Six students from Matthew Arnold school came on work experience placements with me at Wytham Woods last week. They spent Monday to Thursday, 10am to 2.30pm, at Wytham doing activities in the Woods, and talking to the people who worked there.
They met and learned about the work of the Conservator, the communications officer, the foresters, the Director and Manager of the Hill End Outdoor Education Centre, and one of the researchers working on the small mammals project.
For activities, on the first day we discussed how to approach a work situation, and they learned how to navigate round the site using the permit holders map and the Alltrails app, and to identify species using the Seek app. On the following days they did some tree mulching and some path maintenance at Hill End, cooked a meal for the students themselves and for the researchers on site, and planted trees with the foresters.
On the final day I asked the students to write their own appraisal of themselves, using criteria discussed at the start of the week. I agreed with what they said of themselves, so I have used their words here in full. I also asked them for a recommendation to others about doing work experience at Wytham Woods, and feedback on what we could improve. Two of the students were absent on the final day due to accident and illness so there are only 4 student accounts included here. Their accounts were hand-written and I have transcribed them.
Kim
Student 1
I think my communication and team-work was quite well as I worked with almost everyone at a certain point. I also showed some initiative encouraging a friendly competition during the tree mulching that helped speed us up and was quite enjoyable.
I think I could have improved my time management as I was late on the first day. I tried to take feedback from that by arriving on time on the third and second day. The fourth day was a lack of communication within the group chat.
Wytham Woods is a great outdoors job experience. During the experience you get to spend plenty of time outside learning, helping and enjoying with the woods. You get to learn about the woods and the wildlife in it, walk around the paths out in the sun and do physical work. My two favourite experiences were the tree mulching which was very physical and the cooking experience which helped bond the group.
The only feedback is that for groups that don’t know each other as well it might be beneficial to do a bonding exercise.
Student 2
During the week I think that I did well as I asked questions and listened to what had to be said. I enjoyed working in the woods as it was quiet and calm. I also found it nice planting trees and adding mulch around the area. I also enjoyed making and eating the vegetarian chilli. I found working in a team enjoyable and fun. I believe I was organised and my time management was good as I was on time for all the days. I feel I took tasks well and completed them well. I did well self managing myself as I packed everything that I needed throughout the week.
Over the whole week working at Wytham I enjoyed listening to the birds and natural environment the most. It was a fun and enjoyable experience.
The people at Wytham were very friendly and happy to teach us. I think that in the future groups should be able to join the researchers to study animals. Kim was also good at organising the days to make them enjoyable and interesting.
Student 3
During the week I used multiple skills and found it very enjoyable. On the second day, we showed good communication and teamwork skills whilst adding mulch to the trees in Hill End. This also enabled planning and organisation skills and showed good willingness to undertake tasks. On the third day I used my initiative in cooking a vegetarian chilli and then whilst it was simmering, I went on a short walk for an hour. This showed time management skills and self-management to appear on time. Furthermore, in the last day I showed problem solving and abilities to take feedback in planting trees and handling a shovel as I learned the correct technique. In Wytham I learned constantly, often seeing animals and plants and curiously wanting to know more. I also learning about different types of [apps – I think] and how to use them.
I would recommend coming to Wytham as it is interesting and fun and it is good to spend time learning in the outdoors, especially in a nice wood like Wytham.
Student 4
During this week I had a great time. It was good fun. I learnt a lot about plants and different techniques and ways to experiment with them. It was nice meeting and speaking to different foresters. On the second day we all showed good teamwork by mulching trees and making a path as a group. Although I was late the first day I learnt from that and managed myself to arrive early the next day. I felt I had quite a good attitude towards learning, paying attention to people when they’re talking and asking questions on things I didn’t understand.
Wytham was a very enjoyable experience, and I would recommend it to other people. However one this they could improve on is the preparation. For example they kit list is not particularly bad its just hard to understand and a bit much to read through all in all it was a great time and what really boosts that is communication between you and your co-workers.
