Year 8 Assembly Welcomes Two New Guest Speakers

Day 2 of National Careers Week and we welcomed two new guest speakers into the Year 8 assembly this morning, Alistair Schreiber and Nabilia Tayub.  Deputy Headteacher with responsibility for Personal Development, Mrs Henly, explained that this week isn't about students working out their future career right now, and they don't have to know what career they will be doing when they are 25!  It is all about being curious.  Listening, thinking, questioning. 

Alistair is a Chartered Accountant and Financial Director of his own business but when he was at school he had no idea what he wanted to be.  He emphasised to the cohort that there is not one set route that gets you to your final career - there are pathways and stepping stones. Accountancy is the backbone of any business - it helps to record and report how the business is doing and address any changes that are required to ensure it continues to perform well. You don't need to be a genius at Maths, believe it or not, but you do need to know how to handle numbers.  Skills such as communication, leadership, organisation and time management are essential, and you must be able to write well so those core subjects of English and Maths are really important. The financial sector requires a lot of hard work but is off-set by high rewards.  

Nabila opened by telling the group that it was her birthday and she would really like for them to wish her ‘Happy Birthday!’   After the cohort had shared their birthday wishes, she explained why she had asked him to do this; When would she have 270 bright students sitting in front of her on her birthday ever again? This led to her first rule of careers -  seize the opportunities.

Nabila went on to explain her career journey from her first job at B&Q, where she realised she had a passion for talking to people, to her time at Local Government, where she developed a love of helping communities.  She then touched upon the time she had spent at MI5 where she was sure she would cement her career, however, she unexpectedly met someone, got married and moved to Africa!  Which led to her second rule of careers - Life happens and plans change.

Whilst in Malawi, Nabila worked in the Public Health sector helping people with HIV AIDS and also established the first COVID hospital there.  During her twenty years working in Africa, she utilised all her previous experiences with communities and dealing with people.  On her return to the UK Nabilia set up her own charity helping women and children living with HIV AIDS.  The varied pathways, as Alistair mentioned previously, had brought her to her current role and her third rule of careers – do what makes you happy and things will figure themselves out.

We would like to thank our guest speakers for sharing their stories and who knows, we may have a budding Financial Director or International Health Manager amongst our students right now.  

#NCW2023