The World of Work

At Holly Park we aim to have high vocational ambition for all of our pupils. We want to increase their cultural capital and make them aware of the wider world they live in and have knowledge of the world of work beyond school.
We want to develop skills for the future and learning about future employment within our children. 
Schools are crucial in preparing pupils for adult life, for promoting equal opportunity and for introducing children to work experiences and encouraging children to aspire to make good choices and understand what they need to do to reach and succeed in careers to which they aspire.

Year 2 and Year 3 Visit A Law Firm

Children from Years 2 and 3 were invited to Travers Smith with Brewer Dolphin for a ‘Tricky Trials’ challenge day.  They found out about the business by interviewing volunteers to find out about the skills they use in their roles, particularly focusing on problem solving and presenting skills. Then, working in teams, the children started working on different cases based around characters from traditional tales, either as the defence or prosecution. With the help of the volunteers, they identified the best arguments and analysed evidence as they prepared to go to trial. At the close of the day, they presented their evidence to a judge and jury made of volunteers who decided the winning team. One of the children said “The problem we have to solve is proving that Robin Hood is innocent of the crime. We are using evidence to help us” and one of the volunteers said “The students’ presentations have really impressed me today”.

Year 4 visit a charity organisation

Children in Year 4 went to Save the Children’s headquarters to learn about the charity. They worked in teams to create a new social media campaign to promote the work of Save the Children.  The children highlighted an issue they felt was important and after designing feed posts and images they finished the day by presenting their ideas to a panel of volunteers from Save the Children. A highlight of the visit was a tour of the offices, meeting staff and finding out about the range of jobs at a charity.  Some children were even lucky enough to meet the CEO.

Y5 Visit A Recruitment Company

​Y5 went to a recruitment company called Michael Page in the City of London. After meeting employees from the company and learning about what jobs they do, they had a  tour around the offices and saw how they work. They learnt that all of the offices are open plan with small meeting rooms or little hubs that people can choose to work in. They saw that most people sit at desks to work although a few choose to work at standing up desks!
Many of the children made phone calls to employees in the office! After the tour was over, they began their task for the day which was to work as investment bankers to make maximum growth for their client’s wealth. They had to make careful decisions about which companies to invest in based on information they were given. At the end, they had to do a presentation the the employees explaining their decisions.​

Y6 Visit a media company

Y6 went to a company called Exterion Media which has recently been acquired by Global. They specialise in interactive outdoor advertising, such as on billboards, buses and the rail network. The children spent the day talking with employees at the company about their jobs and had a tour around the open plan offices. After spending the day learning about the work they do, the children spotted that much of the advertising at Holborn Underground Station had the Global logo on it!
​The children were given the task of being “Imaginative Inventors”. They had to research and design a new gadget or piece of technology that would support employees at the business. Once this task was completed, they had to present a persuasive pitch to the employees, convincing them that their invention was the best!

Y1 Meet The Fire brigade

​The fire brigade came to visit Year 1 in their fire engine. The children learned all about what the fire fighters do. They saw all of the different parts of the engine and what they do. The fire fighters talked about their jobs. The children got to sit inside the fire engine.