The Sixth Form College Farnborough

Just three years ago, Rachael Pickup of Fleet was finishing her A levels at Farnborough Sixth Form College. Last week, she returned to the College brandishing a newly acquired first class honours degree in English and Music from Lancaster University to share her experiences with current students at the Moving On Day, a major part of the College’s careers and guidance programme.

 

Alice Denman, 17, of Sandhurst,  is a first year student at the College studying Psychology, History, Law, Photography and Music. She said, “It was really helpful to meet a range of young graduates like Rachael who were at the College like me only three years ago – they help us to realise that aiming high is both possible and sensible!” Alice is considering either a career as an officer in the army or taking a degree in Psychology and Law at university.

 

Rachael was one of over 120 visitors to the College from the world of industry, business and commerce, and from universities, voluntary and professional bodies from all over the country. This full day event enabled students to select from a wide choice of seminars, ranging from studying for an Accountancy career post-A level to degrees in Natural Sciences at Cambridge.   Companies such as TAG Farnborough, CSC and Siemens spoke about career opportunities locally. 

 

Emma Browne, 16, of Farnborough, wants to be a doctor and she attended a variety of medical seminars on the day.  Emma said, “The session led by Dr Linton was really interesting; she gave me an insight into what being a GP was all about and it was also really useful to have the perspective of a medical student”.

 

Beth Cureton, a former student of the College, is now studying medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, told the students what it was really like to be a medic.

 

Holly Brookes, 17, of Camberley praised the exhibition of almost 100 stalls. She said, “There were lots of different people there, gap years, careers and employers - it wasn’t just universities.”  

 

Alex Lau, 17, of Blackwater,  intends to apply for PPE at Oxford University.   He said,  “I was wondering whether I should take up AS philosophy at College next year and the Politics talk by Dr Paul Martin and former College President, Nick Coxon, both of Oxford University, really sealed it for me”.

 

Moving On day is a popular event with the speakers as well as the students. Jon Rademeyer of Gap Year South Africa said,  “It was an excellent fair and I sincerely hope that I was able to inspire a few students to pursue a challenging and rewarding gap year.  I wish all schools could do this.” 

 

Helen Diffenthal, Director of Careers and Guidance at the College, said, “This was my first year organising Moving On day and I am really pleased we were able to maintain the high standard of previous events.  University Admissions staff are keen to come to Farnborough Sixth Form College because of our high calibre students – we even got Cambridge and it was their official Open Day!”