A group of year 8 students from Waverley School found out more about the legal world when they visited the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) headquarters at The Cube in the City of Birmingham.

On arrival the 18 students and 3 members of staff were welcomed by Antony Townsend, Chief Executive who explained the role of the SRA “We regulate solicitors and firms in England and Wales to make sure they deliver good legal services to the public. We are keen to recruit a wealth of talent from the Birmingham area, and as relative newcomers to the city we realise that not many people outside of the legal profession know what we do. As an employer, we offer a wide range of opportunities from customer service and communication roles right through to forensic investigators and adjudicators. I am delighted to respond to a request from Mosaic for a World of Work visit and hope that today has given our young visitors an insight into what they could consider for their careers”.

The visit was co-ordinated by Nabila Zulfiqar, Chief Adjudicator at the SRA and Mentor at Waverley School. Working in small groups and supported by over a dozen members of staff from the SRA students participated in a number of presentations and activities, covering a variety of departments ranging from Intelligence and Investigation, Management Information, Contact Centre, Education and Training Unit, Supervision and Interventions.

When asked what the most interesting part of the visit was student Ifra Hussain commented “I liked the Investigation and Intelligence team because they have a very interesting job, as well as being a helpful team to the public”. During the Management Information activity students learnt how to use, manipulate and analyse data resulting in student Hunzala Reyaz feeling that this department was the most interesting as he learnt “How to do stuff on Excel”.

Annalisa Lockett, West Midlands Regional Manager at Mosaic added “Today has been an incredible learning journey for the students, staff and myself. Our understanding of the role of regulatory bodies such as the SRA has increased tremendously; little did we know that within an organisation such as this could there be so many varied jobs. The staff that supported today helped to illustrate the broad variety of roles in a fun and engaging manner. Activities ranged from word bingo, manipulating Excel spread sheets, role playing, a fraud investigation exercise to a risk assessment!

We spent five hours in the company of very busy professional people – people who gave up time and energy to raise the aspirations of our students. A very special thanks to Antony, Nabila, Erika, Mandy, Andy, Leigh, Katie, Barbara, Phil, Amanda, Hinesh, Clifford, the 2 Johns, the 2 Lauras, Paul, Joan and Michael”.

Of her experience of supporting Mosaic as a Mentor and hosting a World of Work visit Nabila Zulfiqar summarised “I volunteered to be a mentor for Mosaic as I grew up in an inner city community where opportunities and careers information was limited. I feel that I have achieved a lot through dedication, hard work and some luck. There is a lot of information available now but I think there is no substitute for meeting and talking to as many people as possible about their experiences. Mentoring for Mosaic offers this opportunity and I also have been impressed by the pupils thirst for knowledge about what we do.

Supporting the visit has enabled us to give an insight to pupils about the types of roles available in organisations such as ours, which may help them to consider careers they may not otherwise have thought of. I hope that we have helped to encourage the pupils to think more widely about the choices they have and that they can do their own research into fields of interest to them, including forensic investigators, intelligence officers, risk analysts, customer support officers and IT technicians. As a large employer in Birmingham we understand the importance of working with local communities and the benefits such projects bring to everyone involved”.

If you would like to help Mosaic organise more inspirational trips like this for young people from disadvantaged communities, please contact us.

Mosaic West Midlands are also now recruiting mentors to support schools in Autumn 2013. For further information please contact