A taste of work for local students at Reading Council

A group of nine students from King's Academy Prospect and John Madejski Academy (JMA) are spending this week at Reading Council to gain valuable work experience.

As well as a general introduction to the Council, its values and its services, the students will get a varied taster of the world of local government work, spending time with several different departments, including Transport, Health and Wellbeing, the Project Management team, Public Protection, Communications, Reading Museum and Planning. The students will also get involved with projects, learn CV and interview skills and benefit from coaching for future career paths.

The work experience week is part of the Council’s ongoing commitment to working with local schools to provide young people with experience and knowledge on which to build their future careers and to help enhance their personal and social development.

The Council is currently piloting an offer of different styles of work experience sessions across three fixed weeks of the year, working with secondary schools across the borough.

Gary, age 15, from JMA, said: “It’s been wonderful and inspirational shadowing Council staff and seeing what they get up to in their day-to-day life. I have learned all kinds of things ranging from health and safety to how the council communicates with the public. This has opened my eyes to a lot of career options.”

Liz Terry, Reading’s Lead Councillor for Corporate Services and Resources, said: “It is fitting we have our students in during National Apprenticeships Week – which is an opportunity for the education and skills sector to celebrate the achievements of apprentices around the country.

“I’m delighted that as a Council we can provide such valuable work experience opportunities to young people – to give them a taster of the work environment, and hopefully, inspire them to consider apprenticeships with the Council as a future career path option.”

“I hope our current group has enjoyed their time with us and leave us with a greater understanding of how local government works to serve the people of Reading and an appreciation of the wide range of job opportunities within this sector.”

The Council’s work experience scheme sits alongside its successful apprenticeship scheme, which has so far seen us take on 46 new apprentice employees and upskill 132 of our current employees using apprenticeship standards since the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in 2017.

For more information on work experience with the Council visit: https://www.reading.gov.uk/work-for-the-council/work-experience-with-reading-borough-council

For more information on apprenticeships at Reading Council, visit https://www.reading.gov.uk/work-for-the-council/apprenticeships