Year 10 Waldegrave students are currently buzzing wth anticipation about the coming few weeks. They will be leaving the safeness of their classrooms and entering the harsh world of work for 2 weeks.We're always complaining about how hard GCSEs are but perhaps this will put us in our place making s a little more forgiving when our parents zone out after a 'hard days work'. This experience will also be useful in helping us to gain a references on our quite empty and laughable CVs. Currently most of them only reading GCSEs (to be taken) as our only qualification.

A lot of students have mixed emotions about work exprience seen as everyone's placements are at vastly different locations which all offer very different experiences. One year 10 girl named Lauren Power's placement is a nursery. Lauren is very excited about her work experience as she states it will offer a very "hands on experience' where she will be "given lots everyday dilemmas" so that she can use her initiative to problem solve. This will give her a good idea of what work is actually like as she will have to do things independantly, consequently helping her to move away from school where you are spoon fed by your teachers and into the adult world.

Unfortunately, others have a slightly more negative attitude toward their work experience. Ella Archdeacon (another year 10 student) will be working for a big company in central London. Sadly she knows that she will be doomed to a life of making tea and filing from 9-5 for two weeks. She feels that the only thing she will learn is "what rush hour is like and how to dress smartly for work". Although Ella isn't as confident that her experience will be as positive as Lauren's she is ready to learn new things and is excited about the new environment that she will experience. 

Although work experience may seem scary, the majority of us year 10s are going to face it head on with a positive attitude ready to get the most out of it that we can. We will just have to wait and see if it meets our expectations and hope that we're all just scared for nothing...

Alisha Juma, Waldegrave Young Reporter