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There was standing room only in several of the expert talks delivered as part of the 2019 Year 11 Careers Convention.

The convention – a major event in the QE calendar – this year featured an increased number of talks. The speakers for these were among representatives of 35 companies and organisations attending in total, including Old Elizabethans and other visitors.

They came from professions ranging from medicine to app development, and from chemical engineering to the law.

All gave their time to meet boys and their families as Year 11 start to consider their future career paths.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “It was another tremendous evening. I am grateful to all those who helped our current pupils in this way, whether old boys or other friends of the School. The boys benefit immeasurably from the advice that they receive, not least because seeing alumni thriving in their various careers is in itself a source of inspiration and confidence to them.

“At this stage in their education, it is as important for the boys to develop the soft skills they will need when planning for life after school – in order that they can actually achieve their desired outcomes – as it is to provide insight into the many different options available to them.”

The main Careers Convention was held in the Shearly Hall, while the nine talks – several of which were repeated three times during the course of the evening – were delivered in classrooms. The talks included:

• Dental surgeon Dr Nirmal Wilwaraarachchi (OE 1996-2002) on dentistry
• Joseph Vinson (OE 2007-2013), an Associate Product Manager for US software firm, Granicus, on Getting a job in Tech
• Ramesh Pari (OE 1997-2004), who took up a senior role in engineering for online grocery company, Ocado, after more then a decade as an architect, on Architecture and its transferable skills.

Other talks were on general topics such as studying abroad and about choosing and progressing a career, such as the presentation by Kam Taj (OE 2004–2011) on How to find your ideal career.

The evening also benefited from experts attending from organisations with which the School has strong partnerships, such as the National Citizen Service (whose summer programme is always popular with Year 11 boys), the STEM Ambassadors programme and the RAF.

Alumni had a chance to catch up with each other at a reception hosted by the School before the event.

Countless hours spent jamming with friends in the Music block at QE sowed the seeds of Sergio Ronchetti’s career as a composer and sound designer for video games and films.

Returning to the School to deliver a careers lecture to Senior School pupils, Sergio (OE 2004–2011) recalled that when he decided to go into music instead of taking a place at university, everyone around him said he was making a mistake.

But, he told the boys, he had no regrets about his chosen path, since it had put him in control of what he was doing. He loves practising music six-to-eight hours a day as he finds it therapeutic and it gives him direction. He had been true to himself, his career giving him opportunities to learn from, helping him to mature and making him happy. “It’s more about the journey, rather than the end game. Every day I get a little bit better at something, I progress.

“Give yourself time to make decisions – meditate and do something productive,” he advised the boys gathered in the Shearly Hall. “If you don’t know what to do for a career, take a year out, work, take a course. There’s no rush!” Just as in rugby, you must actually take steps forward in order to achieve your career goals, particularly if those goals are ambitious, he said.

Sergio spent the first four years after leaving QE as a professional musician, culminating in the release of a full-length album. During this time, he achieved several accolades, including an artist endorsement from ESP Guitars and Laney Amplification, while also performing at major festivals and at sold-out shows in both UK and mainland Europe.

He did eventually go to university – but in his own time and as the next logical step in his career plan. Although he came from a rock background (influenced by his uncle’s heavy metal collection), he decided to eschew a possible future in a touring band playing guitar, because he “wanted to be a part of something bigger”. He loves the indie game scene and says his ambitions include working on “the biggest video game in history”. Asked what his ten-year goals were, Sergio staed: “I would like to score a couple of good jobs in film – possibly become head of a music production department”.

Thus, in 2016, in order to facilitate this burgeoning ambition to become a film and game composer, he went to Goldsmiths, University of London, to study Music, from where he graduated with a First.

Today, Sergio works as a freelancer, describing himself on his own website as a ‘composer/sound designer’. His recent work on the indie game Eldest Souls was showcased at E3 Los Angeles, the premier trade event for the video industry.

He is a regular supporter of the School and gave a presentation on sound design in video games at last year’s Year 11 Careers Convention.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Sergio’s story is a very interesting one – through a combination of determination and talent, he is successfully forging a career in a highly competitive industry. Of course, unlike him, a very large majority of our boys do go on to university immediately on leaving the School or after a gap year, but we are keen to make sure that pupils are fully informed about all the different options available to them so that they can make the choices that are best for them.”

Sergio advised any boys interested in following in his footsteps not to rely on making money from such a career in the beginning. “Freelance work takes a while to build up. Do it as a hobby first. You don’t have to spend a lot of money, either; you can use your laptop or iPhone.”

Sergio was happy to dispense a little technical advice – he suggests Logic or Ableton software for music production, using Logic himself, while Pro Tools is good for film-editing.

Asked about the skills required for a career similar to his, Sergio urged the boys to be open to possibilities and to be prepared. “If someone comes to you and says ‘are you ready to mix this album?’ you need to take the challenge.” He does not believe in luck: “It’s all about work ethic and discipline.”

There were also questions about the UK grime & rap industry and whether it incites violence. Sergio said he believed not; artists were merely expressing the violence going on around them. He added, however: “As a musician you do have a level of responsibility and need to be aware of what messages you’re spreading.”

Around 60 of last year’s leavers who are now two terms into their degree courses came back to QE to contribute to the School’s Universities Convention.

With fresh experience of university life, and with the Sixth Form and university application process such a recent memory, they were well-placed to give some first-hand advice to current Year 12 pupils.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “There is always a good turnout for the convention, and it is excellent to see that that each new cohort of OEs is so willing to stay connected with the School and to actively support it.

“These, the youngest of our Old Elizabethans, are able to provide very current insights into their various courses, clubs and societies and their chosen universities. As such, they are a trusted and valuable source of information for our sixth-formers.

“Staff always enjoy the opportunity to hear how these recent leavers are getting on – even if it can sometimes be hard to recognise some, with their ‘civilian’ clothes, beards and new, non-QE-approved hairstyles!”

The returning alumni had the opportunity to catch up both with each other and with their former teachers in a buffet lunch held for them in the Main Hall, which was provided with assistance from the Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s.

The Year 12 boys were encouraged to be quite specific with their questions to the alumni, asking, for example whether there was anything the students wished someone had told them before they applied.

The current pupils also quizzed the OEs on topics such as the cost of accommodation in university cities.

The Universities Convention is part of QE’s University admissions Support Programme (USP), which is designed to ensure boys receive the best advice, guidance and assistance in preparing university applications.

This sits alongside the broader careers provision, through which boys can look at the jobs, professions and industries they might wish to pursue after university, or what other paths they might want to take upon leaving the School.

Some of the students at the convention had also been in to the School the previous week in order to speak to Year 13 on similar issues: Abbas Adejonwo, Rehaan Bapoo, Dhruv Kanabar, Yashwanth Matta and Oliver Robinson gave advice based upon their experiences as first-year undergraduates at Cambridge, Oxford and Warwick.

The first Elizabethan ever to go to California’s Stanford University sang the praises of studying stateside when he returned to speak to senior pupils at QE.

Stanford comes at or near the top of most global university rankings, with Times Higher Education naming it as one of its six world ‘super-brands’, together with Cambridge, Oxford, Berkeley, Harvard and MIT.

Valavan Ananthakumaraswamy OE (2009-2016), who chose to follow a mixed Liberal Arts programme for the first two years of his degree, told the current QE pupils that he had been particularly attracted by the wide range of subjects available through the US university system and by the closer relationships with professors.

He appreciated the excellent facilities and also the flexibility available to students when choosing classes, giving them more control over their own workload.

Valavan applied to Stanford after winning a place on the Sutton Trust’s US Programme – a scheme delivered by the educational charity in partnership with the US-UK Fulbright Commission to give bright British state school pupils a taste of life in American higher education. His profile for the programme recorded that his family originally come from Sri Lanka, but were displaced by the civil war.

The report also stated that Valavan saw his community service as “the most important part of him”. In 2014, Valavan helped found The Youth Project, a global movement of young people striving to make the world a better place, which now operates in 14 countries.

Extensive extra-curricular opportunities are a feature of the American system, he told the QE puipls on his recent visit, recalling his involvement with charity work while at QE and saying that this is something he has been keen to continue with at Stanford.

Palo Alto’s 300 days of sunshine each year were undoubtedly another attraction, as was the campus culture and the sense of community that this fosters. Valavan said he has been enjoying ‘dorm life’, adding that in his first year, he went on a skiing trip that was actually funded by the dormitory.

Valavan offered guidance on the application process, covering the nature of the aptitude tests, including SATs and ACTs (the two different tests that applicants are required to take for admittance to a US university). His main piece of advice was that applicants should just keep practising!

He advised boys to look into the possibility of financial aid for study in the US, covering the difference between ‘need-blind’ and ‘need-aware’ – terms used in the US, with the former meaning a university admission policy under which an applicant’s financial situation is not considered when deciding admission. A big advantage for those able to secure such financial aid was that, unlike in the UK, there was then no need for a student loan, Valavan said.

When asked about challenges he had faced, Valavan spoke about how he had to adapt to the culture of America. TV shows, shops and sports are all different there. He mentioned that President Trump was elected in first the two months of his studying there. He added that he likes the challenge of adapting and finds it exciting.

Boys were shocked to discover how much money is deducted at source when they learned how to decipher a payslip in a financial capability workshop, reported Head of Pupil Development Sarah Westcott.

The Year 8 boys also learned about the types of bank account they could access both now and in the future, as well as finding out about the importance of budgeting.

The exercise which saw them analysing a payslip to work out how much salary is deducted and for what purpose was particularly enjoyable, notwithstanding the shock it brought, Dr Westcott said. “Many of them expressed surprise at how much is taken before you even get paid!”

Further tasks then required the boys to think about different kinds of debt – what is a ’good’ debt, such as a mortgage, and what is a ‘bad’ debt, such as a store card or payday loan.

The event was organised with leading international and UK bank HSBC. It took place during one of the boys’ Personal Development Time (PDT) sessions. PDT lies at the heart of QE’s comprehensive pastoral support system and is focused on making pupils ‘confident and responsible’, in line with the School’s mission. All boys receive 90 minutes of PDT each week.

Besides learning about personal finance, there was another purpose in holding the workshop, Dr Westcott explained: “The event was part of a wider strategy at School to encourage more employers to come in to talk to students to provide a balanced careers perspective.”

Sixth-former Dylan Vekaria has been awarded a prestigious engineering scholarship with the RAF after successfully negotiating a rigorous selection progress.

Year 12’s Dylan received his Arkwright Engineering Scholarship, which is funded by the RAF Charitable Trust, from Group Captain Tony Keeling at a special ceremony at the Institute of Engineering and Technology, based in central London.

The Arkwright Scholarship Trust is a charity which aims to identify talented, potential top engineers, and to encourage them to pursue the subject at university. The scholarships themselves are awarded to high-ability students to support them through their Sixth Form studies. Every scholarship is sponsored by a commercial company, trade association, university, professional institution, armed service, government organisation or charitable trust.

Under the scheme, the pupil is awarded £600 while a further £400 goes to the School:  QE will spend it on resources and equipment. The scholarship runs over two years and is reviewed at the end of the first year.

Dylan, who is pictured with RAF Charitable Trust Director Justine Morton, can now benefit from hands-on work experience and support for curriculum projects, as well as the opportunity to be linked to a personal mentor.

Technology teacher Tony Green, who accompanied Dylan to the ceremony, said: “Dylan has done very well to secure this scholarship and the certificate rightly recognises his ‘outstanding potential as a future leader in Engineering’.”

Applicants are required to take a rigorous online aptitude test, lasting for two hours. After passing this Dylan had to attend a 20-minute interview before being matched with a sponsoring organisation – in his case the RAF.

The Arkwright Scholarships were established in 1991. The charity was named after the 18th Century engineer, Sir Richard Arkwright (1732–1792), who perfected the water frame and who is widely regarded as the father of the modern factory system.