Sophie joined the team at the Staffordshire History Centre for a week of work experience in early April. Find out how she got on in her blog below.

“Hello, I’m Sophie, a Year 10 student. In April I completed a week of work experience at the Staffordshire History Centre. Here are some thoughts and reflections from my time there.

To begin with, I was extremely nervous about meeting people as it is the first time I have done a work experience placement. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming, and this helped me to feel more at ease. My main goals from this experience were not only to gain an insight of work and different jobs but to gain independence and to socialise with more people. Being quite shy and introverted myself, this was an opportunity to move out of my comfort zone and talk to new people.

Over the week, I gained valuable information about work and it has made me consider a career within a historical environment. These are some of the things I did throughout the week:

I supported on the Information Desk – during this time I helped staff with day-to-day operations and learned important lessons such as working as part of a team and learning how to communicate effectively.

My favourite day of the week was Tuesday when I was at the Museum Collection Stores and assisted with curating a public display for a case at the History Centre. My job was to go through mid-century shoes made by Stafford local brand ‘Lotus’ and choose some for a display. This was interesting and a fun job, I gained experience in working with a historical collection using skills such as object handling and object packaging. Also, I helped support the team by selecting and packaging dolls house furniture for transportation to the History Centre for a Spotlight Talk. Overall, this day was very informative, and I really enjoyed it. I would like to send my thanks to the team for giving me this opportunity at the warehouse.

Throughout my experience, I also supported volunteers with Rebecca and helped with record keeping, helping to ensure that the History Centre collections are accessible to the public. In addition, whilst working in the Archive stores, I began to see the complexities of preserving historical documents for future generations and was shown how the team respond to email enquiries and coordinate the retrieval of archival materials.

During my placement, I helped support a wide range of ages in family craft activities by creating zines and produced resources to be used in the outreach programme.

This week has really broadened my knowledge of work, and I have moved out of my comfort zone and gained independence. The week was full of very valuable information which was also fascinating. I would like to thank Staffordshire History Centre for this opportunity, and I hope to see you again soon.”