Parents and students of Year 11 and Lower Sixth enjoyed the annual Higher Education Evening at St Helen and St Katharine on Thursday 12 January.
For many, the evening introduced St Helen’s broad programme of support that is in place for students, helping them to research and make their informed higher education and career choices.
During the evening, the application process at St Helen’s was explained and advice on Oxbridge, university taster courses, planning open day visits and arranging work experience to support students’ university applications was provided. We were also joined by Mike Nicholson, Director of Recruitment, Admissions and Participation at the University of Cambridge , who offered his wealth of experience and shared some insightful tips about what universities are looking for, as well as more practical advice on how to prepare for living away from home.
The evening proved to be an extremely useful springboard in helping to plan the important next stages in the students’ education.
Mrs Scott-Malden (Acting Joint Head of Sixth Form, Lower Sixth)
I came away from the Higher Education Evening feeling excited about the next steps that I can begin to take for when I leave school, knowing what to start thinking about and the help I’ll receive from St Helen’s.
The evening provided an informative overview of further education choices, whether that be university, degree apprenticeships or art foundation courses, however, the main focus was on applying for university.
Dr Pringle’s talk reminded us of how useful the resource Unifrog can be for parents and students alike during this process, through information about things such as university open days and making shortlists, as well as the School’s extensive team to guide us through. She also gave us an easily memorable set of steps to follow when researching university courses; what to look for first and why.
Mike Nicholson’s talk was given from the point of view of a university. It was extremely valuable to hear the views of someone within the system, with particular regard to his insights about personal statements and how we can start to prepare for them from now onwards with our extracurricular and supercurricular activities. His talk was also humorous and interactive, making us feel enthusiastic about the preparation we can do for the practical side of university life – such as cooking and washing. We definitely learnt that large amounts of washing powder and trainers don’t mix!
Hester (L6C)
