Gaining valuable skills in the workplace

Matilda Whild, from Ripon, who plans to study veterinary science at university, did her placement at Bishopton Vets Northallerton branch. She is pictured looking after 11-year-old Bella following a tooth extraction.“My role was to help out during surgeries and over watch consultants. From this experience I gained a deeper understanding of a working environment,” she says.

Tess Holloway, 15, from Ripon, says she gained listening, communication and confidence skills during her time with Wolseley in Ripon. Here’s what Jane Connor, Wolseley human relations director, had to say: “Tess is absolutely brilliant. We are here today in Ripon and she is with our reward director doing benchmarking for roles (this is important as it shows equality, fairness and transparency across the business). She has also been spending time with our employee relations team and our learning and development team. I’ve seen her today and introduced her to our environmental, social and governance director who explained our annual report (I told her it’s like a school report for companies) and our auditors (like schoolteachers who mark our homework)! She is with payroll tomorrow and employee relations on Friday. Finally, you must be very proud of Tess and her intelligence, conduct and manners are simply wonderful. She is a credit to her school, her family and her generation.”

"If you have anyone else who would like to spend some time here, we have information technology, finance, facilities and human resources in Ripon."

Kareem Said, 15, from Ripon, who hopes to pursue a medical career, worked at North Road doctors’ surgery.

He says: “My role bounced about the whole building, from reception to admin office. It was very interesting for me to see the life behind the desks and clinics of all the members of staff. The people were very kind and helpful, the environment was very friendly but serious at the same time, they gave me such a variety of work to do, including admin, receptionist, phlebotomist assistant, dispensary assistant and even asked me to make a Jubilee poster.In conclusion, my week was amazing, and I wish it were to be repeated.”

Edward Dobbs, from Ripon, worked at Lloyd Land Rover, in the engineering workshop as a mechanic’s assistant: “My experience was amazing and I got to work on many different vehicles,” he says.

Ella-Grace Foster, who plans to study medicine, worked at Boroughbridge Pharmacy, where she was also offered a part-time job: “I developed my people skills and learnt a lot of interesting information about different types of medication,” she says. “All the people were so kind and welcoming and one of my favourite things was giving people their prescriptions. It was great talking to people, and I really felt like I helped that person even if it was just finding their prescription and giving it to them, but it was great to feel like you were making a positive impact on that person's day. Furthermore, I could really feel my social skills were developing and I was getting more confident talking to people. I also really liked learning about all the different medication and what people should be wary of to not take when having a certain medicine: there is so much to learn, and it is all really interesting.”