidence and ability to converse with someone out of their normal social circle. Their experience deeply resonated with me as I come from a Chinese household where English was rarely spoken and it felt great to give back by helping a child to develop their reading and speaking skills. 

I have really improved my transferrable skills and I am really ecstatic to have improved my communication skills especially proactively speaking in public whilst running the stand at “Meet the employers fair” and “Placement Week”. I had the freedom to attend the wide range of learning and development courses where I also made further connections with wider UWE staff network- this has been amazing! The team were very trusting, especially Frances and Rachel where I was the lead point for the marketing of Placements’ Week, the “Covid-19” student comms also the Study Abroad resources project- these projects all helped me diversify and improve my skills- from tech to communication. 

This placement year has helped me transform into a more confident and enterprising individual, mostly I enjoyed helping my peers embarking on their own careers in search for placements through coordinating weekly drop-ins and answering questions consistently for hours at the “Meet the Employers Fair”. 

Many students have embarked on a placement year within UWE in a range of departments and now the Library, Careers and Inclusivity service. I felt honoured to be one of the first placement students within the Careers and Enterprise department and special thanks to my team for always being wonderfully helpful and flexible.  

For anyone looking for a placement opportunity, these are extraordinary transition points in your life – you transform into a more productive and resilient individual. This is a year to not only gain professional experience but also an opportunity to network and to get involved. Remember to take the initiative and get the most from your placement year! 

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