Twelve students from a secondary school visited Essex County Fire and Rescue Service headquarters to learn about the variety of career opportunities on offer.

Students from The Ongar Academy met with different members of staff at the emergency service in Kelvedon on Wednesday, January 16.

Watch manager Dave Bond from Blue Watch at Orsett Fire Station organised the visit after working with charity, Unity Enterprises East Anglia.

Pupils spoke to different members about their roles, including the Ambulance Service and charity sector.

Epping Forest Guardian:

Students met with different members of staff from the emergency service during their visit

Mr Bond also spoke to the group about his career and how he has drawn on experience from other jobs he had before he joined.

He said: "You never know what experience you'll end up drawing on in situations and I spoke to the group about how when working as a sound engineer around the world.

“I learnt to communicate with people who spoke different languages and this has served me well to communicate with the different communities in Essex.

“The skills I learnt setting up my own business have helped with project management."

Epping Forest Guardian:

The visit was concluded by visiting the Service Training Centre in Witham

The group then had a tour of the service headquarters, the control room and the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner's office before heading off to the service training centre in Witham.

The students thanked Mr Bond and the team for the experience and commented on how passionate everyone in the service was about their roles.