Behind the Scenes at Parklife

Melland High School have had a busy time further developing their Careers and Work Related Learning Programme this term!

10 lucky students from Melland Sixth Form had a once in a lifetime opportunity to see behind the scenes at Parklife. The visit was a workplace safari and provided our students with valuable insight into the many jobs involved in setting up and putting on a festival. The students heard from members of staff about health and safety in the workplace, design and construction of the many different stages, first aid and medical assistance, bartending, sound and light engineering and hospitality. Parklife creates over 4500 jobs, brings over 80,000 people together over the weekend and makes huge amounts of money to boost the local economy.

Students developed their Skills for life over the course of the day. Communication was a key skill, students listened carefully to all the different people speaking about their jobs and asked insightful relevant questions. There were many different media companies reporting on the tour. Several of our students showed fantastic self-belief when they were interviewed by Hits Radio, Capital FM and BBC News and one of our teachers was even interviewed for ITV news!

One of the highlights of the tour was getting to see inside 50 Cent’s dressing room, the students were impressed by how spacious the room was and how much of a home away from home it was. We heard how it is the job of the artist liaison to makes sure the dressing room has any home comforts requested (50 Cent likes Gatorade!) They must use self-management and organisation skills to book all the different artists and make sure they can all perform at the right time on the correct day.

Students were surprised by how much effort goes into running the bar at Parklife. The bar tenders need to be good at problem solving and it requires lots of forward planning to ensure they don’t run out of drinks over the weekend. We also found out how important it is to make sure you have ordered enough limes, 250,000 to be precise!

Our students showed exemplary behaviour and were excellent role models for the school. They found the workplace safari interesting, engaging and eye opening with many of our students now interested in summer jobs working at a festival.

Thank you to Sacha Lord for kindly organising the event, Diane Norburn for providing the opportunity to our school to attend and Debbie Mellows for helping to organise the trip.

This term we have also had an incredibly jam-packed timetable for Melland High School’s Annual Careers Week this year! We’ve had employer encounters from a wide range of different employers and work sectors such as Engie Construction, Winners Strength and Wellbeing studio, Aerozone, Barnardos, Kloodle, Education and Semi Professional Football Academy, HMP Styal, AFG Law, Human Resources, Network Rail, NHS, Greater Manchester Police & NCS.

We have also had a variety of other activities that our students have taken part in over the course of the week such as a magic show, Manchester Airport Jobs Fair, The Manchester College Taster Sessions in Construction and Hair & Beauty, 6th Form Café, Step Into Sport Youth Leadership Training, STEM workshops, Job Sector Carousel, Q&A panel with ex-students about life after Melland, Q&A with 6th form students about part time jobs and students have been supported by our Careers Advisers.

We had a very busy and buzzing Speed Networking Event where students across the school from KS3, 4 & 5 had the chance to meet with employers from NHS, Aldermore Banking, Carefoot Construction, Spike Retail Technology, Career Connect, The Manchester College, Zen Internet, Ernst and Young, Buzz Rocks Caribbean, HideOut, Rider Levett Bucknall, Unity Radio, Mozzington, Department for Work and Pensions and The Wig Up Podcast.

Pupils have gained valuable insight into different careers pathways and used a variety of employability skills in the many activities they have taken part in during the week. The pupils have been developing their Skills for Life and have demonstrated excellent communication skills this week by asking thoughtful and challenging questions during employer encounters. They have been pushed out of their comfort zones this week and have shown admirable self-belief by having the courage to ask questions to adults that they have just met. Pupils have proved they have self-management skills by having to follow a different timetable this week and being flexible in their routines. Pupils have taken part in multiple STEM workshop activities which have promoted teamwork and problem solving. All of the students have been a credit to the school and excellent role models and ambassadors, well done!

A huge thanks to all who have been involved in supporting the Careers Week, in particular Debbie Mellows who has been working tirelessly behind the scene, arranging employer encounters and ensuring things run smoothly on the day. We have also had a phenomenal amount of support from Sarah Driver, Enterprise Adviser and Diane Norburn, Enterprise Coordinator who provided many of the contacts for our fantastic Speed Networking Event.