Find out more
At the end of June, we hosted our second ‘Life Beyond Fifth Form’ Week for over 40 Fifth Form students. Following on from the success of our first Life Beyond Fifth form Week in Summer 2024, the programme was designed to help students explore the evolving world of work, understand global challenges and build essential life skills. From a hands-on AI workshop to financial literacy, interview skills and more hosted by industry leaders, the week was hugely beneficial to pupils, and we would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who made the week possible!
Day One
On Day 1, students completed Mark Haviland’s (Pn 90) ‘Careers with Profit and Purpose’ workshop. Mark is the founder of Conscious Careers which delivers workshops exploring opportunities for personal progression, combined with self-worth and real-world impact. He was a pupil highlight of the last year’s Fifth Form Week, and so we were delighted to have him back for 2025. The day-long workshop explored careers with the world in mind, focusing on the United Nations SDGs and what the future of work may look like. Students had the opportunity to explore their skill sets and align them with career goals as a team. In the afternoon, they got the chance to create and pitch a profitable business idea that has a positive impact on the world. The winners were the creators of the ‘Bite Bag’, a portable mosquito net tent – designed in one afternoon!
Day Two
Day 2 offered a range of sessions designed to build key life skills; the day started with Financial Literacy with Zoë Burt from Elent. Zoë is a UK and US-qualified wealth manager with a passion for helping individuals take control of their finances. Her session dove into essential life skills like understanding payslips and pensions, as well as exploring topics such as investing and current financial news. Then, students took part in a mini Speed Networking session – with a twist – inspired by our flagship careers event at College. Instead of parents, pupils had the opportunity to speak with teachers and support staff from across the College, including Chemical Engineers, entrepreneurs, professional sportspeople, lawyers and more.
The day’s sessions finished with ‘The Journey to the Interview’, hosted by parent Jonathan Webb. From personal branding to interview techniques and CV-building, the session offered practical insights and interview practice sessions to help students confidently prepare for the world beyond Wellington.
Day Three
On Day 3, students spent the morning learning about how AI can be used to help you study smarter, led by AI Education Specialist, Darren Coxon. Students were able to get hands-on with tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and NotebookLM, as well as creative AI tools that turn words into music, video, or code! Parent Damien McDonald lead the final session on Storyboarding Techniques. Inspired by the storyboards used in animation, the session taught pupils how to use storyboarding to create compelling presentations, and then presented their takeaways from the week to parents and their classmates during the celebration of achievement afternoon tea.
Throughout the week, pupils also had a range of evening activities to choose from, from raft building to a conservation tour of the College estate, high ropes and yoga to encourage relaxation and team-building.
We would like to say a huge thank you to our guest speakers for their fantastic sessions, to our Fifth Form pupils for throwing themselves in and engaging with all sessions, and to Lucy Davies, Community Manager, for organising the week. We would also like to thank everyone else who made the week possible – we can’t wait for Life Beyond Fifth form Week 2026!
