Last week Westside School’s English Department held an interactive afternoon for Year 10 English pupils.

During this event, held on two separate afternoons, our learners had the opportunity to interview 25 local professionals from different walks of life about their jobs and careers. The English Department’s aims were to develop pupils' confidence in their speaking and listening skills and facilitate their collaboration in working together to interview a professional of their choice from our community.

This event gave our Year 10s a real-world opportunity to gather information that they will then use in their English lessons to write a response to an exam-style question as practice and revision for their upcoming exams in October this year.

The aim was to bring the question paper to life and provide pupils with the chance to produce a piece of writing that is relevant to them, as well as providing an understanding that English prepares you for the world beyond school in many real-life events and tasks.

Westside School would like to thank the lawyers; firefighters; police officers; bakery and restaurant owners; GBC engineers, presenters and producers; journalists; nurse, dentist and doctors; youth workers; dancer and make-up artist; professionals from the world of sport; and accountants who took part. They all gave very generously of their time and allowed students the experience of moving out of their comfort zone to fully engage in a meaningful way with an adult who is not one of their teachers or a primary carer.