Guest speakers in Upper School

Over the past few weeks, we have been lucky to have had several guest speakers come into school to deliver insightful talks to our students.

Bertrand Quesada, Co-Founder and CEO at Teads came to give a talk on entrepreneurship to our Y11 and Y12 students. The main pieces of business advice he gave were: to start as early as possible in one’s career, when personal obligations are less restrictive and not to worry too much about the business idea, as what really counts is finding the right people to work with.

Jennifer May Lee MD, Respiratory Consultant and Chief Medical Officer at RecoverX delivered a talk on vaping to our Y11, Y12 and Y13 students. She spoke from a medical point of view about addiction and the harmful effects of nicotine. She also spoke from a marketing perspective, explaining the advertising strategies used to make e-cigarettes appeal to young people. The key message: vaping is not a solution to quitting smoking.

We also welcomed two university graduates who came to share their study experiences. Georgia Grand, French baccalauréat holder and Electronics Engineer graduate from Imperial College London explained how she made her Higher Education choices and gave both an academic and personal insight into student life at Imperial. She advised students not to stress about Sixth Form choices and instead emphasised the importance of choosing what they enjoy most, as it’s in these subjects where they are most likely to perform well. She also touched upon personal statements, recommending that students don’t focus on the number of experiences in their statements but instead on what they gained from each one.

Students were also very interested in hearing about the surprising study path of St Andrews’ graduate Alexanne Dieu. She completed the scientific baccalauréat and then went on to study Philosophy, Russian and International Relations at St Andrews. After graduating, she did a one-year internship in Singapore and took up her first job in consulting. Some students were surprised by her choices of both scientific and literary subjects but she explained the benefits of such variety and how each one has helped her in her work today. She advised all students to explore and to keep doing what they are good at.

A big thank you to all of our guest speakers for sharing their experiences and advice with our students.