Since September, three Rye Studio students have been working one day a week at The Mermaid Inn, developing their skills to work in the customer service industry. They have been experiencing a range of roles, including working with the Household team, the Kitchen team and the Restaurant team.
The focus for the students has been to understand what is required to be successful in the workplace. This includes learning to work with a wide range of people, including international customers, and working in a historical building, rebuilt in 1420, but connected digitally to the rest of the world.
Megan Beaney is working at present in the kitchen, and Delilah Osborne and Ametx Gonzalez-Menese are working with both the Household and Restaurant teams. They have all expressed how much they have benefitted from the experience and grown in confidence, thanks to the support offered by all the staff they have worked with.
‘Work experience is invaluable to students, teaching them the kind of employability skills that they will need when they leave the world of education,’ says Rye Studio’s Internships Co-Ordinator, Karena Callen. ‘We are incredibly grateful to the management and staff at The Mermaid Inn for allowing students the opportunity to work in such a celebrated hotel and for their generosity in training up our students for the future world of work.
The students are in their first year at the Rye Studio, and they are planning to continue working at The Mermaid Inn through their second year as well.
Photos by Judith Blincow