Frances' experience
My name is Frances. This week, I have been doing work experience with Peterborough City Council’s communications team.
Throughout the week, we have practiced writing press releases and writing scripts for Newsflash. I created content for the Sparks Awards, sat in team meetings, acted and presented Newsflash. I have also observed filming processes and the camerawork.
Personally, I have found the acting and the filming the most interesting and enjoyable. I am looking to study film and media studies in university. So, I found these activities to be very beneficial to experience.
Whilst I found it challenging, I enjoyed presenting Newsflash. At first, I found it challenging to multitask with reading from the script and making eye contact with the camera. However, after a few tries, I managed to make this work. Presenting newsflash was a great experience to be a part of. It has made me realise that I could take part in similar experience. From presenting Newsflash, I feel confident enough that I could create similar videos and content to post on social media in the future.
What I found helpful this week was the camerawork and the filming process of the short film. I am about to create my own short film for my studies in BTEC Media, so I found experiencing this in person was inspiring and I learnt a lot. I now know what equipment and techniques that I need to use.
I also found it helpful to sit in the team meeting on Tuesday. From watching how the meeting is structured, I have learnt that the communications team cover a lot of aspects of Peterborough’s activity.
Overall, I have really enjoyed this week for work experience and am grateful that I could be part of this team.
Isabella's experience
My name is Isabella. I have spent the past week doing work experience with Peterborough City Council’s communications team. Throughout this week I have gained a valuable insight into the wide range of work. I learnt about how to keep residents engaged with different services available in Peterborough.
One highlight of my placement was contributing to making a video. It raised awareness of the challenges faced by neurodivergent people. This project allowed me to see the amount of planning that goes into making content for the council’s website.
It was interesting to see how drones can be used when doing work. This introduced me to a different side to the council.
I also attended two meetings that focused on important issues affecting Peterborough. The meeting that stood out was about rough sleeping. Representatives of charities and staff from Peterborough City Council came together. They discussed ways of supporting vulnerable people. Before going to this meeting, I didn’t fully understand the scale of this issue within the city. This broadened my understanding and made me appreciate the hard work being done to tackle homelessness.
Towards the end of my placement, I had the opportunity to film a newsflash video for the council’s website. I was the one filming which improved my confidence in a workplace environment.
Overall, this placement has been a valuable experience. It allowed me to build confidence and gain a greater appreciation for the work carried out by Peterborough City Council.