Former head boy makes a return

A FORMER head boy at a school in North Yorkshire who went on to work for the Treasury after graduating from Oxford has returned to his alma mater for its annual prize-giving.

Hugh McHale-Maughan, who left Ripon Grammar School in 2013, was special guest at the annual Lower School event.

Now working within Her Majesty’s Treasury, he told students, staff, governors and guests that Ripon Grammar School was the place where he had spent his happiest years.

Among the greatest challenges today’s students would face in coming years, he advised students at the ceremony, would be the advance of technology. And the world of work the students would enter in the late 2020s would be unrecognisable, he added.

“Eighty-five per cent of the jobs in 2030 haven’t been invented yet, so if you don’t know what you want to do, don’t worry,” he added.

“The best way to prepare for the new jobs of the future is to learn a set of skills at school that you can apply anywhere. Working hard, being kind to each other, they are the core skills that RGS will teach you that will set you apart in the workplace.”

Dr Peter Mason, chairman of governors, praised the students and staff at the event for their achievements during the last year.

And headmaster Jonathan Webb reflected on a year of sporting achievement, with many students being selected for county honours, standards in music and drama and academic success among the lower school.