Why our alumni are so important to us?

Our former students have gone on to experience many different things, and to lead lives that may or may not have been what they expected when they left school.  Our current students really appreciate and listen to voices from outside the school, and are interested to know what the future may hold for them.  By bringing together the life lessons of our alumni and the potential of our current students, we hope to achieve the following:

a) RAISING ASPIRATIONS	We want to inspire our current students about the world of work and the opportunities that exist for them. We feel that one of the ways that we can achieve this is to show students what their predecessors have gone on to do.
b) RAISING CONFIDENCE	The ability to draw the inference that “they are the same as me…they have done it…I can do it” is potentially a powerful one and should increase our students’ confidence in their own pathways.
c) IMPROVING DECISION-MAKING	Our students’ choices should be well-informed and well-considered, and we believe access to the experiences and insight of our alumni will assist this.

How might alumni help the school?

1.  Linking to us on "Linked In"

We are choosing to use the professional networking site "Linked In" to find and connect our alumni because it is widely used across all sectors, and is free to access and manage. By linking your Linked In profile to the School’s page (via your Education Profile), we receive access to your profile and you are listed as an alumnus.

Linked In has useful analysis tools and helpfully summarises all the alumni data (this is viewable to all users). The school can use this summarised data with the students (for example, typical key skills of alumni) in careers and work related learning lessons. 

Please note:

• Any data used in school, taken from Linked In, will always be anonymised, unless you have given your express permission otherwise.
• We will not provide your contact details to students, or our students’ contact details to you.
• Linked In's Privacy Policy is available on their website.

2. Delivering careers talks in school

Particularly if you work in a niche area or an industry that recruits a lot of graduates / Post 18 school leavers, or that offers apprenticeships.  Please contact us if you would be interested in supporting this.

3. Providing specific careers advice

We support students with specific university, apprenticeship and job applications, and may ask if you would be prepared to talk to a student about their next step or answer a question by email.  Recent examples include the Ministry of Defence, Dentistry, the BBC, the Police, and Oxbridge. 

These are ad hoc requests, and we will contact you on the student's behalf to ask if you would be interested in helping.  We will not give your information to the student.