Pru Rowntree is one of our resident Careers Consultant. She recently attended the Future First conference and in this blog, she shares her highlights.
Over recent years we have adapted to meeting up on screen and turning ourselves into a stack of online talking head postage stamps in the process. How refreshing instead to meet in person for Future First’s inaugural conference to enjoy face-to-face networking, in- person connection and the synergy of shared ideas and inspiration.
The day’s focus was on how to make best use of alumni and how to interact creatively with our business volunteers. The belief that young people cannot ‘be what they don’t see’ informed all the talks and activities, and the value of relatable role models was reiterated by every contributor.
Practical support and ideas were the order of the day: Marie-Rose Delauzun, Head of Alumni Engagement, reminded us of opportunities on offer from The Sutton Trust for their target students, the top 15% academically who also come from the bottom 40% socio-economically. They now have an alumni network that you can make use of, and it was good to hear that their programme of events and library of alumni stories are available online for eligible students who don’t gain places on the face -to- face programmes. A timely reminder to make sure that eligible students apply early for the limited places on their face-to-face programmes!
We heard some great tips for how to build your alumni network – Andy Lewis, Deputy Head at St Bonaventure’s School spoke movingly about how community focus was strengthened during the trying covid months, and spoke of the renewed enthusiasm over that period for past students to engage with activities and social events around the school which they gained from personally as well as supporting current students. This was a salutary reminder that successful alumni networks benefit two-ways: former students need to be incentivised to keep in touch and to offer support, and need to get something out of the relationship themselves.
Advice from Linked In Man James Potter on how to make this free-to-access professional network a go-to point of contact for alumni as well as a rich and valuable source of potential volunteers was inspiring, and Louise Bennett, CEO of the IDPE and Ilona Cains, Development Director at Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School explored how relationship management with parents/carers of current students can blossom into rich and long lasting stakeholder engagement in a range of different ways if people feel valued and appreciated.
Hiri Arunagiri, Director of Learning for Personal Development and Equalities at Acland Burghley School offered valuable practical tips on how to sell the idea of staying in touch as an alumni network to students in years 11 and 13. She suggested involving alumni in leavers assembly, encouraging voluntary sign up and using the last mock exam for year 11s to capture their data and permissions.
Beth Jones, head of careers at The Gatsby Foundation updated us on the recent review and affirmation of the original benchmarks, and discussed the tricky challenge of tracking destinations – as we all know, this important outcome measure is in reality very hard to achieve, and can more easily be enabled if we nurture our networks from the moment students leave schools and if we are able to give them something back in return for continued contact with us.
The event was hosted by City law firm Macfarlanes – a reminder for those of us who are school based of the value of ‘experience of workplace’ to give insight into the unfamiliar world of work outside the confines of school. They offer limited places for eligible year 12/13 students on their ‘legal academy’ – a 2-year skills building programme which can be a pipeline into legal careers or treated as more general support in gaining professional experience and confidence.
It was very useful to refresh our understanding of what Future First offers its member schools, and to meet and interact with all the staff team. Workshops from staff reminded us of the online resources and guidance available from the Future First team on how to make best use of your volunteers, and how to make best use of their wealth of resources, workshops and volunteer management expertise.
Careers Education and Alumni management so often are roles held by a number of busy people in schools, so it was great that some of them had managed to escape from the day-to day demands and spend some time refreshing ideas and gathering enthusiasm from each other to make this a truly inspiring event. It’s good to be reminded that we have a wealth of resource and opportunity now through our Brave New Hybrid world, but even better to remind ourselves that good old -fashioned conversation in a room still has the biggest impact. It’s not only students who ‘can’t be what they can’t see’, and I’m sure that all of us took away a bit of renewed inspiration and ideas for innovation from seeing and connecting with each other.
