issue thirteen TRINITY TERM 2014
SherborneNews TRIPS
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Comment It is essential that we maintain close contact with the world of work and education beyond Sherborne.
BY PHILIP ROGERSON DIRECTOR OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND CAREERS When a boy enters Sherborne in the Third Form, he is already preparing to take advantage of opportunities available when he leaves. The Careers Department is at the heart of the pastoral life of the school: our strength comes from our close liaison with subject teachers, Housemasters and Tutors; for our focus is on encouraging each boy to find his passion, to aim high and to prepare an application with the maximum level of individual support. We deal with individuals, not quotas. We are a large and well-established department, which has had national prominence in Higher Education advice for the last 30 years. A vital part of our work is keeping abreast of rapid changes within the university sector and of alternative progression routes beyond school, such as the new KPMG School Leaver Programme: a Shirburnian in the first cohort was earning a very healthy salary as soon as he left school, and after 6 years he will have a Durham degree, be a qualified accountant and have a job with the company. We are committed to an evidence-based approach: boys are urged to look beyond unreliable league tables and unquestioning brand-name prejudice. We have to set the example: all members of the department regularly visit universities and attend conferences; my campus visits throughout the UK and abroad convince me that we constantly need to update, as both Falmouth and Inverness, for instance, have secured full university status since my visits a few years ago.
www.sherborne.org
As an unusually well-resourced department, whose members include both full-time careers staff and teaching staff, we offer both a structured programme and a drop-in facility. We conduct our own interviews; we build up a relationship with individual boys rather than import
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