In the middle of January, pupils from Year 11 and our Upper Sixth Business and Economics pupils attended a 90 minute seminar about the importance of languages in the world of work, particularly as an additional skill.

We welcomed three guest speakers: OW Alice Obradovic (2015), People and Culture Coordinator at Lululemon, Duncan Cowper, Digital and Marketing Consultant for the Kingfisher Group, and Simon McCoy, a Senior Economist at the Foreign Office.  Alice highlighted that being able to address someone in their own language changes the dynamics of the relationship you are trying to build with them, Duncan spoke engagingly about winning friends and influencing people, and Simon invited everyone not to make final decisions too quickly but instead to open their minds to the possibilities on offer and use their languages wherever possible.

Three of our Wells staff also spoke about how they used languages in their careers prior to teaching. Dr Mitchell talked about her time in the French pharmaceutical world, Mr Murdoch of his time as an academic advisor in Laos and Mrs Mahon of her internship with Adidas and subsequent work abroad.  This is such a good example of how we use our full Wells community to support and work together.  If you feel you may be able to help our pupils, please get in touch.