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Year 10 had a whole day of work experience earlier this week, meeting professionals from sectors including marketing, finance, engineering and medicine.

Boys chose which sectors to explore, depending on their interests, and the day started with online presentations from an impressive array of professionals, entrepreneurs and scientists. The groups covered:

• Entrepreneurship and marketing, with a session led by Graham Perkins of Atlas Air
• Music production, led by Ed Freitas of Echo Fox Limited
• Political influencing - how to make our world a better place, with Joe Chapman, MAG Airports
• Computer programming and website design, with Turing Lab, Peckham
• Designing cities of the future, with Daniel Davies, London Legacy Olympic Park
• Sports industry, led by Oliver Pickup, journalist, and Hailu Theodros, Chelsea sports coach
• Design, technology and engineering, with Mark Jenner, Founder of Beeline
• Medical sciences and astrophysics, with Hope Osifo, Medical Undergraduate, Liverpool University
• Work in the City, law and financial services, with Thomas Anderson, Nothando Malaba and Reggie Nelson of Barclays, Hogan Lovells and LGIM respectively.
• Film and media journalism, with Nicola Tatley, freelance writer

Boys clearly relished the chance to meet people working in industries and sectors for which the students feel an affinity. "From a young age I’ve always wanted to do finance so it was great that someone from the finance industry is coming in and organising a session for us," said Yaseem, Year 10 (pictured).

After meeting and quizzing the professionals, our boys did their own financial analysis activity. "We are doing a report on shares in Barclays and Lloyds bank and advising clients on whether they should hold or sell them," said Yeseem. "Sessions like this will give us a perspective into the real world and what it is really like to work in finance."

The medical sciences group learned about the experiences of one young trainee medic and then got the chance to dissect a rat, to give them a hands-on insight into one aspect of medicine.

"The medical student told us about his experiences and how he is aspiring to be a doctor," said Hamza, Year 10. "He gave us good advice about preparing a personal statement for university and told us how we worked hard when we was at school."

Mustafa (pictured) chose this group because he is thinking of a medical career. "I'm interested in a career in pharmacology, so this session will be a good insight," he said.

The music production group met Ed Freitas of Echo Fox Limited, who has worked with a wide array of top names in the music industry. William, Year 10, chose this session because of his passion for music. "I have lots of interesting career paths in mind and I haven’t decided on one yet but this session was still really eye-opening and an insight into what you can do with music when you think outside the box," said William. "I took away from the session that you don’t have to specialise in one instrument to be good in the music industry – you need to have a wide array of skills you can apply to different genres."

Axel, Year 10, opted for the 'building cities of the future session. "I am interested in buildings and I was curious about how people plan and make buildings and what the process is. We met a director of planning and he talked about the local Southwark planning and what’s happening in Peckham and the process of planning and negotiations."

The boys in the marketing and entrepreneurship group (pictured above) met Graham Perkins of Atlas Air and were clearly very inspired.

"I chose this session because I’m interested in marketing, but I wasn’t expecting such a lively lesson," said Dante, Year 10. "My aspiration is to work with people and build a business from scratch. We learned how the airline industry works, and how it’s linked to all sorts of other industries. This morning’s session opened my eyes because I thought I was dreaming and aspiring but listening to Graham and how he came from a local school to play such a huge part in Atlas Airlines was just amazing."

The design and technology group met Mark Jenner of bike navigation company Beeline. Moshood, Year 10 (pictured), chose this group because he's interested in how things are made and why they are made in the way they are. In the activity afterward, Moshood got to design and make his own car. 

"I'm trying to make it aerodynamic so it moves as fast as possible," he said. "This morning's session was good because I found out how product designers find problems in the world and figure out ways to solve them."

A big thank you to all our presenters and session leaders for sharing their time, experiences and expertise with our boys, and giving them such a clear insight into so many different career paths.

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