Work Experience Week: Our Lady High School Motherwell 

On the week beginning 27th February 2023, Amey hosted three pupils from Our Lady High School in Motherwell. Throughout the week, the pupils worked with various departments and got the opportunity to understand how all departments work together to complete a project.  

On their first day, the pupils were introduced to social value at Amey. The pupils were given a list of social value objectives and they then had to complete a social value plan for the North Lanarkshire area. Towards the end of the session, the pupils were given a CV workshop. 

Day two of the work experience placement was spent with Kyle McMurran, Assistant Civil Engineer. Kyle started of the day by teaching the theory of structural engineering, giving the pupils real life examples of structures we maintain. The pupils were then given a task to build a bridge with a Knex kit and to a budget. 

On day three, the pupils learnt about the environmental factors we need to be aware of when out of site.  Once the environmental training had been completed the pupils were then tasked with carrying out an environmental survey using online mapping systems. At the end of this session the pupils got the opportunity to speak to Lwendo Kazoka who is currently in his second year of his civil engineering degree apprenticeship with Amey. This was extremely useful for the pupils to understand the interview process and how the apprenticeship works. 

Day four was spent with Amy McAteer, Communications Graduate. Amy delivered an introduction to communications and told the pupils about her experience on the Amey graduate programme. The pupils were set a series of communications tasks to complete during the day and finally, they were taken through a presentation on interview skills and got to practice interviewing each other. 

On the final day of the work experience placement the pupils were put into an assessment centre scenario. They were given a desert island task to complete, which was used to show them how to effectively communicate, work as a team, and problem solve. Once the task had been completed the pupils were then kitted out in full PPE and taken for a tour of the yard and salt barn. Here, the pupils saw the types of vehicles we use on site and some of the materials we use.  

It was an extremely successful week, one of the pupils said: 

‘I enjoyed learning about the different career paths that I could take as an engineer, especially with a graduate apprenticeship.’