The Salopian no. 157 - Winter 2015

26 SCHOOL NEWS
Life beyond Shrewsbury
Dympna Nightingale, Higher Education and GAP year adviser, talks about her demanding role in
guiding Shrewsbury School pupils to the next stage of their education.
typical day in the life of Higher
A Education Adviser… Hold on,
there isn’t a typical day!
What I love about my role in the
Careers Department is the variety:
the challenges, the highs and lows –
and the stress! Employed as a music
teacher many moons ago meant that I
only came into contact with musicians
and never got the chance to meet the
rest of the School. Since taking on the
role of Higher Education Adviser, a lot
of my work now is dealing with the
pupils, sometimes as year groups but
mostly on a one-to-one basis. It is so
enjoyable to have these conversations
and get to know the pupils better and
understand their decision-making in
the process. I also get to meet lots of
parents which I very much value.
Leaving school and finding that
‘next step’ is a worrying, exciting,
frustrating time for all concerned.
There are no right or wrong answers,
but in the Careers Department we
hope that pupils and parents alike
feel that we are approachable and
that they can ask us at any time for
help and guidance.
Most of my work is UCAS-based.
(UCAS stands for Universities and
Colleges Admissions Service; and this
is the central organisation through
which all applications are processed
for entry to higher education in
the UK.) So attending conferences,
visiting universities, keeping in touch
with Old Salopians and getting their
up-to-date perspectives on courses
and institutions is important. For
many parents, university decisions
can be a minefield. It doesn’t matter
whether you have already had older
children going through the process –
every case is different and we have
all got to remember who is actually
going to university! It is the students
who must take on the responsibility
and be proactive about what they
want to do when they leave school
and get excited. So much information
is available, and so many careers
events and talks organised for them;
fortunately, I have to say the majority
of students are aware and on board.
Over the last two years, the
proportion of Shrewsbury School
students going on to Higher
Education in the UK has been about
94%. For many pupils, making a
decision about which course to study
is the difficult one. If they get this
right, the university choice will fall
into place with purposeful research,
Open Days, and use of our latest
resource Unifrog, to which all our
Sixth Form have access.
I encourage the pupils to understand
the higher education ‘jargon’ and
know the difference between
single honours, joint honours and
sandwich courses and the thousands
of variations of modules as well. It is
also important to know what kind of
universities there are. Russell Group
(24), for example, are the traditional
red-brick, while the 1994 Group (11)
are research-intensive universities,
and the Million+ Group (19) tend
to be the former polytechnics from
before 1992, which have a more
hands-on approach.
The top ten choices of courses among
Shrewsbury School pupils applying
through UCAS in 2014 were: History,
Human and Social Geography,
combinations within Business and
Admin Studies, Classical Studies, Law,
Management Studies, combinations
of Social Studies/Business/Law
with languages, English Studies,
Chemistry, combinations of three
subjects, or other general courses.
Many Shrewsbury School pupils also
apply for traditional disciplines like
Medicine, Law, History, English
and Languages.
There is, however, a growing trend
of applications for Psychology,
Sports Science, Fashion, International
Relations, Politics and Music
Technology. The ‘newish’ disciplines
are degrees in Events Management,
Renewable Energy, 3D Product
Design, Hospitality and Creative Arts.
The top ten university choices by our
students in 2014 were Bristol, Oxford,
Manchester, UCL, Durham, Oxford
Brookes, Exeter, Leeds, Warwick
and Kings College, London. Other
university acceptances were Bristol
UWE, Cardiff, Imperial College,
Reading, Edinburgh, Southampton
and York.
As part of the Careers programme
at School, I invite speakers from
different universities and institutions
to speak on a wide range of
disciplines; this usually works out
at an average of 16-18 talks during
a pupil’s Sixth Form. I feel it is
important for pupils to attend as
many of these talks as possible: even
if they are interested in only one
course, they may at least use these
talks as a way of finding out more
about what a particular university
is like and what it can offer them.
There’s always a chance to ask that
burning question.
The first talk in the Careers
programme is usually a general one
on university and what is it really like.
For Michaelmas 2015 I invited James
Seymour from Aston University, an
Admissions Tutor with many years of
experience. I have also invited back
Old Salopians to review their first
year at university and speak about
the ‘ups and downs’ of it all, what
tips and hints they would give to the
present Sixth Form.
It is amazing how quite a number
of pupils have concerns and
wobbles about the practicalities
of going away to university, how
they are going to manage their time
effectively and responsibly and
be successful. Obviously it is not
‘cool’ to discuss this with their peer
group, but in a one-to-one chat I
hear it all. So I hope that by listening
and encouraging, I can dispel the