Careers and Guidance Talks

Marc Polonsky

We were delighted to welcome Marc Polonsky, father of four Stephen Perse alumnae, to deliver this term's Sixth Form careers talk on Monday 30 January 2023.

Marc spoke about his varied career as a lawyer and philanthropist, highlighting how particular decisions and influences in his teens and twenties led him to qualify and practice as an international commercial lawyer before later re-focussing on the Polonsky Foundation and its work in cultural heritage, digitisation, research, excellence and innovation in the arts.

Marc explained the differences between the branches of the law in the UK, courts and tribunals and types of lawyer and how they deal with different disputes and cases.

There were plenty of questions after the lecture, some of which Marc took with the whole audience, as well as having smaller group and individual discussions after the vote of thanks given by Jacqueline Paris, Head of Sixth Form.

We are always tremendously grateful when our alumni and parent community members are able to share the benefit of their experience with our current students, opening their eyes to the huge range of career options and the different paths that they might take to them.

If you would like to discuss the possibility of giving a lunchtime talk, taking part in our annual careers fair, offering work experience, or providing interview practice, please contact Development Manager, Helen Cornish, in the first instance on development@stephenperse.com

Áine Deane by Year 11 student Frank OM

The talk by Áine Deane and the questions I was able to ask through staying behind afterwards gave me a really informative and interesting insight into what it’s really like to enter the music industry and inspired me with tips about song writing and performance, as well as the ways she found worked for her in getting your music noticed.

Over the course of her talk Áine Deane gave multiple motivational messages relating to believing in who you want to be and having the confidence to put yourself out there as well as relaxing and trying to trust that it will all be ok in the end.

During the Q&A session I was invited to stay behind and attend after the talk. She talked about the use of capos (a bar which is put on the fret of a guitar and shifts the pitch), as an effective song writing tool for generating chord progressions. She also talked about using chord sequences and shapes from other songs with a capo as a basis for writing your own. In response to a question about dealing with nerves before a performance, she explained the importance to her of having a repeated routine before going on stage, which made it a lot easier for her to perform and step out onto the stage with confidence.

Áine Deane also talked of how key it is to be putting your music out there for people to listen to, particularly using social media platforms in bringing your music to a wider audience. She told us about how her daily uploads of covers and snippets of original songs to Instagram led to multiple record labels and potential managers contacting her, as well as lawyers who wanted to talk to her and inform her about the different percentages of profits the people part of making the songs in the industry receive. Furthermore, she discussed the throwaway nature of viral trends, and spoke about how important it is not to focus on achieving overnight success, or one viral video if you want to build a long term career in the music industry.