Spark Tees Valley

The resources on this page were produced to help students understand the process of finding, applying for and being successful in gaining employment. Both examples were made with students who have additional needs but Spark uses the resources in every type of setting.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Felicity! She has a very important job as the Operations Leader for the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which is a massive place that uses the wind to make electricity.

Here is what Felicity does and how she got such a cool job:

• She looks after the wind farm: Felicity leads a team of engineers who stay on land but watch over the wind farm every day. They make sure everything is running smoothly and figure out how to fix things if they break.

• She works in a big team: Felicity doesn’t work alone! She works with lots of different experts, like people who understand electricity and others who know exactly how the giant wind turbines work.

• She is a great communicator: Her main job is talking to people and helping them stay organised. She brings everyone together to solve puzzles and make sure the wind farm keeps spinning for a very long time- up to 40 years!

• Her journey to the job: When she was a student, Felicity studied Geography. Later, she worked on a giant oil platform out in the North Sea as a supervisor before moving to her current job looking after wind power.

• She loves solving problems: Felicity’s favorite part of her job is problem-solving with her team. She says that even if they don’t get something right the first time, they learn from it so they can do better next time.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Claire! She has a very important job in the UK’s green energy industry. Her job title is “Senior Contract Specialist,” which basically means she is a professional shopper for wind farms.

Here is what Claire does and how she got there:

• What is her job? Claire works in the renewable energy sector, helping to find the right people and equipment to keep wind farms running. She looks at different companies to see who can do the best job for the best price.

• Where does she work? She is mostly based in an office, but she also gets to travel to different sites when she is needed.

What skills does she need?

    ◦ Being a great communicator: She has to talk to lots of different people every day, so being good at talking and listening is her most important skill.

    ◦ Being organised: Claire is very busy! She usually works on five or six different projects all at the same time.

    ◦ Flexibility: Her day can change “in a heartbeat” if a wind turbine breaks down and needs to be fixed quickly.

Her school journey: Claire finished school with eight GCSEs and then went to college to study business. Later, she got special qualifications in project management and buying services that let her work in almost any industry in the world.

Claire loves her job because no two days are the same. Even though she isn’t an engineer, she says she is learning all the time about how wind farms work, and she gets a great feeling of satisfaction when she finishes a big deal.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Kaimes, a man with a very important job in the middle of the sea! He works as a Marine Coordinator for a big project called Dogger Bank, which is off the coast of the UK.

Think of him like a traffic warden or a flight controller, but instead of cars or planes, he looks after giant ships. Here is what his exciting job is like:

• Watching the Ships: Kaimes is in charge of watching all the ships that are building things out at sea. He makes sure everyone knows where they are going so they stay safe.

• Checking the Weather: Before the ships start work, Kaimes has to check the weather forecast. If it is going to be too windy or the waves are too big, he helps the ships plan what to do.

• Starting the Day: Every morning, he checks his emails and looks at a “log” (a diary) to see if anything happened while he was asleep.

• Tea Time: Kaimes says the most important part of his morning is having a cup of tea!

How did he get this job? Kaimes studied Physics at university (which is all about how the world works) and then worked on giant hovercrafts that used to zip across the sea to France. After that, he spent 20 years working for the Coastguard, helping to save people who got into trouble in the water.

Is it boring? Not at all! Kaimes says that “no two days are the same”. One minute everything is quiet, and the next minute something unusual happens and he has to be very busy and move people and tools to exactly the right place very quickly.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Louis! Louis has a very exciting job working as a technician at a giant wind farm at sea.

Here is what his adventure-filled job is like:

• Living on a Big Boat: Louis lives on a special ship called a vessel for two weeks at a time. Imagine living on the water for 14 days!

• Climbing Giant Turbines: His main job is to look after the massive wind turbines and the platforms out in the ocean. Even though there are lifts, Louis has to do a lot of climbing, which helps him stay very fit.

• A “Walk to Work” Bridge: To get from his ship to the wind turbine, he uses a cool “walk to work” system, which is like a bridge that connects the boat to the turbine. He spends his whole day out there fixing and checking things before heading back to the ship.

• Solving Puzzles: Louis uses STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths) every single day. He acts like a detective to find problems and then uses his skills to fix or replace broken parts.

• Working in a Team: He is a team leader, which means he helps decide who does what job while making sure everyone stays safe all day long.

How He Started: Louis didn’t go to university; he started an apprenticeship right after finishing school. He spent two years at college and then two more years learning while working out at sea.

Louis says that no two days are the same, and his job always keeps him on his feet!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Biran! He has a very exciting job as a wind turbine engineer. This means he is one of the people in charge of looking after the giant turbines in a wind park to make sure they are working perfectly.

What does Biran do every day?

• He studies reports to see how the turbines are behaving.

• He goes to lots of meetings and workshops to talk with his team about how to make the wind park work even better.

• He uses maths and physics to solve problems.

Why did he choose this job? Biran used to work on big ships, but he didn’t like how much fuel they burned. He wanted to help the planet, so he followed his heart and switched to renewable energy. He started working with wind turbines in his home country, Bulgaria, but his journey eventually brought him here to the UK.

Today, Biran works at the biggest offshore wind park in the entire world!. He says that the best part of his job is seeing the turbines spinning because it means they are making clean and cheap energy for everyone to use.

How can you become an engineer like Biran? If you want to help the planet like Bam does, it helps to do well in school with maths and physics and eventually go to university. It is also very important to learn how to work well with all kinds of different people because it takes a big team to keep the wind turbines spinning.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Liam. He has one of the coolest jobs in the world- he is a palaeontologist.

Here is what it’s like to hunt for fossils in the UK:

• What is a Palaeontologist? A palaeontologist is a scientist who studies fossils to understand what life was like millions of years ago and how it has changed over time.

• Where does he work? Liam spends a lot of his time on the Yorkshire coast. He explores places like Whitby to find hidden treasures in the rocks.

• What does he find? Even though many people think he only looks for dinosaurs, Liam mostly finds fossils of animals that lived in the ancient sea. However, he does sometimes find dinosaur footprints and even rare things like a Jurassic crocodile skull!

• The Best Part of the Job: Liam says the most exciting part is the sense of discovery. When you find a fossil, it might be 200 million years old, and you are the first person ever to see it.

If you love hunting for fossils, you might want to study Earth Science when you are older. Liam says that almost anyone can help with palaeontology because you can come at it from many different directions.

So, next time you are at the beach, keep your eyes peeled- you never know what ancient secret you might find under the next stone!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Grace! She has a very special job as a healthcare support worker and nursing apprentice. This means she is working in a hospital to help people, but she is also studying to become a nurse at the same time.

Grace works on a ward specifically for children. Her day is very busy and includes doing important checks, like measuring how tall the children are and how much they weigh. She also does “observations,” which is a medical word for checking how a patient’s body is doing to make sure they are safe.

One of her main jobs is taking children down to the theater. In a hospital in the UK, the “theatre” isn’t a place where you watch a play or a movie; it is the special room where doctors perform operations to fix people. Grace helps get the children ready for their operation, takes them there, and makes sure they get some food when they come back.

Grace has a special way of connecting with her patients. She grew up with “additional needs,” and she uses the skills and techniques she learned from her own life to help other children who have additional needs too. She believes that having good communication skills- which means listening and talking well—is a very big part of her job.

Grace discovered that sitting in a classroom at university wasn’t the right way for her to learn. Instead, she started working at a hospital called Adam Brooks in June 2020. She loves her job because she really loves working with and helping children.

To help you understand: Being an apprentice like Grace is a bit like learning to bake a cake with a professional chef standing right next to you, instead of just reading a recipe book at home—you get to learn by actually doing the real work!

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Thomas! He is the Chief Geologist at Boulby Mine, which means he is in charge of everything to do with rocks at the mine.

What does he do all day? Thomas says that every day is a different adventure:

• Underground Explorer: One day, he might go underground to look closely at the new rocks they have drilled to see if they are good quality.

• Planner: Another day, he might be in meetings planning exactly where the miners should dig next.

• Traveller: He sometimes travels to visit other mines in countries like Spain, Israel, and China to see how they work.

What do you need to be a Geologist? Thomas says you need to be a “jack of many trades,” which means knowing a little bit about a lot of things. To do his job, you need:

• Maths.

• People skills (being able to work well with others).

• Good eyes: You need to be able to look at a rock, notice all the tiny details, and describe them to other people so they can picture them too.

How did he get this job? Thomas always loved being outdoors. He studied geology at university in Leeds, and then he went to a special college for mining in Cornwall called the Camborne School of Mines. Before he became the boss at Boulby, he worked on projects all over the world, including in Canada and Namibia.

Fun Fact: Before he decided to work in mines, Thomas actually thought about studying rocks on other planets!

Why does he love it? Thomas loves his job because he gets to work with other people who are just as excited and passionate about rocks and science as he is.

Think of it like this: Being a geologist is a bit like being a doctor for the Earth. Just like a doctor examines a patient to see what’s going on inside their body, Thomas examines the Earth to understand what is happening deep underground.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Vic, the Safety Expert!

Imagine having a job where your main goal is to make sure everyone stays safe and happy. That is exactly what Vic does! She is called a Safety Adviser.

Here is what Vic does at work:

• Keeping Everyone Safe: Vic looks after everyone at her workplace, including visitors and the workers. She has a very simple rule for her job: she wants to make sure people “come to work with your fingers and toes and go home with your fingers and toes”.

• Exploring the Site: Vic works in some exciting places, like underground in a mine or at a port in Teesside. She spends a lot of time walking around and having chats with the workers.

• Checking Tools and Feelings: She asks the workers if they are happy and if they have the right tools to do their jobs properly. She is a good listener and gives them advice and support if they have any problems.

How Vic Got Her Job

Before she was a safety expert, Vic spent time looking after her children. When she first started working at this company, she only worked part-time (4 hours a day) so she could still take her children to and from school.

At first, she did work involving computers and the environment, but she moved to the safety team and realised she absolutely loved it.

Why She Loves It

Vic says the best bit of her job is her team because they look after each other. She loves knowing that her chats help people work safely so they can go home to their families at the end of the day.

Think of it like this: Vic is a bit like a playground monitor for grown-ups. Just like a monitor checks that the swings are safe and makes sure nobody runs too fast so they don’t graze their knees, Vic checks that the miners have the right equipment and follows the rules so nobody gets hurt at work.

Spark Tees Valley

In Summary:

Meet Gemma: The Nature Guardian

Gemma has a very important job called an Environment and Sustainability Manager.

Where does she work? Gemma works at a big industrial site (a place where things are built or made). But this place is special because it also has woods, fields, and streams running through it.

What does she do? Gemma’s main goal is to make sure the work happening at the site doesn’t hurt the planet. She tries to have a positive impact on nature. Here is what her day looks like:

• She acts like a scientist: She collects clues (data) from around the site. She checks if there is too much dust in the air and measures how loud the noise is.

• She checks the water: She takes samples of the water to make sure the streams are clean.

• She looks after wildlife: She works with animal experts to see what creatures are living in the fields and woods.

• She checks for litter: She walks around to make sure the site is tidy and there isn’t too much rubbish lying around.

• She is a rule-keeper: Just like you have rules at school, there are laws to protect the environment. Gemma checks that everyone is following these laws perfectly.

How did she get this job?

• University: She went to Leeds Uni to study Earth System Science.

• Volunteering: She spent time volunteering (helping out for free). She helped fix hedges and worked on landscapes for different councils.

What is the best part? Gemma says her favourite thing is going into the woods on a sunny day. She loves checking the bat boxes and bird boxes to see what animals are living inside them.

Could you do this job? To be like Gemma, you need to:

• Really love nature and be enthusiastic about it.

• Be happy working outside, even when it is raining!.

• Be good at talking to people so you can explain how to look after the environment.

Think of it like this: Gemma is like a health inspector for the planet. Just like a doctor checks your temperature and listens to your heart to make sure you aren’t sick, Gemma checks the air, water, and soil to make sure the environment stays healthy and strong.