(This blog is taken from a presentation given in Chapel recently by Mrs Handy, Head of History, Government and Politics). Many of my previous talks have revolved around a significant event in history or – in the case of the EU Referendum – contemporary politics. Today’s presentation will be a bit different. This is my golden spoon that I was given when I finished school. I doubt many of you can read it, but my accolade was ‘the person most likely to become Prime Minister’. Not quite the path I have taken as I stand before you now, but at the time it made perfect sense. I did many clubs, both in and out of school – archery, Guides, piano lessons, Christian Union and choir. However, my thing- as represented by the golden spoon- was debating. I set up a debating society when I was in the Sixth Form and dragged my friends along to it. Unsurprisingly people were under the impression that I liked a good discussion and could hold my own; hence my leavers’ spoon. That didn’t mean I won every debate – nowhere close – but I did gain the skills of thinking on my feet, constructing a logical argument and thinking well under pressure, all useful skills both in school and after. Of course this was in conjunction with studying which meant I was eventually able to go on to university. However, I still kept doing extra-curricular activities. When it came to getting a job, many of my fellow graduates struggled despite getting very good degrees. It slowly emerged that those people who did other things as well as studying hard were able to demonstrate skills that were important in the work place and stood out from the competition; after all how do you choose when two people have the same grades? You look at other skills that they can bring to a role, as well as their ability to balance their work with their hobbies. This balance is vitally important as you still need to show your academic abilities in many areas.
What I want you to think about is what are you doing that will help you develop new skills and make new friends? That might mean going along to a club that you have done at a previous school if you are new, or something completely different. Just because your ‘thing’ was one particular extra-curricular club last year or at your last school doesn’t mean you are limited to just that. You may be comfortable as you are, but if you always do what you have always done you could be missing out on a whole new passion that you could not have imagined. There are so many opportunities available at St Mary’s, so many clubs that I never dreamt could have existed when I was at school.
My personal favourite is of course going to be debating. This is open for different year groups at different times. For those in the Fifth and Sixth Forms, who may be considering university courses and especially those that interview (such as Oxbridge) studies have shown that those who regularly think on their feet do well in interview. In both Junior and Senior Debating you choose your topics to discuss; whether you want to help with the preparation, come along to listen and ask questions or give a speech – debating is open to anyone. We do competitions locally with Junior Debating and in Senior Debating we have participated in the ESU Mace Debating competition and the Bristol Schools debating competition. There is no requirement to compete in these but if you want to have a go it is good fun.
So, let’s go back to my spoon. My spoon rather symbolises what I was remembered for at school; having an opinion and (hopefully) for making my point on what I felt was important. My question for you today is: what will people remember you for when you leave St Mary’s? It may be for debating and I would obviously love to see you there, but regardless, I would encourage you to try something new this term; your Golden Spoon could be something you had never thought of before.
