Opening Work Experience Doors for Young People

Yesterday, we hosted a lovely young man for an introduction to the work roles that we have here in Semer, Suffolk. 

This lad came from St Christopher's Academy in Ipswich, part of the Raedwald Trust group of schools. Their schools offer places to children and young people who do not have access to mainstream schooling - through disabilities, mental health, medical issues, domestic issues or exclusion. 

Because their students are not in mainstream education, they don't get the same opportunities for work experience placements. We were approached by Form the Future to see if we would be willing to be a host for the schools they work with. We, of course, said yes!

Our lovely teams willingly stepped up to spend time introducing our guest to all the work they do, including an insight into the variety of work undertaken by maintenance team leader and the plethora of power tools he uses. They then had a bespoke farmyard tour delivered by our Farm Manager for Brett Vale Farming Company, showing his machinery and barns full of the newly harvested grain. Finally, they got to visit the gorgeous Nedging Hall in the company of our head gardener to see the care that goes into looking after the beautiful gardens and growing the fruit and vegetables that go on to the plates of the hospitality companies of Nedging Hall Estate.

The positive feedback made it all worthwhile, "𝑀𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒. 𝐼𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ."

We wish this young man all the very best for his future. 

We thoroughly recommend getting involved with Form the Future CIC. This experience reminded us how simple it can be to make a real difference. Every business should be interacting and supporting your local community and this is one great way to do that.