Thomas Peacocke Community College, East Sussex

SWiS and reception staff

Jo Davis shares her experience of the SWiS and how it has helped her to realise the importance of her role.

Since leaving school I have worked in numerous customer service related jobs, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I have worked as the Receptionist here at Thomas Peacocke for a couple of years, a job I love. It is here I completed my SWiS and NVQ in Customer Service. I am very proud of myself for achieving these awards as I was not a very academic student or very interested in school. I was more concerned with organising my social life and weekend activities. Therefore I left school with no qualifications.

I was allocated my own Assessor, who visited me at work, so there was no need for me to attend College. Not doing an exam at the end of the qualification, but being assessed throughout, was an added bonus.

I really enjoyed working towards the two Awards which gave me accreditation for the work I do. Before doing the Awards I would have classed myself as "just the Receptionist and I answer the ‘phones all day" but collecting the various sorts of evidence made me realise the scale of the work I do and the contribution I make to the general running of the school and the well being of the students and staff alike.