Our first blended work placement was a huge success
Queen Elizabeth’s High School in Gainsborough have thanked our team for providing a one week, blended, work based placement for their pupil, Connor Miller.
Connor joined the IT team in July, helping out with the service and support side of the job, along with learning about our infrastructure and software, updated records and was taught to fix equipment. He also got to trial some coding and did various code challenges throughout his time with us.
His placement was carried out as a blended approach, meaning he spent time at Ongo House, learning tricks of the trade from the team first hand, and at home too, where he used technology to stay in touch.
Connor, who is going into year 11 at school this September, said: “Ongo has provided me with a wonderful insight into the workplace. I completed many tasks, which was a lot of fun and helped me better understand how Ongo operates.
“I would like to thank everybody on the IT team for helping and looking after me for the duration of my stay. Also Ongo’s HR team for making my work placement possible.”
In a letter delivered to us, Mr Eastham, Head Teacher at Queen Elizabeth’s High School wrote: “We appreciate the time and effort involved to make a placement successful for students, especially in the current Covid-19 climate.
“We could not have offered the work experience programme without support of such committed employers like you. Thank you.”
Although we’ve supported a large number of work placements in the past, throughout different teams, this is the first we’ve done as a blended in person and at home approach. It’s great to see how successful it is, and how we can provide students with the right technology to give them the best experience.
It has shown that despite the pandemic, we can still provide valuable support to our younger tenants and members of our community, to enhance their education, boost their skills and provide an understanding of working life.
Jess White, Support Manager in IT said: “It was fantastic for the Technology and Innovation team to still be able to offer this opportunity as we like to do every year.
“The blended working environment we provided gave Connor insight in how we have worked through the pandemic to still deliver our services across the organisation.
“Giving him the experience of working life and the technology sector was a pleasure for me and the team and we are so pleased he had such a positive week with us.
Each year, we take on a number work placements from schools across the region, and with this new approach are hoping to be able to hire even more.
To find out more on how your team could help a work placement, or if you have any good stories to tell, let the PR team know.