Learn how work actually works
A simulated first job. Real customers email in, the numbers have to add up, and the stock has to get listed — so that by the time your child has an actual job, none of it is new.
- No card required
- Children need no email address
- Parent controls the account
Dawn Whitcombe · Braybrook Primary
09:14Could you let me know how much the storage crates are? And do you actually have any…
Iwan Prys · Prys Building Services
08:52We're after 6 of the safety goggles. What does that come to altogether, and how quickly…
Priya Ramanathan · The Corner Pantry
YesterdayI'm looking at 30 of the vacuum flasks for a refit. I assume there's something off…
Last task
92%
Quoted the right price
Four things employers say school leavers arrive without
Communication
Writing a reply someone can actually use
Numeracy & data
Margins, VAT, totals that have to be right
Commerce
Pricing something so it sells and still profits
Process & judgement
Following the rules, and knowing when to ask
A shift, not a worksheet
Nobody clicks 'next question'. The work turns up, and it has to be dealt with.
Work arrives
Customers email in through the day — they don't wait to be asked. Three at a time, so it never becomes a pile.
They do the job
Look the product up, work out the discount, add the VAT, write the reply. The same lookup-and-answer loop as a real desk.
They get marked
Feedback on every point: right price, question answered, professional tone. Then a promotion when it's earned.
Seven desks, two employers
They don't start again somewhere new. They get moved to another desk — and eventually to another company — the way a real apprenticeship works. The job title, the pay and the work history follow them across.
The employer
Marchwood Supplies
A small trade supplier selling storage, tools and office basics to schools, builders and cafés.
Customers, orders and prices. The desks here are the ones most first jobs actually look like.
Customer Service
Customer service desk
Something's gone wrong and someone wants it fixed.
Orders arrive damaged, refunds get asked for late, and people are cross. You'll work out what we're actually allowed to offer, say no without making things worse, and know when to hand it upwards.
What they'll learn to do
- Staying calm when the other person isn't
- Applying a policy exactly, under pressure
- Saying no without losing the customer
- Deciding what to escalate, and when
- Apologising without over-promising
Typical jobs
- “An order arrived damaged and they want a full refund”
- “A return request three days outside the policy”
- “Five emails at once — decide what gets answered first”
Why it's worth it
The hardest part of a first job is handling someone who is upset with you. This is the safest place there is to practise it.
Sales
Sales desk
Quotes, chasing, and what you're allowed to give away.
Customers want prices and we want the order. You'll price enquiries, build multi-line quotes, chase the ones who've gone quiet, and work out how much discount you can actually authorise.
What they'll learn to do
- Building an accurate multi-line quote
- Working inside a discount authority limit
- Following up without nagging
- Spotting when a deal needs a manager
- Getting VAT and totals right under time pressure
Typical jobs
- “Quote eight different products for a school refit”
- “A customer wants 20% off and you can only give 10%”
- “Chase a quote nobody has answered for a week”
Why it's worth it
Sales is the most common first job there is — retail, hospitality, call centres. This is the arithmetic and the nerve it takes.
Business Admin
Admin office
Invoices that don't match, letters that have to be right.
The work that keeps a company running. You'll check invoices against what actually turned up, chase money we're owed, and write documents that leave the building with our name on them.
What they'll learn to do
- Spotting a discrepancy in a column of numbers
- Checking one document against another
- Writing a formal letter
- Being accurate when it's boring
- Keeping a record someone else can follow
Typical jobs
- “An invoice charges for 12 but only 10 arrived”
- “Write a formal letter chasing an unpaid account”
- “Reconcile a delivery note against the order”
Why it's worth it
Attention to detail is what employers say is missing most often — and it is the easiest thing to practise, and the easiest to measure honestly.
E-commerce
E-commerce desk
Price it, describe it, get it in front of buyers.
Our stock has to go online and sell itself. You'll price to a margin target, write titles people actually search for, and get the category and postage band right.
What they'll learn to do
- Pricing to hit a margin target
- Writing a title people search for
- Choosing the right category
- Working out postage from weight
- Describing something honestly and persuasively
Typical jobs
- “List a folding workbench at 45% margin”
- “Work out the postage band from the item's weight”
- “Write a description that beats three competitors”
Why it's worth it
A lot of young people's first money comes from selling something online. This is how to do it properly, and profitably.
The employer
Fenwick & Rowe
A two-partner accountancy practice looking after builders, cafés, nurseries and a couple of small manufacturers.
Numbers that have to be right. VAT, payroll and chasing money — the work behind every business, and the part school never shows them.
Book Keeping
Bookkeeping room
Someone has to check the numbers are actually true.
Clients send us a box of invoices and a bank statement and expect a set of books back. You'll check what was billed against what was agreed, work out the VAT, and find the errors nobody else spotted.
What they'll learn to do
- Checking one document against another
- Spotting an error in a column of numbers
- Working out VAT on a mixed invoice
- Knowing when a figure is wrong rather than just odd
- Keeping a record someone else can follow
Typical jobs
- “Check a supplier invoice against the agreed prices”
- “Work out the VAT across a month of sales”
- “Find the two errors on a six-line invoice”
Why it's worth it
Bookkeeping is where careless work gets caught. It teaches the habit of checking a figure rather than accepting it — which is useful long before anyone files a tax return.
Payroll
Payroll office
The difference between your salary and your money.
Every month, real people get paid what you calculate. You'll work out income tax, National Insurance and pension from gross pay, and produce the figure that actually lands in someone's bank account.
What they'll learn to do
- Working out income tax from gross pay
- Applying a threshold correctly
- Calculating a percentage deduction
- Understanding what a payslip is actually telling you
- Getting a total right when people depend on it
Typical jobs
- “Run a four-person payroll and total the take-home”
- “Work out National Insurance above the monthly threshold”
- “Explain to an employee why their take-home fell”
Why it's worth it
Almost every young person is baffled by their first payslip. This explains it before it happens — and it is the clearest reason to care about percentages anyone will give them.
Credit Control
Credit control desk
Asking for money, without losing the client.
Every business is owed money by somebody. You'll work the ledger, decide who needs chasing and who needs leaving alone, and write the letter that actually gets paid — firm enough to work, warm enough to keep them.
What they'll learn to do
- Asking for money without apologising for it
- Pitching the tone to how late it is
- Spotting an invoice that shouldn't be chased at all
- Working out what's actually still owed
- Keeping a record of what's been said
Typical jobs
- “An invoice 96 days over with two reminders already sent”
- “A client who paid half and went quiet”
- “A disputed invoice you must NOT chase — spot it before you write”
Why it's worth it
Chasing an overdue payment is one of the most uncomfortable things anyone does at work, and almost nobody is taught how. This is the safest possible place to learn the words.
Customer Service is free forever. The other six come with a subscription — £2.99 a month per child, whichever desks they move between.
This is a real one
Nothing here is multiple choice. They have to find the answer, then write it down properly.
Priya Ramanathan · The Corner Pantry
Subject: Bulk pricing — 30 units
Hi,
I'm looking at 30 of the vacuum flasks for a refit. I assume there's something off the price at that sort of quantity?
Can you send me the total including VAT so I can put it to the finance lot. They'll want the final number, not a "from" price.
Regards,
Priya
To answer this, they have to
- Find the flask in a 24-product catalogue
- Spot that 30 units hits the 10% discount band
- Take the discount off before adding 20% VAT
- Not promise next-day delivery — the handbook forbids it
How it gets marked
92%- Correct final total including VAT10
- Identified the right discount band5
- Didn't promise next-day delivery3
- Opens with a proper greeting2
- !Signs off properly0/2
End with something like "Kind regards," and your name.
Specific feedback on what to fix — not just a score.
Spreadsheet work
Margin, profit, VAT and grand totals across a product range.
Marketplace listings
Title, category, postage band and a price that hits a margin target.
A live inbox
Mail arrives while they work, paced so it never overwhelms.
You see what a manager would see
Not a parental-controls panel — a performance view. How many jobs they finished, what they scored, which skill is lagging, and the actual words they wrote to a customer.
Scores by skill
See that the maths is fine but the writing needs work.
Progress over time
Whether they're actually getting better, or just doing more.
Their real submissions
Read the email they sent, and the feedback they got back.
Children sign in with a team code and username — never an email address. You create their account, and you can delete it and everything in it at any time.
Ava
Assistant · 12 jobs completed
Worth a conversation
Keeps missing the sign-off on customer emails.
They get promoted
The reward for doing well is a harder job and a better title — which is exactly how it works later.
Junior Assistant
Ages 10–12
One question at a time, plenty of prompting, forgiving numbers.
Assistant
Ages 13–15
Multi-part orders, lead times, less hand-holding, a busier inbox.
Supervisor
Ages 16–18
Discount bands, VAT, margin targets — and checking others' work.
One price. Per child.
No tiers, no feature gates, nothing held back for a bigger plan. Every child gets everything.
£2.99
per child, per month
Billed monthly, cancel whenever you like
Start freeFirst two weeks free · no card required
Included for every child
- Every task type
- All sectors as they launch
- The full parent dashboard
- Their complete submission history
- Promotions through all three levels
- Cancel any time, no notice
So that's
Add or remove a child whenever you like — you're only billed for the ones you're using.
More than ten children, or a whole class? Talk to us about schools
The things people ask first
Does my child need an email address?+
No. You create their account, and they sign in with your team code and a username — no password to forget. We never ask a child for an email address, a phone number or a photo.
Do the emails actually get sent anywhere?+
No. The inbox is entirely inside the app. Nothing your child writes leaves the system, and no real person ever receives it.
How is the writing marked?+
Every task has a checklist: the right figure, the question answered, a greeting, a sign-off, workplace language. Each point is marked individually, so the feedback says what to fix rather than just giving a score.
What ages is it for?+
10 to 18. Difficulty is set by age band at first and then by promotion, so a 10-year-old and a 17-year-old are doing recognisably the same job at very different levels.
What does it cost?+
£2.99 per child per month, or £29.99 a year per child if you pay annually — that's 16% off, near enough two months free. Either way it includes everything; there is no bigger plan with the good bits behind it. The first 14 days are free and don't ask for a card, and you can add or remove a child whenever you like.
Can I delete everything?+
Yes. You own the account, and deleting it removes every child profile, submission and message with it.
Give them a first job
before the first job.
Whether you're setting this up for someone or doing it yourself, there'll be an email waiting in about ninety seconds.