CANFORD NEWS

After a successful online event in 2021, we were delighted to, once again, invite Old Canfordians and parents back to Canford to meet and talk with our Lower Sixth pupils face to face at the 2022 Careers Convention. The day started with pupils and volunteers in a conference-style setting with Canford parent Simon Phillips as our keynote speaker. He encouraged pupils to understand their own personal skills, follow their passions and understand that decisions they make in the next few years are not for life and that career paths will change and morph over time. Simon encouraged recent OCs to share their experiences in the world of work since leaving Canford and university. It was fantastic to see OC representatives from as early as 2019. Volunteers formed two sessions of industry panels in the afternoon where more detailed questions could be asked and explored. As has become customary, the day concluded with a speed-dating-style networking session, including some online meetings, which allowed Canfordians one-to-one time with our volunteers.

Paris, Milan, Canford! The Wardrobe Foundation Fashion Show

OC Eloise Grant’s Wardrobe Foundation (W15), which featured in OC Magazine April 2021, has inspired an array of activities at the school including a Friends of Canford clothing amnesty, a full-scale art project and a fashion show. At the start of lockdown, in March 2020, Eloise Grant was forced to rethink her career. With a family background in the fashion industry, she set up a social enterprise named the Wardrobe Foundation. She explains: ‘Our objective is simple, to work closely with local charities, organisations and community groups across Dorset, Hampshire, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole to provide clothing to women in need of clothing support.There is no judgement, no criteria, no questions asked – we trust the professional opinion of the organisation submitting the clothing gift bag.’ Following the OC magazine article and interest from the Friends of Canford School (FCS), a couple of Canfordians started to volunteer on a Monday afternoon at the local Wardrobe Foundation HQ. The FCS had wanted to hold a fashion show, highlighting the power of recycling clothes, for some time and now the perfect partner had been found. Close collaboration between Canford’s Development Office, the FCS committee and the Art and Theatre Departments, led to the clothing metamorphosis project. Pupils were tasked with using up surplus clothing and fabric either to create a wearable item that could be showcased on the catwalk, or a piece of art to be displayed. Over 20 pupils were involved in some way, including a prep school pupil from Dumpton. They created a unique and diverse range of outfits showcased on the custombuilt catwalk which turned the Assembly Hall into a space worthy of any designer event. The project enabled us to encourage clothing sustainability, display the creations of our talented pupils and raise awareness and funds via the FCS for the fantastic work of the Wardrobe Foundation.

Sporting Colours

Canford’s Rainbow Run was first held in 2019 and was born out of a desire to get the whole School community together for a fun event and raise funds to be shared between the Martin Marriott Foundation and another chosen charity. It was also a great experience for Pupil Leaders, providing them with a taste of event promotion and management. After a three-year wait before the school was able to host this technicolour event again, over 400 pupils, OCs, parents and prospective pupils lined up to take part in the Rainbow Run on Sunday 8th May. Pupils, staff and Friends of Canford School volunteered to help and were stationed around the course as marshals and ‘colour throwers,’ all taking advantage of the glorious weather. Each participant could run or walk one, two or three laps, although some chose to complete as many as five to get completely covered in an array of colours. On crossing the finish line, every runner was presented with a medal and the opportunity to have their finisher’s photo in front of our sponsor’s board. As the afternoon went on, so did the queue for the ice cream van and the atmosphere on this Sunday afternoon epitomized what the Canford Community is all about. It was fun, friendly and everyone helped and got involved. In doing so, they helped to raise £4,500 to be shared between our partner school, The Bourne Academy, and the Martin Marriott Foundation. Our thanks must be extended to Porsche Centre Bournemouth and the Friends of Canford School for supporting this event.

Over 500 offers for universities at home and abroad

We are delighted for the 156 Canfordians who have received over 500 offers this year, 78% are to Russell Group/Sunday Times Top 12 institutions in the UK, with five pupils heading to the US. We congratulate all our pupils on this wonderful set of offers. Ten received offers to 500Oxford and Cambridge and five have gained places on highly competitive courses to read medicine. Oxford: Jacob Abberley (Philosophy and German), Nathaniel Davey (Chemistry), Alice Hazel (Classical Archaeology and Ancient History), Emma Jeffries (History), Milind Khashu (Medicine), Jake McMillan (Philosophy, Politics and Economics), Harry Zheng (Chemistry) Cambridge: Tommy Qian (Natural Sciences), Lucy Thorne (English), Catherine Wray (Modern and Medieval Languages), Agnes Brook (Medicine), Alex Daniel (Medicine), Aman Iftikhar (Medicine) and Sana Iftikhar (Medicine) York – scholarship combined with 2 years at Frances Po, France), Flora Lingafelter (Colgate, New York), Alicia Hudson (Bellarmine, Kentucky – scholarship), Charlotte Brook (Pepperdine, California – scholarship), and Rhys Allen (University of Maryland – scholarship) Once again, the range of different courses chosen reflects the vision of the school to explore a wide range of opportunities and encourage pupils to choose their own career paths. Alongside traditional curriculum subjects are many occupation-related courses including accountancy, chemical engineering, communications and media, contemporary and popular music, criminology, drama and film studies, environmental sustainability science, equine business management, interior design, landscape architecture, psychology, quantity surveying and songwriting. Pupils are also heading to art foundation courses at Manchester School of Art and Arts University, Bournemouth.

US Places Five leavers are heading to US institutions this year, including four with full scholarships. Arian Akrami (Columbia, New