Opportunities in and near Uttoxeter

You may support constituency casework, research local issues, draft press releases or answer constituents’ queries by phone or email. Tasks can vary by your age and ability, and you may accompany the MP to meetings or events in the House or constituency.

Thin holly, remove rhododendron and help maintain woodland paths in Shining Cliff Woods, in a small teen group led by an experienced outdoor practitioner. Sessions may also include whittling, fire lighting or campfire cooking.

Use bark patterns, twig shapes and other winter clues to identify trees without their leaves in a hands-on outdoor workshop. Build confidence spotting differences between species with guidance from an experienced guide, and warm up with provided hot drinks.

Naturalist Malcolm Neal explores the common species we overlook and unexpected creatures living close to home. Take a fresh look at birds and local fauna at St Peter’s Church Hall in Littleover; no booking required.

Serve customers, process sales and welcome donated goods at a charity shop in Burton-on-Trent. With full training and ongoing support, you’ll build practical retail and teamwork skills, with the option to progress into a till user or key volunteer role.

Rotate through practical sessions including Blood Smears and Genes in a Bottle, explore the university’s specialist bioscience facilities and the new Superlab, and hear from active researcher-academics. A subject-focused lecture and tour of teaching laboratories show how Biomedical Science is studied at university.

Explore how lasers detect ultrasound in metals, then discover a newer way to ‘see’ sound using liquid crystals. Professor Rachel Edwards connects this physics to smart paints and quicker, easier testing methods.

Spend a full week at police headquarters exploring modern policing through interactive sessions with different teams. Activities may include police dogs, investigations, roads policing, firearms, forensics and 999 call taking.

Practise basic skills used by medical staff in a classroom-based two-day hospital programme, meet volunteer patients, ask medical students and resident doctors questions, and hear a talk from a medical school representative.

Explore how satellites are moving from manual ground control to autonomous systems that coordinate navigation and avoid collisions - and how digital deception could change their behaviour. Space technology researcher Beth Probert connects physics and cybersecurity to the challenge of protecting Earth’s orbital skies.

Explore how astronomers combine simulations and observations to investigate the hidden physics inside a collapsing star. Dr Vishnu Varma of Keele University also examines how future detections of neutrinos and gravitational waves could refine theories of stellar explosions.

Watch Professor Jim Al-Khalili’s Christmas Lecture being recorded live at Keele University, with demonstrations and guest contributions exploring time travel, time’s direction and Einstein’s relativity. Trace timekeeping from sundials and water clocks to atomic clocks, with tea and coffee available beforehand.

Trace how light creates rainbows, fog bows, glories and sun dogs, then venture beyond Earth to sulphuric acid glories on Venus and infrared rainbows on Titan. Dr John Hardwick’s live lecture at QUAD in Derby runs for one hour.

Explore campus with a current student guide on a tailored, two-hour tour. Visit the Sports Centre, library, Union of Students, social spaces and accommodation, plus teaching sites relevant to your chosen course.

Explore a 600-acre campus, tour teaching facilities and meet academic staff at an undergraduate Open Day. Get a feel for student life and learn about course options.

Explore psychiatry, mental health nursing and children’s services through interactive online work experience. Take quizzes, try activities and hear from industry experts in recordings of live talks, learning how teams support people with different conditions and treatments. Complete the programme for a certificate.

Explore virtual social care work experience that shows how professionals support people in everyday and community settings. Map career routes from direct care to coordination, and practise communication, teamwork, CV writing and interview preparation.

Visit campus, explore subject sessions and accommodation, and speak directly with academic staff and current students. Get help with UCAS applications and personal statements, or find out about degree apprenticeships at the information session and stand.

Explore an employer exhibition, talk with local and national employers, and join workshops unpacking degree apprenticeships and university routes. You can also tour the Kedleston Road campus and visit stands on admissions, student support and degree subjects.

Spend a week or two at a UK office, learning accountancy, tax and business advisory work alongside an experienced mentor. Take on hands-on tasks that contribute to real projects, build practical skills and connect with trainees, colleagues and other work-experience students.