Anna Dove
Preparation for life and learning beyond school is part and parcel of an independent education. Pupils are encouraged to participate in music, drama, sport and other characterbuilding activities including the Combined Cadet Force (CCF), Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and volunteering programmes, all of which are designed to equip them with the skills required for success in later life.
Whatever the next stage brings – university, an apprenticeship, a gap year, direct entry into work – pupils leave school well versed in public speaking, teamwork, leadership and with a confidence and resilience that will bode well for the world of further study and, ultimately, work.
“For us, it’s the growth mindset, it’s independent learning,” says Elaine Logan, warden at Glenalmond College in Perthshire.
“By the time they are in the Upper Sixth year, they really should be working off their own back and have that self motivation.
“In order to do that, you have to have fantastic teachers who are able to engage them and get them motivated.”
In the boarding houses at Glenalmond, boys and girls are encouraged to keep their rooms clean and tidy in preparation for independent living at university, and there is a bespoke university programme with staff on hand to support pupils through the UCAS application process.
Logan says it is vital that pupils are also educated about drugs awareness and internet safety, to ensure they are streetwise when they move on from school.
“Leaving an environment like this can be quite difficult because we are in the countryside and they are moving into cities,” she adds.
At Loretto in Musselburgh, a work experience programme is introduced in the Sixth Form, with local contacts and parents making placements possible.
CVS are one of the first points of contact that workplacesoruniversities will have with pupils
“We have a new head of economics and business who has set up a social enterprise activity and I think that will grow,” says headmaster Dr Graham Hawley.
“For those children involved, it’s a wonderful way of learning about entrepreneurship, which is one of the BTECS that we are introducing in the Sixth Form.
“We see it as hugely important for current teenagers that the opportunities are there to start their own business. The need in the country for wealth creators is significant.”
Loretto’s applications team not only prepares pupils for university entrance, but for whatever they plan to do next.
“Increasingly, I think we will see more children going straight into apprenticeships with companies like KPMG and some of the banks which offer those already,” says Hawley.
“One of the ways that we will continue to prepare our children is to help them build their CVS because that is one of the first points of contact that workplaces or universities will have with [them].”
High School of Dundee has announced a successful year in terms of university applications, with every pupil who applied via UCAS receiving an offer, including 15 students applying to study medicine.
“In terms of going forward to the future, it is qualifications which are so important but more generally, study skills and autonomous learning which you need for university and the workplace,” says Dr John Halliday, rector at the High School of Dundee.
Halliday also highlights the confidence and ability to interact well with others which pupils develop at school. “Our pupils have a wonderful ability to engage and that’s almost as important as anything else in terms of being able to cope with what is ahead.
“You need that ability to engage with people from all walks of life in a self confident but not arrogant way. The pupils at High School of Dundee are very good at that.”
As an International Baccalaureate (IB) school, St Leonards School in Fife prepares students for work as part of the curriculum.
“It is so important that people become used to working as they will at university and at work and the IB prepares people perfectly for that,” says Dr Michael Carslaw, headmaster at St Leonards.
“We have our Dinner with a Difference programme because we want to encourage networking skills in our young people.
“We put them through a programme that goes through networking skills, interview techniques and business etiquette. “We have an outstanding careers adviser who probably knows more about IB entry to UK and world universities than anyone else in Scotland.
“The students stop wearing the traditional school uniform in Year 11 and in Sixth Form they wear suits, so they look like professional people.”
St George’s School for Girls in Edinburgh is all about developing a global outlook and ensuring the girls leave school with a truly international perspective.
“We have a huge range of international exchanges to America, Canada, Chile,” explains headmistress Alex Hems. “The girls are learning in that way to really understand and appreciate other cultures.
“We help to find work experience for every girl in our Lower Sixth year and we actually start the whole approach to careers education very young.
“The junior girls hear from parents in all sorts of different careers and there are all the academic study groups that help to support their individual subject choices.”