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In June, the Higher Education and Careers department hosted the second Lower Sixth Old Millfieldian Careers Convention, involving some twenty eight Old Millfieldians and current parents. This year’s event began with a superb welcome barbeque given by Craig and Penny Considine in the cricket pavilion. The following morning all the participants gave presentations on their respective careers to our current Lower Sixth. The challenge of interacting successfully with 17 year olds, and attempting to interest them in a particular career field, is one of the aspects of this event that makes it so enjoyable for OMs - several having returned after last year’s convention. These included Piers Doggart, barrister, Anthony Dickens and Sir Harry Cowell who greatly entertained audiences about design and music production respectively, Sian Gwillliam who dispelled myths about television, whilst Guy Bennett crossed the pond once more to clarify art auctioneering. Paul Morland explained the City and Mark Captain enthused on marketing. New participants included Sandy Strallen who made students question stereotypes in dance, Laura Zaky who showed a degree is not always necessary and Sarah Gibbings who ran a practical session in strategic communication assessing the school’s web-site which aroused much debate. Emlyn Evans very skilfully interested 17 year olds in storage and removals, whilst Burak Salgin inspired future doctors in both English and German. Aaron Clements-Partridge explained the workings of the Bank of England, Natalie Adams enlightened students on shipping and Sean Dromgoole pointed out the realities of the gaming industry. Kate Potts, fresh from Dubai’s sun, explained the working of Deloitte. There is not space to write about all the gathered alumni but the diversity and talent in evidence was immense and offered a great opportunity for both current students and OMs themselves to make useful contacts.
The enthusiasm of the OMs for the school and their desire to give something back is very striking on this day and I am very grateful for all the generous offers made again this year.
It is anticipated that the event will be repeated in 2010 on Saturday 19th June. Please contact me on pak@millfieldschool.com or 01458 444338, if you are interested in taking part. The convention will be primarily for L6 students, with a range of 35 minute seminars for 8 – 10 students. The format of these will be left to the individual speaker, although it is expected that most would be made up of a short presentation on the relevant field followed by discussion. The event will begin at 9.00 am and conclude with lunch. Millfield will be happy to provide overnight accommodation for those of you who might require this on the Friday evening beforehand.
Work Experience Appeal
In the light of the help and support OMs have shown to the School with regard to recent events such as the Careers’ Convention, Millfield has decided to launch a work experience programme designed to give pupils in the 4th and 5th years an opportunity to experience different industries before making life-changing A level decisions. It is very difficult for young people to make these types of decisions unless they have tried working in industry or commerce and, therefore, we believe that work experience is a very important step in this process. A week or so working for a company offers a unique insight into how working life will affect them in the future and may actually help motivate them in the studies at school. It is our strong belief that all pupils at Millfield should have had an opportunity to attend some sort of work experience and with your help this may become a reality.
If you run your own company or you are in a position to offer work experience to our delightful pupils, probably in their Summer Holiday for short periods of time, can you please contact Gary Shayler, Deputy Head of Higher Education and Careers by email at gts@millfieldschool.com.
Paul Kelly, Head of Higher Education and Careers