By Claudia Panetta, St Catherine's

Over the last two weeks, some of the girls that attend St Catherine's RC School in Bexleyheath have had the opportunity to spend two weeks working in a career which may be of interest for them in the nearer future.

Throughout the two weeks there has been positive and negative feedback from the girls that attended their work placement. I interviewed some girls and each and every girl were glad and very happy to have completed their work experience because that is what it's about, to give young people the chance to leave their everyday life of going to school and being treated like a child, to being treated and respected like an adult, and to have an insight into working life, with all the responsibilities.

It was also a benefit for the students as some of them can now determine and establish what they want to look into for the future, or to go back and rethink of something else, depending on their experiences.

Not only does it benefit the students but also the employees, maybe now the filing which they didn't have time to do can be done, or any other unfinished chores, leaving the employer with spare time, or even just someone there to be able to talk to and share thoughts and feelings with about work.

All in all, I think that work experience is a great opportunity and benefit for all young people seeking for careers, no matter how good or bad their experience was, it's only experience after all and that's what learning is all about, to make mistakes and then go back to correct them.

It gives students a great headstart in life and allows adults to bond and understand young people more. It gets a big thumbs up from me and I don't think any young person should go without.