Placement Experience at Grimm & Co.
by Alice Mason
In the second year of the BA, students [on the BA Education, Culture and Childhood] are invited to either complete a work-based project, or a live placement, as part of the employability skills development module.
Although the idea of a live placement initially felt daunting to me, I felt continuously supported by the BA team from the start. They provided plenty of resources to make the process as easy as possible, including information about each provider, and answered any queries that we had both prior to, and during the placement experience.
I selected Grimm & Co as my placement, which is an educational charity based in Rotherham that supports under resourced children with their literacy skills, through magic. They’ve adopted a non-traditional approach to learning, and run workshops for young people, where they are encouraged to let their imagination run wild, in a creative learning environment.
A typical Grimm & Co workshop would involve magical beings, a mind oiler and a teapot of doom, demonstrating the unique nature of the charity! This is what appealed to me about the placement, as I wanted to gain experience in a non-traditional educational setting and see how it differed to mainstream methods that I had previous experience with.
At Grimm & Co I adopted the role of a story mentor in workshops, where I was tasked with leading small groups of children and young people, to help them write creatively. This was incredibly rewarding, as I was able to see the difference that I was making, alongside interacting with a variety of age groups. It also enabled me to put the theory and knowledge that I had learnt so far on the course, into practice, which was invaluable.
During my placement experience, I felt that my imagination and creativity skills were able to flourish, due to the nature of working in a creative working environment. I also learnt a lot about effective communication, such as how to structure questions when leading a group of young people.
Finally, I learnt to be a lot more adaptable, as each workshop was different, therefore required me to be able to think on my feet. Flexibility is critical in every career path; therefore, it was extremely useful to have the opportunity to develop this skill.
My placement experience at Grimm and Co was an extremely positive one, and I would recommend you consider it as an option, when deciding between placements. I was able to enhance skills that I had prior to the placement, alongside acquiring new skills, which will be valuable in my future employment journey.
Alice Mason is now a third year student on the BA Education Culture and Childhood in the School of Education, The University of Sheffield.
