Presentation Evening 2019

Unchanging Principles for Success

At the 2019 Presentation Evening, certificates and prizes were distributed by Old Girl Julie Dean (1986-1988), UK Fund Manager and Director at Sanditon Asset Management, who in her address offered the gathering her ‘unchanging principles’ for success and happiness in life. She began by speaking about her time at Bolton School’s Sixth Form. In her first week, she made the decision to switch from science subjects to English and History, and ultimately went on to study History at St Anne’s College, Oxford University. She said that the experience of changing subjects taught her three valuable lessons: ‘Keep your own counsel. Do what you love. Take risks.’ Moving on to discuss her career, she gave an interesting overview of the exciting highs and lows of fund management, the ‘dynamic, alive’ nature of the stock market, and what her job actually involves. She recalled that her first job at GT Asset Management was won through persistence, intellectual curiosity and a passion to understand the stock market rather than any pre-existing knowledge, and reminded everyone that employers prize ‘mercurial minds with clarity of thought’ and, of course, ‘bandwidth’. Julie offered some practical book recommendations (‘How to Fail’ by Elizabeth Day and ‘The Hundred Year Life’ by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott) and spoke eloquently about the “still frustratingly thorny” issue of gender. She did not shy away from the difficulties she faced both in her twenties at the start of her career and later combining it with motherhood, but rather offered up guidance based around her ‘unchanging principles’. These included the assurance that ‘unprovoked rudeness and aggression in others is usually about their shortcomings not yours’ and advice to ‘remember to have some fun!’ She also advised girls to stay the course without getting stuck and called on them to teach equality to any children they might have in the future. She closed her address saying, ‘My final unchanging principle in a changing world is simply, be kind.’ In her role as the guest of honour, Julie presented pupils with their certificates and prizes, and became the first person to present the Old Girls’ Association Award. Former Year 11 student Arabella BarkerSmith became the inaugural recipient of this new prize. Mr Michael Griffiths, then Chairman of Governors, gave his report on the past academic year; this was his final Presentation Evening in the role, as he retired in December 2019. Miss Hincks, then Headmistress, also congratulated pupils not only on their remarkable examination success at GCSE and A Level, but also their wealth of extra-curricular triumphs. The evening also included several musical elements: Siân Rowlands (Class of 2019) sang ‘Still Hurting’ from the musical ‘The Last Five Years’ by Jason Robert Brown, and the audience sang the School Song, supported by the Middle School Choir, as well as ‘I Vow To Thee, My Country’ and ‘Jerusalem’.