Summer Internship Success at Waterstones Bromley

We are delighted to share the fantastic news that two of our Year 12 students, Amelie and Sharon, have successfully secured summer internships at Waterstones in Bromley. Following the outstanding success of last year’s placements, the Store Manager approached Mrs Collier once again – this time offering the opportunity exclusively to our students. The response was overwhelming, with many students submitting applications and attending interviews. The successful interns will spend their summer holidays in a dynamic, customer-facing role, helping visitors find and select books, recommending titles based on individual interests, shelving stock, and maintaining high shopfloor standards. They will also have the chance to support author events, write their own book recommendations, and contribute to creative window displays. We are incredibly proud of their achievement and grateful for the continued partnership with Waterstones Bromley. 

Year 10 Army Workshop

On Monday, 18^th May, 32 Year 10 students took part in an engaging Army Day, having been selected based on their career interests and aspirations. The day began with an informative careers talk, highlighting the wide range of opportunities within the Army, not only front-line roles but also office-based careers and less widely known positions such as musicians and animal groomers. Following this, students were divided into smaller groups and rotated through a series of practical activities led by Army personnel. Throughout the day, students developed valuable teamwork and communication skills while gaining a deeper understanding of military careers. They also had the opportunity to ask thoughtful questions, making the experience both informative and highly inspiring.

Abigail has shared her experience on the day below:

On Monday, some year 10 students spent the entire day with the Army. During first period, Corporal Sergeant Ray told us about the different parts of the army and how it’s all made up. We also found out lots of facts like 30% of the army is made up of the combat side (which is all you see in movies) and that there is a music section to the army! He mentioned sports, free time, living conditions, payments and all the benefits along with disadvantages of dedicating your life to the Army.

From second period until the end of the day, we went to the Sports Hall and were put into groups of around 7-8 people and got sent off with different Army workers. My group went to Nick first. He told us about his life and what he’s done in the Army which was extremely interesting. His activity was ‘The Floor is Lava’ which included tin boxes that up to 3 army recruits with full equipment could stand on and a long and short plank that felt light at the start but got heavier the longer you held it. We had to use teamwork and communication to get everyone over to the other side, which was harder than expected, we almost made it first try but someone dropped the long plank into the lava at the last minute which made us restart it all over again.

After break, we completed a tyre challenge with Ronan. The activity included 5 tyres and three cones. The goal was to move all the tyres from one side to the other in order. You needed to dedicate a tyre to every member and work together to figure out an algorithm to work.

Alex ran an activity where four people in your group were blindfolded and held a piece of rope that connected in the middle and the people who could see had to navigate directions for the blinded people to hook a black and orange bucket, lift it out and make a three-by-three grid where horizontally, vertically and diagonally, all the numbers in the buckets added up to 15. We practiced communication and trust in your team members. We had to do this in a fifteen minute timeframe which used a lot of precision and carefulness.

Besch ran the final activity. His course was a two parter. The first part was getting an ammunition box that had a code inside out of a certain area without dragging it with two pieces of rope. You had to work together to get the right angling and secureness to lift it up and take it out of the area. Then in groups you had to go to use codes to open locked boxes in a race.

Overall, this day was very fun. Finding out about different roles and certain parts of the army, free time activities, what they pay for, and so much information made me feel influenced and encouraged to join and take part. Everyone was so kind and helpful and I’d love to do it again.

Year 10 and 12 Work Experience Programmes

We would like to remind parents/carers to encourage their child to check Unifrog to ensure all Employer and Parent/Guardian forms have been completed and submitted. While the official deadlines have now passed, Mrs Collier is currently working through the detailed process of risk assessing and approving every placement, which is both thorough and time-consuming. It is therefore essential that all required paperwork is in place to avoid any delays. We ask that students use half term to finalise any outstanding forms. Please note that any submissions received after Monday, 1st June will only be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Careers Bulletin

Please click on this link to view this week’s careers bulletin attached with various work-based opportunities that may be of interest to your child.