Helping you to prepare for your future. Striding Out is a unique programme that takes an innovative and holistic approach to career and higher education preparation. The programme consists of three strands: Explore, Equip and Experience – E3 . Throughout your time at WHS, you will be provided with opportunities that enable you to explore the vast range of higher education and career options available, equip you with the skills required for a successful career in the 21st century and gain valuable experience of the world of work.
“It’s really good to start thinking early about what areas of work you might want to go into in the future.”
Our Striding Out programme is well supported by our amazing alumnae. Past students are always keen to come back to speak to and advise our current pupils. Whether that is speaking at our evening lectures, giving PSHE talks about their Striding Out journey or attending careers fairs and our annual higher education forum.
The PSHE Programme The backbone of the Striding Out programme is a comprehensive and cohesive series of sessions built into the PSHE programme.
Themes Year 7 – Understanding yourself and broadening horizons. Year 8 – Understanding your values and exploring the world of work. Year 9 – Making choice and responding to change. Years 10 and 11 – Myth busting, making choices and understanding my attitudes and aptitudes.
Each year is based around a theme with the aim that over the course of their time in school, our students will better understand their values, attitudes and aptitudes.
“We have talks on all sorts of subjects. Teachers also tell us about juggling work and family life, about the choice of having, or not having children, of the routes they took to their careers.”
Your Portfolio
Each of our students has their own online Striding Out portfolio in which to record their research, reflections on their experiences and evidence of their skills as they move up through the school. Built into the programme are regular opportunities to update their portfolio and review their progress with their form tutor and members of the higher education team.
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Lectures & Lunchtime talks Throughout the year we are delighted to welcome a wide variety of guest speakers with evening lectures exploring key themes influencing the higher education and careers landscape in the 21st century. There is also a series of more informal lunch times talks, providing insight into a range of career areas, and we organise a number of networking breakfasts, informal occasions through which students are able to develop their networking skills while learning about different professions from the parents and alumnae that attend.
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Your Skills With the graduate job market becoming increasingly competitive and the whole landscape undergoing significant and rapid change, excellent academic qualifications alone are no longer a guarantee to career success. Transferable skills such as leadership, problem solving, creativity, spoken and written communication are vital. Of course inculcating these skills is integral to the teaching at WHS; our Striding Out programme builds on this by providing opportunities to apply these skills within a work context.
National Enterprise Challenge Every year, Year 9s participate in the National Enterprise Challenge. Year 10 have their own Enterprise Day, Year 12 have an Equip yourself for Striding Out day, and throughout the year we offer Skills for Striding Out workshops. WHS team Animouth progressed through to the Finals in the 2018 National Enterprise Challenge run by Ryman. Highly commended, the team came second in the country in the competition that featured over 100 schools. They gained praise for their ‘brilliant pitch’ and were invited to Ryman by boss and Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis:
“Come and pitch at Ryman Headquarters! It’s the best idea I’ve heard in years!”
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Experience of the world of work… …can provide not only an insight into particular career areas but also a familiarity with the workplace generally as well as the opportunity to develop essential “employability” skills.
A break with tradition Here at WHS we believe the more traditional approach still taken by many schools, which requires all students to complete a week of work experience during an allotted time period often in Year 11, is rather narrow and restrictive. Our aim is a more dynamic and fluid interpretation of ‘work experience’. One that fits the theme of journey throughout school life, encourages students to reflect and record their experiences and allows students to tailor encounters to their individual interests and aspirations.
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In this way we encourage you to start developing the EXPERIENCE strand of your Striding Out portfolio from Year 7 onwards.
“I enjoyed a week’s work experience at the audio/sound production and editing company Vaudeville Sound. I learnt a lot about how much editing and time goes into creating TV shows and documentaries, while also having fun learning about what different buttons and programs do! I shadowed a number of different people, who were all working on their own projects for independent documentary production companies and also big channels such as Channel 5!”
Experiencing the world of work opportunities throughout the school: • Take Your Daughter to Work Day in Year 8 • National Enterprise Challenge day in Year 9 • Paid employment • Volunteering • Work shadowing in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 • Co-curricular activities such as producing a student newspaper • Careers Insight days as organised by the GDST and partnership organisations such as Women of the Future and The Medic and Lawyer Portal
Work shadowing from Year 10 upwards External options available to students are greater in Year 10 and above and we encourage and support students to seek out the equivalent of at least one week of ‘work shadowing’ or voluntary work before joining the sixth form and a further week before they leave Year 13. We recognise that work shadowing opportunities do not have to be lengthy to be meaningful and the duration of specific opportunities can vary, indeed a single focused day can be very valuable.
“I had a great time at my work experience. The most exciting part was probably a partnership workshop, involving 15 of us. Lots of people worked in charities or services, such as the NHS. It was an amazing group of people, from all walks of life, sitting in one room to talk about a project that brought them all together and one we were all passionate about. So much of it was from the heart and trying to help people in need.”
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Our partnership with
Women of the Future
Over the last five years, WHS has been proud to support the ‘Women of the Future’ ambassador programme.
Influential women from all walks of life have been to visit the school and talk about their inspiring career journeys. Students have also been fortunate to attend corporate insight days with BHP, PwC and others as well and the annual ambassadors’ reception which was at the US embassy in 2018.
GDST Alumnae Network Alongside the training and leadership opportunities whilst you are in school, as GDST students you also benefit greatly from being part of the extended GDST Alumnae Network – over 70,000 alumnae who might be able to help advise and mentor in your particular area of interest.
The GDST organises a number of brilliant events, including exclusive Insight Days with organisations such as Facebook, Barclays and Broadway Malyan.
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“I joined 5 others on work experience at Barclays Global Headquarters (in Canary Wharf) with their Internal Audit team, thank s to the GDST. We spent the week shadowing all of the different teams and had workshops on our CVs and interview techniques. On the final day we had lunch with Sally Clark the head of Barclays Internal Audit. It was such a great experience learning all about people’s day to day roles and meeting and getting to know very senior people within the bank.”
Higher Education Our Year 13 leavers go on to top universities and courses in this country and abroad, to study a host of different academic courses. We also have students heading for Art College, some to internships and advise on the newer option of degree apprenticeships. Students choosing Art College initially may go on to do a degree the following year.
University Destinations 2018 73% of the 2018 cohort achieved places at their 1st choice of university / college 87% were awarded places at either their 1st or 2nd choice 88% of destinations were Russell Group universities 44% of the 2018 cohort went on to study STEM related courses
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The higher education landscape is a wide and expanding one and navigating a way through it can be a complex process. We provide a comprehensive support programme to all students in the school whatever their plans. From support with subject choices through to specialist mentoring programmes for Oxbridge candidates, Medics, Vets and Dentists and for those thinking of applying overseas we are able to give
girls high quality and most crucially individual advice. Each student is matched with a supervisor who will help advise on choices and personal statements and who will write your reference for UCAS. Mock interviews are arranged with teachers at other schools. This support does not end when the girls have left. The team are on hand to support past students as well.
“When I decided I wanted to do medicine, the school were very supportive. A group was formed for aspiring medics and we were given tips and information relating to personal statements and work experience as well as interview practice. We were carefully guided through the UCAS process and all 9 of us successfully secured a place.”
“Having had a change of heart about my degree and career direction two years out of school, I found myself applying through UCAS a second time. The school welcomed me back with open arms and helped me through the process once again. I was on a tight timescale and the Higher Ed team supported me to get it done within a week, resulting in the offer I wanted. I was very grateful for how willing they were to help even though I had left WHS two years previously. It took a considerable amount of stress out of what was a quite an anxious time.”
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Striding Out – specific Sixth Form programme Striding Out evening lectures looking at trends and ‘big’ issues in the graduate employment market Focus on ‘soft skills’ such as negotiation, communication, being assertive ‘Women of the Future’ networking events, plus events with parents and alumnae such as the Year 12 Higher Education evening Visits from Higher Education Institutions including King’s College London, Glasgow University, New York University and University of British Columbia Access to GDST employer insight days (recently including Facebook and Barclays) Personal statement advisers for all students Unifrog online platform for exploring post 18 choices and support with personal statement writing Centigrade testing – to help inform university choices One to one interviews for all Year 12 students with Higher Education team Medicine preparation programme including BMAT*, UKCAT* and interview support US and overseas applicants support programme including SAT* preparation Study abroad fair Full Oxbridge programme including dedicated Oxbridge mentors, preparation for admissions tests and interviews Future Proof – a programme pulling together the tools and skills students need to manage their online lives at school and university and give them the best possible experience to navigate our digitally connected world.
*Acronyms explained: BMAT - BioMedical Admissions Test - an aptitude test used by some universities as part of the admissions process for medicine, biomedical sciences and dentistry courses UKCAT - UK Clinical Aptitude Test admissions test used by a consortium of UK universities for their medical and dentist degree programmes SAT - standardised test used widely in college admissions in the US.
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Wimbledon High School, Mansel Road, London SW19 4AB 020 8971 0900 • info@wim.gdst.net • www.wimbledonhigh.gdst.net Head: Mrs Jane Lunnon The Girls’ Day School Trust is a Limited Company. Registered in England No. 6400. Registered Charity No. 306983. www.gdst.net