Please can you help?
In the coming months we would usually be spending time in school with our Year 12 students encouraging them to think about their futures and getting them to take advantage of everything on offer to help them with that. That would include our Higher Education & Apprenticeship Day to which we have been delighted in recent years to welcome OWs who have inspired students with talks about their life/careers to date and what they wish they had known/appreciated more when they were 17.

With remote learning, school closure and uncertainty over next half term we’re unable to do much of what we normally do so with your help we can do something different!

How can you help?

Please send us a short recording (in any format) of around 3 mins which we will then upload and make available to our current Year 12s. Our aim is for you to share your experiences and expertise to inspire our Year 12s at a time when they are making decisions about their next steps. You can be as creative as you like (within reason!) - we essentially want you to share the decisions you made and your journey to where you are now.  This, we hope, will encourage our current students to think about the vast range of opportunities and careers on offer and to remind them there really are no limits.

Why are we asking for your help?

Our aim is to ‘broaden horizons’ both in courses and career options. 85-90% of RGS students go on to Higher Education and – despite our best efforts – not all students fully appreciate the wealth and breadth of opportunities available to them. For some, their future careers do not yet exist. For all of them, developing vital transferable life skills is an important message. We know that advice and experience from former students can have far more impact than a website or teacher talk.

Content

We really aren’t asking for a production of ‘The Lord of the Rings’! If you can spare a few minutes of your time, these are the sort of things you could include:

Introduction: basic information such as name and when you were at school. This could include what you do now though that can be given later depending on how you decide to present it.
School information: what you studied for A Level and things you did in the Sixth Form (sports, arts or other interests especially if they helped you in choosing a career or building confidence etc), what you were like at School and what you did next.
Current role: where you are now (university or career), what you love about it, how you decided upon it, what motivated you to choose it or how you got into it etc.
Your route to where you are now: it would be so helpful if you could explain how you got to where you are now and to share if there was anything ‘unconventional’ or unusual about your journey.  It’s important that our Year 12 students understand that life is not always ‘set in stone’ and different paths can lead to different places, and that this may not be obvious at the point they are currently.
Any advice for them at their age: the sort of advice that you would give now to your 17 year old self, or just something important you want to pass on to the next generation of RGS students.
 
Interaction
Please indicate when you send us the recording if you’re happy to be contacted by a student if they have any follow up questions. We would expect a student to use their school email for this whilst they are still at school.

When do we need the recording by?
It would be great if you could submit your recording by Monday 15^th June 2020.  
 
And finally…
These are challenging times for us all. RGS staff are working hard to keep RGS students focussed on their A level studies but as UCAS looms for many under a very different circumstance to previous years we need to help them in any way possible to make the best decisions for their futures. This is an opportunity for you to share your expertise and to know that you have inspired the students.
Please remember that Year 12 are mostly 17 years old. We still have school regulations to adhere to including language and appearance (including what can be seen in the background) which has to be appropriate for a school environment. All submissions will be checked before release and only RGS students will have access to the videos.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. If I can ever repay the favour by walking you around your alma mater and reliving a few memories, please do get in touch.

Very best wishes,
Hilary Munday
Assistant Head
hrm@rgshw.com