On Friday 26^th January, we held our annual Careers Fair for Year 10 and Sixth Form students. The event featured over 45 esteemed speakers working at the forefront of their professions in a wide range of fields, such as television, technology, finance, law and medicine. The event was extremely well received by all - over 300 students took on board valuable advice and insight provided by our speakers, specifically about their profession as well as life in general. 

This is something that resonated with Year 12 student Shraddha, who explained “My experience at the Careers Fair was truly invaluable. The whole event was organised perfectly wherein I had the experience to speak to several professionals in my field of interest, and I learnt so much from each of them. I have no doubt that their experiences will guide me towards a better career pathway in the future.”

Year 10 students Martha and Hamna also found the experience to be extremely beneficial, adding that “Speaking to this wide array of specialists allowed us not only to explore potential career paths but to practise engaging and asking questions in a formal environment. We were encouraged to think of how these jobs could affect our future careers, or how they relate to relevant skills. For example, advice from an actor could help someone whose future career could involve public speaking such as a lawyer, a teacher or a politician. Overall, this experience was incredibly informative and exciting, a big success!”

The Latymer School is incredibly fortunate to be able to call upon such a plethora of talented and enthusiastic alumni, who generously gave their time to give a glimpse into the working world for our students. Furthermore, the diverse range of career opportunities undoubtedly left the students with much excitement and hope for their professional prospects.

Nicola Poulloura, class of 2002 and Head of Leveraged Finance Research at M&G, spoke at the event for the first time and commented “I really enjoyed the opportunity to connect with current students thinking about their next steps after school and see how far the school has come since I left more than 20 years ago. The Latymer School was the catalyst that propelled me to where I am today career-wise, and I was more than pleased to give back to the school community and hopefully make a positive difference to the future career choices of its students.”

This sentiment was echoed by Robin Brant, BBC News Presenter & class of 1992, another first-time speaker. "This was a hall full of curious and inquisitive pupils, most of whom were engaging and attentive. The quick rotation, with short bursts of questions and answers, worked well and I was pleased to be able to speak with - and hear from - so many students across the day. If one of them walked away thinking journalism might be for me, then I'm delighted. To the one pupil who recognised Michael Buerk's opening script line, well done. If any others in the working world are wondering if there's merit in giving up a few hours of their time for an event like this I would say the answer is very firmly yes."

We would like to thank all our speakers for participating in the event and sharing their expertise, making this year’s career fair an enlightening and memorable experience. What a great way to start our special 400th anniversary this year!