Why we love Work Experience students
Hello,
Hope you are all well and enjoying this lovely weather, I hope it last till the summer holidays!
Last week we had two work experience girls join us, over the last 5 years we have taken just one student under our ‘Chi-Chi Moi’ wing for one week in July. When we were first asked if we could take students I was a little sceptical, my concerns were what would they gain from being with us? and could we still get what we needed to do whilst they were here? Well, as time has shown there was no need to worry. The girls (interestingly no boys yet) have all been lovely, they have been really engaged with what we do here and help in many ways.
This year we were joined by Lotte and Mimi, who both attend our local secondary school ‘The Blue School- or ‘The Blue’ as everyone knows it. I went to this school (literally a lifetime ago :)) both my children went to the Blue, plus my partner Ben and his brothers and sisters. Jess in our team also went, so as you can see this school means a lot to us.
Over the years we have developed a system which seems to work quite well. Each morning one of us talks or shows what we do at Chi-Chi Moi. Then in the afternoon the students get to create a mood board based on what they think we should make. Lotte and Mimi enjoyed looking at the trend guides for 2020 and were amazed how far in advance we needed to work.
They also had a treat this year as I had been asked to sit on a panel at the Not on the High Street ' partners event held in Exeter, we had a great trip there and despite arriving at the wrong hotel….long story, think this day was the highlight of their week. Lotte, who had told me she was hoping to be a Physiotherapist was surprised that a job existed where you could travel, look at galleries/museums and spend a lot of the time researching on the internet. The job? ‘A trend forecaster’ to be honest that would be my dream job and if I was 15 again I would have been quizzing the trend forecaster as Lotte did.
It was lovely having the girls with us last week and I hope they enjoyed the week too, they gave lovely me lovely presents and a very thoughtful card. The next day they were flying off to Madrid for a Spanish field trip, how lucky, we just love our local school to create all these opportunities!
Have a good week
Jan
