Time went really fast, and once our End of Year exams were over, it was time to start our Work Experience. Surprisingly, no one seemed scared to start work, in fact, they were even happier to be having two weeks off school, plus the half term which was to follow.
Finally the day I had been waiting for had come, however, for some reason, I was not as anxious to go to work as I was the week before. I woke up at 7.00am everyday but it was not much difference from when I wake up to go school. On my form it stated under clothing that I needed suitable clothing and long hair tied back. Therefore I wore what I was most comfortable in, my black trousers with a short sleeved t-shirt as the weather that week was extremely hot. I also tied my hair back as I would prefer my hair back on such a hot day. Once I was ready with my photo card, travel card, MD player and a snack for the journey, I left my house by 8:15am and made my way to Queensbury Station. From there I caught the Jubilee line to Wembley Park, where I then caught a Metropolitan train to Baker Street. From their after passing so man busy people, I caught a Hammersmith and City line and on some days, the Circle line. After that journey to work I, then realised why everyone comes home in the evening tired and complaining, as for a start they have hardly anywhere to sit and trains can be delayed. Both of which I experienced and it really got me frustrated.
I got out of Paddington Station and behind a few shops and buildings I noticed the huge hospital. I walked round the shops and I got to the entrance of the hospital. By this time it was 9:30am and so many people were walking in and out. As I came for an interview earlier, I knew exactly where to go so I caught the lift straight up to the Tenth floor. Every person I met on the floor gave me a warm welcome everyday and helped me when I needed some assistance. For me, everyday was almost exactly the same. I was usually labelling test tubes and boxes. I also used many technical machines and done experiments using DNA. It was interesting; however, each experiment had to be left for up to three to four hours so I had hardly anything to do in between. I used to get so bored but a student called Dave was with me the whole time. He was very talkative so we had in depth conversations bout each others lives. He also had arguments though, about what was being discussed on the radio. Each day I done similar experiments to make it perfect and by the end of the week, I realised that I had not really done much that week, but mainly repeated everything I had already done. My lunch hours were from 12:15pm to 1:15pm and sometimes up to an hour more as we had to wait for an experiment to be completed. There were many places I could have lunch around the hospital, such as McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, and Subway. I went to all of them for lunch as I wanted something different each day. The week was over and at that point I realised that I actually had a good time with the two people I was with most of the time, Dave and Ira. I did not want to leave that friendly environment, however, when the following Monday came, I was excited to start work at the nursery.
I woke up at 7:00am, and wore suitable clothes just like at the hospital as I would be playing with little babies and feeding them. I left my house at 8:10am as my Aunt gave me a lift up to Preston Road so that I would miss a lot of the traffic. From there I caught the 79 and stayed on it until the last stop at Alperton Sainsbury’s and walked for five minutes to the nursery. When I approached the nursery, the name of it, Bluebell Nursery, was written boldly and in big letters above the window. There were numbers and letters painted on the window with cute Winnie the Pooh pictures. Out in the front garden were the little babies playing in the sand pit and with other toys. I walked around to the side entrance and introduced myself to Ruby, a nursery teacher, and then she took me to see the manager, Alka Desai. Alka showed me around the nursery, where the fire extinguishers were, were the toilet and kitchen was and other necessary things I needed to know and in case of an emergency. I went through the colourful rooms and past all the toys neatly stored away and finally got to the babies room, as my job description was to work mainly with the under two year olds. The walls were covered with multi-coloured numbers and bright alphabets, along with pictures of each baby spread out around the room.
On my first day, I went straight out to the beautiful front garden and played with the babies in the sand pit. It was a lovely day, so they had a really good time out in the sun. As babies’ skin is sensitive, I was told to put on sun cream on their arms, legs and faces. It was quite a difficult task as the babies were very fidgety, however, throughout the week I got used to doing those tasks by the end of the week. I feel that I have definitely improved in controlling a baby, as I am able to feed them without any mess and learnt how to keep them entertained at the same time.
At first, I was extremely gentle in wiping their little cute noses, however, I realised that I had to be less gentle towards them as the teachers had explained to me that if I was gentle, I would never get my way. Throughout the week I became more confident with children rather than having to play with just one. I got used to dealing with difficult situations such as if there was a fight between two or three over one toy. The children were very energetic; however, when it came to their nap time, they looked like little angels. Whilst they slept, I snuck out of the room quietly for lunch, sometimes at McDonalds or sometimes at Sainsbury’s from twelve o’clock to one o’clock. By the time I returned, none of the babies were awake so I went into the above two’s room where most of the children were sleeping and the rest were just lying down. I got to know the older children a lot and each time they came up to me to hold my hand and to ask me to read them one of the stacked up books from the book corner. When it was story time, everyone crowded around the teacher and listened to her very carefully and pointed at the pictures. There were two girls, Sanjana and Davina, who were fighting over which one would sit on my lap so I thought, before I let any of them down, I should go next door. When I went through to the babies’ room, I saw a few of them awake and I gave them their bottles of milk. There was a sweet little girl called Alika, who always came up to me when she wanted to play. She had the softest voice, and even though she talked in baby language, I felt as though I could understand every word she was trying to say. At times I had to do the washing up, but mostly I had to tidy up the play areas before nap time, and before I left in the afternoon. Everyday when I got home I complained to my mother that I had a headache because it was a very tiring day for me as I was on my feet a lot. Even though it was an awful lot of work, I managed for the entire week and loved every moment of it.
It was my last day, but not just mine. It was also Alika’s last day, and another girl called Jasmin’s last day as well as a boy called La’mar’s Birthday. He was as sweet as sugar, with lovely green and brown eyes, deep dimples and neatly done hair. We had a normal day until lunch time; the children went to sleep whilst we set out the tables, chairs, plates and cups for the party that was being held for La’mar. Each table had a few bags of crisps, a bowl of Haribo’s and much more sweet food, like Iced Gems. La’mar’s mother and father came into the nursery and brought a big Bob the Builder cake in for everyone to share. I got to eat some of it and it was one of the best cakes I had ever had. Soon after the plates were cleared away and floor was swept, the music was turned on and the little children started to dance around the room. They looked so adorable, trying to shake their little bums and playing musical bumps. The party ended as quick as lightening and it was already four o’clock. I was so sad to leave the little children as I had such an amazing experience with them there. I was about to leave and as I said to them that it was my last day, they all gave me a hug and shouted, “Bye!” At that point, I really felt like saying that I wanted to come back there to work, however, I knew that at the moment I have to concentrate on my studies.
Work Experience was a big part of Year Ten for everyone, and I can truly say that I learnt a great deal from it. By working at the hospital, almost everyone told me that I shouldn’t do a science degree as it does not pay off the years of studying you do. They really opened up my eyes by saying that and now, I have seriously thought about doing baby care when I am older as my profession. Overall, I am glad that I chose the jobs that I did for my Work Experience, as I enjoyed it a lot. Both jobs were extremely different, and I am glad I got those jobs because I knew that I would have got bored of doing the same job for both weeks as many other people did.
I think that Work Experience is a major part in a student’s life as it helps them realise the responsibility that would be needed in the future, to have a good job meaning secure future.
