Preparing our pupils for the future

Our Assembly Hall was almost full to capacity with pupils and parents who came along to our FutureCareers Seminar on Engineering. This is part of a series of Seminars, all of which realise one of our Values, Independence, by preparing pupils for the future.

We were very fortunate to be joined by four guest speakers who represented a good cross-section of the engineering industry. 

Bob Barton (current parent) and Director of Barton Engineering set the scene, providing advice on the various professional bodies, qualifications and routes into engineering. He was followed by Old Reedonian, Harry Curtis (Capel 2010), who spoke about why he made the decision to study electronic engineering at university and what that involved, culminating in him now being a product development engineer at Vision Engineering.

Another Old Reedonian, Ismail Laher (Blathwayt 1994), of Bradbrook Consulting gave an in-depth and fascinating account of ‘A day in the life of a civil engineer’ and Simon Lacey (current parent) spoke about his passion for his work and what he looks for when recruiting engineers into McLaren Automotive, a vital area for our pupils to understand.

All our speakers agreed that if you are a person who is: good at Maths and Physics; interested in and understand engineering theory and principles; constantly building or maintaining things;  always looking for new solutions; logical; a team player; curious to keep learning and asking questions and motivated by tangible outcomes, then an engineering career could be for you. 

The presentations and Q&A session gave much food for thought afterwards and we look forward to our next FutureCareers Seminar on Business Management later this term.

Sharmaine Matthews, Assist Alumni Director & Sarah Butler, Director of Higher Education and Careers