Welcome to the Old Shirburnian Society
Your connection with Sherborne does not stop once you have received your A Level results. School is just the first step on your journey as a member of the Sherborne Community.
As this brochure will explain the Old Shirburnian Society is here to help and support you throughout your career and beyond, and especially over the next five years.
We are also here for your parents, through the Friends of Sherborne School (FOSS) and they will receive invitations to a variety of events such as the FOSS Lunch at Sherborne, the OS City Carol Service and concerts both at Sherborne and London.
University Visits
We, in conjunctions with Sherborne Old Girls, visit all the main university destinations every two to three years and hope to see as many OS and SOG undergraduates as possible at least once during their university careers.
Our visits are completely informal and take place in a pub or a bar, where we provide the food and drink and catch up on your news, give you updates on what has happened at Sherborne since you left and find out whether we can help you with careers advice.
We have recently visited:
• Bristol and Bath
• Cambridge
• Cardiff
• Cirencester
• Edinburgh
• Exeter
• Leeds and York
• London
• Loughborough
• Manchester
• Newcastle, Northumbria and Durham
• Oxford
• Reading
• Southampton
• St. Andrews
Careers
We consider one of the most important services we can offer OS is ongoing careers support.
Careers Network
We have almost 4,000 OS, parents and Sherborne International alumni, world wide in a vast variety of professions, actively engaged on Sherborne Connect, 73% of whom are willing and eager to offer careers help This help can range from;
• advice on how to write your CV,
• chatting about what it is like to work in a particular profession/industry, or
• how to give yourself the best chance to be successful in your career search,
• introducing you to their contacts
• work experience
• acting as a mentor. The 2022 Mentoring Programme for Young OS had 156 active relationships
And if you can’t find help on the platform we run a fully integrated Careers Network offering CV clinics and interview practice.
This service is completely free to OS and has helped many in securing the allimportant career start
Careers Events
Every year we run a series of Careers Evenings in London during the University holidays for undergraduates and recent graduates hoping to enter or who have just started working in a particular sector.
Over the last two years we have held events for careers in:
• AI, IT and All Things Digital
• Insurance
• Insurance
• Media
• The City
• Law
• Property
Ongoing Support
Once you are established in your career we hold regular industry specific drinks and dinners, where you can network with fellow OS in your field and hopefully share the benefit of your experience with the next generation of OS following behind.
Recent events include:
• Media Lunch
• Law Drinks
• City Drinks
• Insurance Drinks
• Property Drinks
• Army Dinner
• Business Breakfasts (three times a year) with prominent keynote speakers
Reunions
The OSS organises a full programme of reunions It is always exciting when we catch up with you and your contemporaries from Sherborne Girls at your 5 Year Reunion and we hear of the ups (and downs) that you have experienced since leaving Sherborne. We currently take over The Black Dog in Vauxhall for the whole evening. The OSS and SOG provide the food and pay the bar bills for the first couple of hours.
There are reunions for 10 Years after leaving Sherborne (massively popular), 15 Years, 20 Years, etc. The final year group reunion is held to mark the 50th anniversary of you leaving Sherborne Thereafter you are invited to the Quinguagesimal Meetings (Q) held alternately at Sherborne and London.
A very popular event in the OS calendar is the OS City Carol Service, held at St Olave in the City.
In between these milestone reunions we hold regular pub nights in London and overseas We have held reunions in Sydney, Perth, Singapore, Malaysia, New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Geneva. There are particularly strong OS groups in New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East. We are keen to promote more international events over the coming years
Spor t
Sport is an important part of life at Sherborne and it remains important for many OS too. The Sherborne Pilgrims are the sporting arm of the OSS. We have sports groups for 9 sports and between them they play over 50 matches a year.
• cricket
• cross country
• fives
• football
• hockey
• rugby
• squash
• tennis
If you like playing sport, like watching sport or just like talking about sport, you should join the Sherborne Pilgrims. Sportsmen of all abilities are welcome to join Not only is the sporting side great fun but the social side is as well with the annual dinner being the highlight
The OS Golf Society organises around 20 matches a year against other school societies and golf clubs The majority of the matches are over 36-holes at some of the finest golf clubs in the country They offer a great chance to catch up with friends and renew some old sporting rivalries – in the friendliest of ways
There are three meetings a year The Sherborne Meeting, which includes a match against the School, the Summer Meeting and AGM at The Berkshire and the Autumn Meeting at R ye GC. All great events with numerous prizes on offer.
In addition, there are a number of tournaments in which the Society enters a scratch team – the Halford Hewitt, the Grafton Morrish, the Brent Knoll, the Mellin (O-55s) and the Alba Trophy
The sailors among you are catered for by the OS Sailing Society, which holds regular matches against the School and competes
annually in the Arrow Trophy, a sailing competition between Independent Schools, raced as an annual weekend regatta, in onedesign yachts crewed by former pupils They also have a number of social events, a pub meeting in January, the AGM and BBQ at W inchester House Club and drinks at the Southampton Boat Show
Sherborne Connect
All of you will, we hope by now have signed up for Sherborne Connect and may have been using it during your time in the Sixth Form. You will get full membership from September, when you officially leave the School. For any of you who haven’t signed up yet Sherborne Connect is our exclusive, interactive networking platform.
Launched in December 2017 it has nearly 4,000 members made up of OS, Sherborne International and Sherborne Qatar Alumni, and parents Over 80% of the members are OS.
Sherborne Connect allows you to:
• Connect with OS worldwide, so if you are travelling on your Gap Year or holiday you can find OS, who might be able to tell you the best pub in town or even offer work experience
• Post jobs, events, updates and photos from your smartphone in seconds
• Book in for events and reunions
• Get involved or start a special interest group. We have country groups, professional groups and interest groups including various sports and a new and growing LGBTQ+ group
• Browse the directory of OS for careers advice, find a mentor and link with professional groups
• And when you are established in your career, you can become a mentor and help support the next generation of OS with their careers.
Join today at www.sherborneconnect.org.
Anytime Anywhere
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