Careers Department

Visiting Alumni advise on Careers and Higher Education

This year, in the Careers Department, we have made an even bigger effort than usual to involve alumni in our programme to help celebrate our special anniversary as a school. Alongside the Careers and Higher Education Fair in October last year, to which many old girls came, we hosted a whole day of talks given by previous students in February. They represented an amazing array of different career areas and inspired pupils from Year 11 upwards to consider their own future paths after school.

Fiona Ashworth

Law continues to be a popular course at university and so we were delighted to welcome back Fiona Ashworth, a barrister at King’s Chambers in Manchester. Fiona studied Law at Leeds University after leaving Bolton School in 1984. She is now a leading Personal Injury practitioner specialising in chronic pain cases. Kate Parr

Kate Parr left Bolton School in 1994, having joined us in the Sixth Form and went on to study Accounting and Financial Analysis at the University of Newcastle, graduating with a First Class Honours Degree in 1997. She joined the KPMG Graduate Programme straight from university, initially in the Audit Department and latterly worked in the Tax Department. In 2010, Kate joined JD as their in-house Tax Manager. Her talk focused on the advantages of qualifying with a ‘Big 4’ firm, how employers view A Level versus Graduate candidates and what employers are looking for in a CV and interview. Victoria Lyle

It was great to see Vicky Lyle again as she really demonstrated how it is possible to change career direction. She left school in 1990 and after a gap year, a degree in Business Studies and a year working in London, she returned to university to do a Physiotherapy degree at Bristol (1996). Since qualifying, she has enjoyed a varied career, from her basic training to specialisation in orthopaedics.

Grace Gordon

Entrepreneur, Grace Gordon, left school in 2007 to study Philosophy at the University of Nottingham, where she set up and edited an award winning fashion magazine. It was her extra-curricular success that helped her win her first job working in London for an American retailer. A trip to a Turkish development factory inspired her to set up her own business, specialising in luxury leather products. In her fascinating talk she described how starting her own company wasn’t without its challenges but it has grown significantly since the early days and she has just employed her first employee! You might like to look at Grace’s website: www. grace-gordon.com. Emily Whittle

Emily Whittle was a pupil at Bolton School from 2004 to 2011. She recently qualified as a speech and language therapist after studying at De Montfort University in Leicester and now works on a hyper acute/rehab ward at Whiston hospital, assessing patients’ ability to communicate after having a stroke. In her talk, Emily explained how speech therapists are also responsible for assessing swallowing and placing people on modified diets and fluids. She works alongside physiotherapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, dieticians, doctors, consultants, nursing staff and many more! Florence Hughes

Florence Hughes, Fashion Designer, gave a very popular presentation. Having attended Bolton School from 1999-2009, she graduated from the University of Westminster with a BA Fashion Design Degree last year and her graduate collection was featured in Avenir Magazine and Vogue Italia. Initially Florence worked as a freelance designer for Alfred Dunhill and Cath Kidston but more recently she has taken a position with Topshop, as Assistant Designer for Bags, Accessories and Hosiery.