Working in the hospitality industry - transcript

Principal Teacher: The authority made initial approaches to the Stirling Management Centre for opportunities for pupils in forth year to work with them. And that was presented to individual schools and, many years ago now, Wallace High School took up that opportunity to work with the Stirling Management Centre.

The Stirling Management Centre is located very close to Wallace High School – its in the grounds of Stirling University – and [is] run like a hotel (that’s they way the children in school would look at it) and they offer great opportunities to our pupils in a variety of different areas within that, in the hospitality industry.

StirlingManagement Centre 1: The four girls that we have working with us just now… we have three currently working in the bedrooms and one working in the kitchen. They would come along and they actually work as employees here at Stirling Management Centre. We do not treat them like school children and I think that’s why our programme is so beneficial for the youngsters.

Principal Teacher: Each year, before the summer holidays, the Management Centre asks us to put forward pupils for selection for the programme. And that is the very beginning of a good process. Pupils have to fill in an application form; they’ve got to think about why they want to do this job. They’ve to present themselves well, outside of school for an interview, go through a selection process and they learn a lot from that.

Student 1: I was nervous before the interview but after the interview was finished and gone, I was okay and calmed down a wee bit. I was okay!

Student 2: When we arrive we sign in, put our jackets down and go to the office and then Margaret chooses us to work with someone; we don’t work with the same person every week. We work with someone different every week.

Principal Teacher: What we’re trying to do together is to develop good skills within each individual pupil for work in the future.

StirlingManagement Centre 2: I think it lets children see what goes on in an environment outside the school environment and lets them hear what goes on in the catering industry and how things work in the catering industry. And I think it gives them an insight; they're not just coming in and making beds and not just serving people – its meeting people and greeting people.

Student 3: I think the best thing is working with the staff because they're all so nice and welcoming. They don’t treat you like a school pupil – they treat you like you're one of the members of the staff. They're really nice to you. 

Principal Teacher: They're out of school one day a week and it adds extra to the work they’ve got to do to catch up on work out of school. But when they see that this has a future and that that can result in them, and does result in them, getting references that might help them get into a college place as well, they know the value of that. 

They learn how to work in an adult environment as well. They learn about good time keeping, taking responsibility, trust, [and] become more confident individuals. And that’s a great spin-off.

StirlingManagement Centre 1: At the end of the year, they’re also given an achievement for the year and if they are successful and we have a position available, then they would be given a fulltime position here at Stirling Management Centre. Currently, we have six school children who are in fulltime employment here that we have taken on through the years that have passed. 

I think, from an employers point [of view] we, here at Stirling Management Centre, are winning because at the end of the day, after the year, we have got fully potential employees here. 

Principal Teacher: There is a spin-off in school for pupils who have taken part in this experience; they see the relevance of the studying that they are doing in school to help them get a place, perhaps, at college or into training or work after school. Or to stay on in school and get further qualifications to, perhaps, enter a career in hospitality at a higher level than they might have been able to [achieve] than if they had left at the end of forth year. 

So, they’ve got the confidence to do that, the belief in themselves – that what they’ve done at the Stirling Management Centre will make a big difference. So this is a great example of partnership working.

Student 3: After school I want to be a chef. I'm going for an interview for college and I’m going to see if I can get into there and have a career in catering.