Beyond King’s

This week, pupils have been at the Oxbridge Conference. Many pupils go on to study at Oxford and Cambridge, including this week’s former pupil, David Frape (Ca 44-47). Whilst boarding at King’s David was a house and school monitor and he played for the First XV. Following King’s, David received a scholarship to study Agriculture at Reading University before completing a post-graduate diploma in Agricultural Science at the University of Cambridge; a PhD in Animal Physiology at the University of Iowa followed, and then came a post-doctoral fellowship on goitre.

David is a mammalian patho-physiologist and has had a fascinating career with roles including being the instigator of international registration of nutritionists, Head of Animal Nutrition at Spillers Ltd, Research Director on the Board of CANTAB Group Ltd and Chief Scientist of Clinical Science International Ltd; as a consultant physiologist he also advises on metabolic diseases and has been expert witness in several court cases. David has written many scientific papers and books, having published papers on experiments on a dozen species of mammal, including the white rhinoceros and the giant panda. In 1998 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists. David is now a volunteer Managing Editor of World Agriculture and, at the age of ninety, he is currently writing a book on diet, disease and health.

Preparations for the 2019 OV Annual Reunion Weekend are well underway and our former pupil this week is Sally (née Ogden) Themans (Co 84-86), who is the current OV Club President. As a pupil, Sally took part in drama, theatre and orchestra, and after King’s Sally went to Lancaster University to study Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods.

Sally has two main roles, the first of which is championing local small and medium-sized businesses, particularly new start-ups and High Street retailers, with her company Good2Great. She also founded Love Bridgnorth, promoting the local community and helping Bridgnorth to win Best Great British High Street – Large Market Town in 2016. She is part of the government’s Future High Streets Fund, advising at both the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and at regional level.

Sally is also a published writer with articles published in Shropshire Business Magazine, Country and Border Life and she has been editor of What’s What! magazine since 2008. For over twenty years Sally has also been a Magistrate and Justice of the Peace, specialising in Youth Matters.

We are fortunate to have an amazing careers department at King’s which helps pupils explore their options and prepare for life after King’s. This week’s former pupil is Alex Sumner (Cl 00-05) who showcases how there can be many different paths to finding your dream job. At King’s, Alex really enjoyed DT as well as athletics and rowing.

After King’s Alex went to sixth form college to study A Levels and, instead of going to university, started up his own car-valeting business whilst also managing a local pub. A passion for business and finance led him to pursue a career in the financial services industry.

At nineteen, Alex started working for a regional stockbroking firm and he worked his way up the ladder, studying and qualifying as he went along to become a stockbroker. Alex then went into discretionary investment management and last year began an exciting new role at Blackfinch Investments, setting up a range of portfolios targeted at the Financial Adviser market, which have raised an encouraging level of assets to date.

We are back after the half-term break and eagerly looking forward to the Dylan Lloyd Art Exhibition coming to King’s in a couple of weeks. Our Former Pupil this week is Dorcas George-Jones (Co 87-89) who spent lots of time in the art department studying Art and Ceramics (alongside English Literature) at A-Level.

After King’s, Dorcas went to Sheffield Hallam University to study Urban Land Economics. Following graduation she moved to London and joined Savills, where she stayed for many years, becoming Marketing Director. Following a move to the country, Dorcas is now the Project Design Manager for Castellum Cotswolds Ltd, a company that specialises in high end residential main contracting and property development.

King’s is very excited about the Six Nations at the moment, as is our former pupil this week, Richard Tomlinson (Cl 83-90). Richard was captain of the First XV as well as the First XI while at King’s. He carried on playing rugby at Loughborough University where he studied PE and Sports Science before completing a postgraduate course at Sheffield Hallam in Property Valuation and Management.

Richard began a career in surveying, qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor. However, in 1996 Richard had an immediate career change when Rugby Union became a professional sport (he had previously played for Rugby Lions and Nottingham RFC) and went to Worcester RFC (now known as Worcester Warriors) to became a professional player. Unfortunately, due to injury Richard took early retirement from rugby in 2000 and reverted to chartered surveying, becoming a partner at Humberts. Richard was then a founding member of Halls Midlands in 2008, which merged with Fisher German in 2016 where Richard is now an equity partner specialising in commercial property and development sites. Richard is also a King’s parent with three children at the school.

There is a real buzz in the drama department this term with lots of fantastic performances and shows being rehearsed and performed. Our former pupil this week is Rebecca Garrod-Waters (Co 91-93) who enjoyed drama at school and was involved in a number of school plays. Rebecca went on to study genetics at Swansea University, after being inspired by Mr Allum, and followed this with postgraduate study in bioprocessing at UCL and research into gene tagging at Bristol University.

Rebecca has an exciting career which has taken her out of the laboratory and into government and business. Her previous roles have included Assistant Director in the Department of Trade and Industry (now BEIS) and Director of Innovation at Advantage West Midlands. Rebecca is now CEO of the Ufi Charitable Trust, a grant funder that supports the development and use of novel tech for vocational learning – from motion sensor tech to help you to learn about molecular interactions, through to gaming to support numeracy.

Planning projects and team building are vital business skills that pupils develop while at King’s and our former pupil this week, Andrew Nunney (K 78-85), uses these every day in his career in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods industry. While at King’s, Andrew took part in drama and LAMDA, and was on the school rugby, swimming and quiz teams.

On leaving school Andrew studied economics at the University of Southampton. In an exciting and varied career covering all aspects of marketing, he has held senior business roles in the oil industry with ConocoPhillips, and in the food and drinks industries with United Biscuits, Coca-Cola European Partner and in beers, wines and spirits with BRLHardy, Constellation and Cobra Beer before becoming Category Director of Accolade Wines in 2017. His time at King’s has stood him in good stead, giving him the confidence to develop market changing strategies, launch new brands and present to audiences across the UK and Europe while bumping into many OVs along the way.

The weekly CCF parade on Friday is a feature of school life and one OV who remembers this well is Major Noel Webb (Cr 93-01). An active member of the CCF and judo club at King’s, he also pursued kayaking outside school. Graduating from the University of East Anglia with a degree in Environmental Science in 2004, Noel spent a short period working in sales. However, a bet and a copy of National Geographic led him to resign and go kayaking instead. Six months, three thousand five hundred kilometres and a lot of debt later, Noel completed a solo circumnavigation of the UK mainland by sea kayak, raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust along the way.

Noel joined the British Army in 2008, commissioning into the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. As an infantry officer he has spent the intervening years working with some outstanding characters. His role has seen him travel to some fantastic places globally on exercise, as well as some less fantastic ones on operations. Now a major, Noel is currently working in an office role in London.

This week the sports fixtures are well and truly underway and this week’s former pupil would have been in her element. While at King’s, Rose Rolle-Rowan (née Panter S 91-98) was on the 1st Netball team, 1st Rowing team and on the swimming team plus a Monitor and Head of House. She proudly reports that she also once staggered over the line in 7th place in the school cross country! Rose went on to study English Language and Archaeology at the University of Nottingham.

Since University, Rose has had a successful career primarily in the public sector where she worked as Senior Regeneration Officer in London Borough of Newham developing specialist employment projects for five years, before going to work in the HR team at Oxfordshire County Council. After four years as Workforce Initiatives Manager, supporting development of Apprenticeship programmes and volunteering, Rose gained a postgraduate qualification in Strategic Management and Leadership from Oxford Brookes, then trained as an Organisational Development Consultant and Executive Coach. Her current role involves working with a wide variety of professional colleagues including firefighters, engineers, librarians and social workers. She finds it all very interesting!

In the early part of her career Rose worked in the charity sector, and she continues her involvement now as a volunteer Trustee for Aspire Oxford, an innovative social enterprise that supports people with a history of homelessness to get their lives back on track. The combination of a public sector career plus Trusteeship gives Rose a rewarding sense of purpose.