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On Tuesday, the 11th of June, 15 of our Rising Futures Students embarked on their World of Work day journey! The students were excited, looking forward to the trip at the Strand and keen on starting their first activity. After Sarah explained the exciting day ahead, we started our journey. We were going to spend the day at Pearson a FTSE 100 company based in central London. Pearson provides a blend of content, curricula, assessment, training and information systems to make learning more engaging and effective.
We were met at the reception by our host for the day and after a quick toilet stop, headed straight for the canteen. We combined having lunch with the first activity of the day, Speed Networking.
The 15 children were seated on 5 tables and joined by employees of Pearson. They then proceeded to interview the Pearson staff to find out more about what it is like to work there. After lunch both the students, as well as the Pearson employees, congregated in a recreational room filled with large bean bags for our next activity.
The students were split into 2 groups. The first group had a tour of the 10 story building which included visiting the top floor, taking in the spectacular views over London, visiting the CEO's office and various working departments of Person.
The second group engaged in a dynamic discussion about Pearson's history and then experienced one of their Virtual Reality products as group. The students got the great opportunity to use the headsets individually as well! The kids were really excited to experience historic sites like the Berlin wall and Machu Piucchu in Peru in glorious 3D!
The final task of the day was an exercise in creativity and problem solving facilitated by one of the Pearson's Senior Managers. He began the activity by explaining the process Pearson uses to come up with new ideas.
Next, he asked them to write day-to-day challenges they face on the activity wall.
He then instructed the students to select the most challenging item from the list, prompting much excitement and debate. Each student was engaged and wanted to communicate what they thought was the number one challenge. After choosing an item, the students were instructed to put themselves in the shoes of the person with the problem, exercising their self-awareness and testing their ability to empathise with others.
After a final wrap we all headed back to the coach for the trip back to Chertsey.
Our Rising Future Students had a great day and learned a lot of valuable information.
A big thank you to Pearson for hosting our World of Work day!!
To find out more about how your students could get involved with the Yes Futures Programmes, please contact Tina, Director of Partnerships: tina@yesfutures.org, 07908 687779 or visit our website.
If you're interested in becoming a World of Work partner, please contact Tina, Director of Partnerships: tina@yesfutures.org.