Skills for Life Afternoon with QEH

Recently, the Lower Sixth boys from QEH joined our 6B girls for an afternoon of thinking about life beyond school.  An opening speech from Mrs Tear, which highlighted the need to research and reflect in order to find a career path, was followed by the keynote speaker Alistair Currie.  Alistair gave an inspiring and insightful speech about his own career journey, what he had learnt along the way and a reflection on the skills he had used, and developed, to succeed in his various business projects.  Two recent graduates then shared their experiences of working for Deloitte and highlighted that a good degree in any subject is more important than the specific subject that one chooses to study at university.  They went on to publicise the highly competitive Deloitte Scholars programme, which caught the interest of many in the room.  Pupils then embarked upon group work, guided by Kerry James from the University of Law, Bristol, who talked through legal problems and the areas of law involved.  The question of whether a Jaffa Cake is indeed a cake or a biscuit was hotly debated before the legal definition was revealed. Kerry emphasised the skills needed in order to succeed in a career in law and the opportunities that students can take in order to make themselves more employable.

After a delightful tea, the delegates regrouped and reflected on the speakers’ experiences and advice.  They considered a list of nine key transferable skills and discussed which they saw as the most important, finding examples of them from their school work, extracurricular activities and other interests.  The skill of communication, which many groups considered to be the most significant, was demonstrated extremely effectively by the representatives who relayed their group’s ideas.  The importance of teamwork was put to the test with a ‘paper aeroplane’ challenge, which had to be completed within four minutes.  This was won by group five who managed to design a model that flew the whole length of the School Hall, while many others achieved great height rather than distance!

Pupils then discussed what they had gained from the afternoon and their observations included:-

“We learnt about different career paths, how to speak to girls and how to impress them!”

The atmosphere in the Hall was fantastic during the group work sessions with everyone realising the importance of contributing to their team.  The afternoon was highly successful and we hope to hold similar events in the future. 

Mrs Dodd