Sixth Form
Life after RHS
Clare must have shone during her time with the company because BAM have now offered to pay all her tuition fees for the next three years until her course is finished. As well as this they have promised her summer placements each year and have already made her a job offer for when her degree is finished. Naturally, she is thrilled as very few youngsters these days have that level of security to look forward to as they complete their studies. At the Sixth Form leavers' dinner Harriet was amused to win the 'Most likely to become Prime Minister' award. She thinks however that she would rather work behind the scenes carrying out research and developing policy. Her time at the unit has given her a taste for being close to the action (she was there during the Murdoch inquiry) and the opportunity to make some useful contacts. She started working at Children of the 90s, having worked there previously during the 'sandwich' year of her degree. This project, otherwise known as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), started with 14,000 pregnant women due to give birth in the Bristol area between 1 April 1991 and 31 December 1992. These study families have been taking part ever since and have provided a wealth of information for health research, through completing questionnaires, donating biological samples, wearing various activity monitors and completing half day Focus Clinic visits. Over 400 academic papers have been published, so far, from the ALSPAC data. Recent examples include the finding that being a size zero could be bad news for girls' bones and that a short run could be better than a long walk for keeping obesity at bay. She worked on both the clinic psychology team and the fieldworker team doing other visit sessions like taking blood samples and completing bone scans which gave her the chance to put into practice some of the things she had learnt during her degree and also to gain valuable workplace experience. After a couple of years she moved on and is now working as a Trainee Clinical Trials Co-ordinator in the Clinical Trials and Evaluation Unit, a University of Bristol research unit based in the Bristol Royal Infirmary. The CTEU coordinates and conducts research both locally and internationally with the aim of informing medical practice. This new role still gives her plenty of variety and also provides her with an opportunity to experience research from a different perspective.
Clare McGuinness (2010) is currently studying Civil Engineering at Manchester University and this summer managed to get an 8 week placement with BAM, a construction company working on projects to complete the Olympic park. Clare absolutely loved the experience despite quite long working days (8.30 - 6). She is now even more convinced than ever that she wants to be a Civil Engineer.
Issy Peters (2010) won a Cameron Mackintosh Performance Commendation for her musical performance as the torch-song-singing Medea in Bristol Old Vic's Young Company's production of Jason and Medea at the National Student Drama Festival in Scarborough. This production was also chosen to go forward to the International Youth Festival in Kingston upon Thames in July which Issy says was a brilliant experience. She is now beginning a Music degree at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester where she will be taking vocal studies. Issy's ambition is to be an opera singer and we very much look forward to following her career.
Alex James (2009) is reading for a degree in Clinical Science at Exeter University and has just been awarded a place at Schepens Eye Research Institute, affiliated to Harvard, for her year's professional placement. She will be participating in the Institute's research into diabetic retinopathy before returning to Exeter University for her final year. Alex is hoping to make a career with a pharmaceutical company, specializing in drug discovery for ocular diseases, and told us that her Science teachers at Redland High deserve the credit for stimulating her initial interest in this area of research. She is extremely excited about this opportunity at Harvard.
Harriet Baker (2009), also at Exeter University, is studying Politics. She spent the summer in the House of Commons working in the Parliamentary Resources Unit, having been awarded a coveted internship at Westminster. Harriet's work involved drafting policy-related correspondence to be sent to constituents, preparing briefing notes ahead of Parliamentary debates and completing research projects.
Sophie Spencer-Small (Class of 2007) passed her commissioning course at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in 2011 and is now a 2nd Lieutenant in the British Army. She spent three months at the Princess Royal Barracks in Surrey on her Troop Commanders' course before joining her regiment in the Royal Logistics Corps.
Fay Brackstone (2006) has successfully completed her PGCE and has landed her first job as a reception teacher at a local Bristol school.
Lucy Briggs-Owen (2004) is appearing as Helena as Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Royal Shakespeare Company in their opening season at the newly refurbished theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. She has received rave reviews, being hailed as "a real find" by Libby Purves writing for The Times. Charles Spencer, writing for The Telegraph says, "Lucy Briggs-Owen reveals star quality" and Michael Billington for the Guardian writes, "If any one performance lifts the production onto another plane it is that of Lucy Briggs-Owen."
Louise Mayor (2003) goes by the stage name of Louise Voce and has been case in a highly unusual theatrical event - an improvised musical. Hitler's Canary is the latest project from Jenifer Toksvig's theatre collaboration 'The Copenhagen Interpretation'. Jenifer is the sister of Sandi Toksvig and the show is an adaptation of Sandi's book based on their father's early childhood in German-occupied Denmark. Louise will play the lead role of Bamse and the show is currently set to open at the Watford Palace Theatre in early summer next year.
Verity Waine (2003) (extreme left of this picture) After completing a four year sandwich course in Psychology at the University of Surrey Verity studied for an MSc in Occupational & Organizational Psychology.