A student from Bishop Burton College, Jacob, recently joined us for a work experience placement as part of a Supported Internship. This is a structured, work-based study program for 16 to 24-year-olds with SEND, who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan. The aim is to provide these students with opportunities to develop employable skills within a mixture of a college placement and an industry placement, preparing learners for a route into employment.
Across the past 9 weeks, Jacob has worked with a range of different departments at The Deep. This includes the Aquarists, Guides, Retail, Catering, Marketing, Education and more! Some of his highlights included taking part in a scatter feed over Endless Ocean, exploring behind-the-scenes to observe a Grey reef shark feed, shadowing the Guiding team, and designing a poster and presentation all about the Gentoo penguins.
Another task included the opportunity for Jacob to write a short blog about his experience at The Deep, which is below:
"If I wanted to be really honest, I have enjoyed working here at The Deep a lot, as the staff have all been kind to me and have been very clear with the tasks they have given me as part of my work experience as part of my college course. I was taught a lot about how they feed all the animals, maintaining all of the exhibits and learning about all of the animals and their behaviour patterns. This really helped me out as I want to get a job working with animals in the future, and these skills and knowledge I have acquired will help me out with getting this dream job that I have always been pursuing."
"If I had to say what I have enjoyed while working here at The Deep, it would be feeding the animals in the Endless Ocean habitat, as this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me, just because I got to see where the husbandry team works and how all of the fish in each exhibit gets fed every day. I also learnt about the containment tanks in the area linking the main exhibits together and what they are used for, such as keeping any injured animals safe. I also enjoyed working with the Guides, as I got to not only be surrounded by the animals, but I also showed good manners and hospitality to all the visitors and I even enjoyed scanning all of their tickets at the turnstile."
"I even spent a majority of my time helping the Education team, helping them tidy up and get the workshops ready for the visiting primary schools and transporting all of the packed lunches to the Halfway Cafe so that they could be ready for each group when lunchtime came along. I also got to watch and listen to each workshop that was offered to the primary school groups and what each one told them, such as the problems with the plastic in our oceans, the climates that certain animals have adapted to and the lifecycle of the animals that live in our oceans."
From everyone at The Deep, we'd like to thank Jacob for his hard work over the last 9 weeks. It has been great to see his confidence progressing and to hear how much he has enjoyed his time with us. We wish Jacob all the best in his future role- they will be lucky to have him!
