Careers

Dear Parents,

Following the success of this year's HE week (programme found here), I have great pleasure in attaching the presentations that were given during the week.  These were:-

  1. 'A Really Useful University Guide' given by Mr Julian Lovelock from Buckingham University
  2. 'Laureate International Universities - Hospitality and Event Management' given by Celia Golding from Laureate.
  3. 'Studying in Australia and New Zealand' given by Deborah Anderson from 'Study Options'.
  4. 'Applying to US universities' given by Jon Tabbert.
  5. 'Apprenticeships - a great idea for young people' given by Alexa Volker from the 'National Apprenticeship Service'.
  6. 'Surviving the First Semester at University' given by Katherine Lloyd Clark (Head of Admissions at Bath University).
  7. ‘Shiplake HE Week Overview – applying to university and the personal statement’ given by Mr Mackey and Mr Pavey.

I hope to be provided with the presentations given on 'Internships to top companies' and 'Maastricht University' soon.  These will be made available through this same route once I have them.  In the meantime the information about Maastricht can be found through their website http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/ .  This is a university with a good reputation, 85% of pupils are employed within 3 months of graduating, it is considerably cheaper than UK universities and applications can be made up until September 1st for entry that year.  The courses are quite demanding once they have been started but entry requirements are significantly lower than the UK for comparable universities.

I would like to emphasise again that we are not pushing pupils in any particular direction but we would like to make them fully aware of their options.  We still want all pupils to run UCAS applications alongside any other applications they may be making.  Keeping options open for as long as possible is nearly always the right thing to do for 17/18 yr old students.

As well as presentations by speakers we also completed exercises on 'searching courses and universities'. One was completed by students alone and the other by parents with their sons or daughters. Furthermore, an example of a personal statement as well as a proforma detailing how to write these was handed out and is included here.

If there are any questions please ask.

Regards,

Brendan Pavey
Head of Sixth Form