“The good quality of leadership throughout the school is driving the development of teaching and learning…”
Ofsted Inspection Nov 2007
2010 Ambassador Programme
Last month Tanbridge House School, alongside local media agency, PMW Communications, launched their 2010 Ambassadors’ Programme for Year 7 students. The response was phenomenal with over 200 students applying for their dream jobs. However only six lucky students could be selected to partake in their dream jobs and Wesley Dishington, Joe Gandy, Rosie Carrathers, Ella Murrell, Luke Tippins and Aidan Marks were the lucky applicants.
For Joe Gandy his dream of becoming a firefighter became a reality as on Monday 1st March he spent the day with the team at Haywards Heath Fire Station. To start his experience Joe was invited to take part in the teams patrol line up quickly learning the commands of ‘parade attention’, ‘parade stand at ease’ and ‘parade fall out’. Following the crew commanders’ orders he then accompanied the team to a local primary school to help the crew show the young pupils around the fire truck. Back at the station Joe’s dreams were well and truly answered as he used the truck’s hose to help put out an imaginary fire on the 3rd floor of the training tower. To complete the day Joe was wrapped up in a safety harness to abseil down the tower as if being rescued.
On Tuesday 2nd March student Rosie Carrathers truly had the experience of a lifetime as she was invited up to parliament to interview local MP Francis Maude. With her dream job of becoming a journalist Rosie was in her element as she was given a tour around the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Hall and the House of Commons before meeting Francis for his interview. After reporting on the future of Horsham Rosie was then given the exclusive opportunity to sit in the gallery to listen to the day’s discussion topic.
Also experiencing her dream job was Ella Murrell who spent the day with Sadler Architects in Horsham. After watching the company’s presentation alongside the owner Ken Sadler, Ella was given an insight as to just how much work and precision goes into creating a building and discovered what qualifications she would need in the future to fulfill her dream. Following this Ella was then escorted to a local building project ran by Sadler Architects. To complete her day Ella was given an incredible opportunity to use the company’s resources and design her home both on paper, in a 3D model and using the complicated graphics on the computer.
On Wednesday 3rd March, Aidan Marks was invited to Thales UK in Crawley to learn about his dream job in engineering. Alongside Jon Pilcher, Aidan experienced a day in the Product Line Engineering Department spending time on the TFST low-level products, where he was able to gain an insight into the look and purpose of the cockpit instrumentation used by pilots. What’s more he was even invited to make an approach to an airfield on an ATR42-500 full flight simulator where he made a successful landing proving that his dream job could most definitely become a reality in the future.
Luke Tippins was in his element on Thursday 4th March as he spent the day at local radio station Spirit FM learning what it takes to become a radio presenter which has always been his dream job. Not only was Luke made an honoury member of the Spirit Team he went live on air with mid morning presenter, Milly Luxford, learning the complicated technology and cue timings schedule. To really make his day extra special Luke was then asked to write his very own radio commercial to promote Tanbridge House School and on completion the team helped him record it onto disc in the studio giving him a fantastic momento to take home.
Finally to complete the Ambassadors week, Wesley Dishington who has always dreamt of becoming a professional basketball player spent the day with premier league players at Guildford Heat Basketball Club. Gaining an understanding of what it would take to fulfill his future dream Wesley learnt about the training regimes, coaching schedules and even medical awareness before going out with one of the clubs coaches to help teach a lesson.
Head teacher of Tanbridge House School, Jules White, commented: “The students who come to Tanbridge House School are supported to develop lifetime goals and aspirations. We aim to provide them with the opportunities and knowledge to be able to make the right decisions later in life.”
Jules continued: “Unlike work experience, our ambassadors have an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with some of the top people in their field and venture out into the most exciting of work places. Since returning to school after their experiences all of the students that partook in the Ambassadors Programme have been so motivated and inspired and I am sure that their days will help them make the right GCSE decisions.”