Henry Price, network support technician at Mayfield School

A day in the life of an IT apprentice

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As part of National Apprenticeship Week (6 – 12 February 2023), the apprenticeship team has been asking apprentices about what ‘a day in the life of an apprentice’ is like for them.

Henry Price is a network support technician at Mayfield School. Read on to hear Henry’s account of his working day…

I am a network technician working for Mayfield school in Portsmouth, currently working towards completing my level 3 IT Support Technician apprenticeship. I started in November 2021, I have learned and experienced far more than I would have imagined, from replacing keyboards and mouses to accessing the server to do tasks. I want to improve my understanding of IT and gain knowledge of aspects of IT around networking. This has always interested me, and I enjoy the satisfaction of getting a difficult task done.

During the day my main responsibility is to upkeep all technology in the building, with daily checks to IT rooms and laptop trolleys that are dotted around the school. As well as checking on paper for printers around the school. However, when I am not doing the checks around the school, I am answering tickets on the helpdesk. Where staff submit tickets to the helpdesk whose contents say the problem they are having and that they need IT support to solve the issue. Sometimes these are easy tickets, where it is replacing an external keyboard but sometimes, the ticket could be installing a piece of software onto several devices at once. Which could prove difficult if they are in use quite often.

Our days are normally quite busy, with the number of checks myself and my colleague must do on a day-to-day basis, including the helpdesk tickets. We normally get between 5-10 tickets per day, we attempt to complete these tasks on the day. If not, then it will be passed onto the next day with being the first thing that I do. Also, a very important part of doing tickets on the helpdesk is the prioritisation of tasks depending on their importance. This scale of importance Is based on what I think has the most impact. For example, a task that stops a lesson completely and needs to be fixed. This will be a high impact, meaning that this needs to be looked at first. Then something that is an annoyance but has a workaround that solves the issue will be low impact, which means that this will be looked at after completing more pressing tasks.

As an apprentice, I found it difficult at the start, to learn the ways around my job with also attempting to know everyone’s names. I found it hard to gain confidence at first, but once I got past 6 months, I found my feet and started to feel confident in what I was doing. I realised with time that there are different behaviours in different situations. Overall, it is the best decision I have made with my career, I am enjoying all aspects.

Winner announced for Portsmouth’s next member of youth parliament

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After a close contest for Portsmouth’s next member of youth parliament, the winner has been announced. The campaign began on Monday 8 March when voting opened for seven young people who were shortlisted for the coveted role. Each candidate recorded a video and presented a manifesto that young people could review as part of the voting process.

Those aged between 11 – 18 years old who live, work or study in Portsmouth chose their candidate before voting closed on Wednesday 17 March.

The member of youth parliament will work alongside councillors and influence key decisions that affect young people and children.

Destiny Rose-Forde Kennedy, 16, who is a student at The Portsmouth Grammar School and the city’s next member of youth parliament said:

“I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who voted for me. The 52 candidates who originally put themselves forward were all incredibly talented.

“Giving young people a voice is something that I believe to be essential and invaluable because we are the future and if we’re not involved in important discussions, so many significant experiences and perspectives will be excluded and that would be devastating.”

Due to the high calibre of candidates shortlisted, two deputy roles have been created to support the member of youth parliament for Portsmouth.

Ella Reilly, 17, who is a student at Havant and South Downs College (HSDC) and a deputy said:

“This new role will enable me to support Destiny, ensuring more young people’s voices are heard and represented at council meetings. I’m really excited to have the opportunity to help build a change making platform for Portsmouth.”

Willow Lindstrom-Fabik, 13, a student at Priory School and a deputy said:

“I am incredibly excited to be a member of youth parliament deputy and work collaboratively with Destiny and Ella. I’m hoping to expand my political knowledge and meet new, innovative people that I can learn from.”

UK Youth Parliament provides opportunities for 11-18 year olds. All members of youth parliament meet nationally twice a year at the UK Youth Parliament Annual Sitting and UK Youth Parliament House of Commons Sitting.

Supported by Portsmouth City Council, Portsmouth Education Partnership brings together all Portsmouth schools and partner organisations to improve attainment and opportunities for young people across the city.

The campaign to find Portsmouth’s next member of youth parliament meets the partnerships priorities of inclusivity, ensuring no voice goes unheard.

The partnership also supports teacher recruitment and retention as well as increasing attainment levels of school children across the city through awareness campaigns.

For more information on the city’s member of youth parliament, local residents can visit the PEP pupil voice webpage.

All aboard! Apprenticeship bus inspires next generation with exciting futures

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Amazing opportunities in a wide range of apprenticeships await secondary school students aboard the apprenticeship bus from 4 – 6 February as part of National Apprenticeship Week. This year, the bus will be arriving at schools across the city for an additional day.

The initiative is led by Shaping Portsmouth and other partners including The University of Portsmouth, The Solent Apprenticeship Hub and Stagecoach. The bus was first launched in 2018 with the mission to inspire secondary school children to consider apprenticeships as an alternative after education.

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Attendance and Aspirations Week at Wimborne Junior School

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As part of Portsmouth City Council’s ongoing ‘Miss School, Miss Out’ school attendance campaign, Wimborne Junior School held an Aspirations Week from 21 – 25 January to help children to think about what jobs they would like to have in the future, what skills they will need in order to succeed in those jobs and how important attending school is in helping them to achieve their goals.

During the week, pupils looked at their future selves and discussing goal setting, resilience, potential barriers and the support available to help them.

Cllr Suzy Horton, cabinet member for education at Portsmouth City Council, visited the school and said that she was “overwhelmed with the quality of conversation not only about aspirations but also their understanding of what they need to do to become the best version of themselves.”

Carina Jacobs, head teacher at Wimborne Junior, said: “During Aspirations Week, we’re looking forward to inspiring the children to think about their futures and to helping them to understand the steps they can take to ensure their own success and the help available in school to aid them in reaching their goals. Hopefully they will take this forward with them into secondary school and beyond.”

#MissSchoolMissOut