Ealing Independent College is part of Bellevue, a wider group of 21 Schools and Colleges based mainly in the UK - but not exclusively. EIC benefits from being part of a wider net of Schools in several ways, one of which being the opportunity to join conferences and activities open to all students across all Bellevue schools.
On the second of March this year, our Y13 students were invited to attend a conference called “Future Ready” focused on the opportunities and career paths that lay ahead of students that are completing their A-level course this year. We sat down with Miles, one of the Y13 students who on that day traveled to Sherfield School, Hampshire, and joined “Future Ready”, to hear what he thought of the event.
Miles, can you briefly give us an overview of your day at Sherfield?
Sure. When we arrived, we were welcomed into a big hall with circular tables. Our names had already been assigned to specific tables, based on the subjects that we currently study. Therefore I was sitting at the ‘Business Studies table’ along with other students from the other two secondary schools who joined the event, Sherfield School and Farlington School.
We were first invited to have a guided group conversation with the other students at our table as an Ice Breaker, and then the main Speaker introduced himself and started his presentation.
Who was the Main Speaker?
The main speaker was Matthew Griffin, the CEO of a Company called 311 Institute. I did not know him beforehand but I obviously did some research about him before attending the Conference.
He talked to us about the Future: the Future of Law, the Future of Medicine, the Future of Business, the Future of Sciences.
He also mentioned Virtual Reality, Metaverses, to help us understand how what we considered to be just fiction is becoming reality.
Why do you think the choice of inviting this speaker was made and in what way was he inspiring students?
The topic was extremely interesting, as it made everyone think about our future career and whether the jobs that we know today are going to be the same in 10 years time.
I really enjoyed his speech and I found it inspiring; it gave me lots of opportunities to think about my future.
In particular, some opportunities abroad were mentioned, and it made me consider the possibility of moving to the USA for a few months to gain some work experience there or join a camp.
Were there any other speakers? If so, were they teachers or external speakers?
There were another five or six speakers after Mr Griffin. Only one of them was a teacher at Sherfield, whereas all the other speakers had traveled to Sherfield to join the Conference as well. I could tell that there was a lot of work put into this program.
What speaker stood out to you, and what have you taken home with you from the Conference?
One of the speakers attended Durham University, therefore her speech was particularly relevant to me, as I applied to Durham. It was great to hear more about life at the University Campus from the perspective of an ex-student, rather than from a teacher’s point of view.
I also learnt a lot from the speakers of “Camp America”, as they encouraged students to consider future possibilities outside our own country.
Finally, there was a session about how to write a CV; it might not be so relevant now, but it will definitely be in a couple of years, when all of us will be applying to internships and first work experiences. Therefore, I appreciated receiving some advice on the topic, as it’s extremely useful to start learning how to write our own CV sooner rather than later.
Thank you for sharing all this information, Miles. Just a final question: What are your overall impressions? And what advice would you give for the next Bellevue day-program open to students?
I found the conference really interesting and inspiring. My overall feedback is very positive and I am grateful for the opportunity that we had been given on that day.
The only thing that I would say is that some students found it difficult to take it all in all at once. As we were listening to so many speakers, it would have been great to spread them out by having similar events like this, including more activities where time allows.
However, I have really enjoyed the program, the choice of speakers, and I am looking forward to joining more events like “Future Ready”.