Lady Lumley's Academy

What are you doing now? Going to study Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. How did Lady Lumley’s help you succeed? In terms of results, the teaching. The school is different now from when I started but the level of teaching and support I received across 7 years never changed. Being involved with school football and DofE and other extracurricular activities was important for balance, and to help me develop as a person. The best thing about secondary school and sixth form is the chance to be with friends every day, and that is something you take for granted until it is gone. The last year at sixth form especially was the best year of my life, and the most important success is looking forward to coming in on a morning even with tests or exams or anything else. So never stop enjoying it.

What are you doing now? I now work as a Manufacturing Manager Apprentice for Heineken. I work on the John Smith’s brewery site in Tadcaster, and I am currently working in various departments to ensure production is as efficient and as smooth as possible. How did Lady Lumley’s help you succeed? Lady Lumley’s provided me with various skills that were not only academic, but also social. The school had a vital part to play in my success and has provided me with many life skills that I am sure will come in useful in the next few years as I continue to progress on my career path. The level of teaching is fantastic, and I feel as though I have been placed in a great position to apply the knowledge I acquired in lessons to the real world.

What are you doing now? I currently study BA Modern Languages (German, Russian, Serbian, and Croatian) at the University of Nottingham. At the moment, I am living in Saint Petersburg in Russia (hence why I’m wearing a massive yellow coat and hat in the picture because it is so cold here!) as part of my degree’s Year Abroad! Later in the Year, I am moving to Klagenfurt which is a city in Austria to teach English in a school and then hopefully finishing off with a work placement in Croatia before going back to Nottingham to complete my final year at university. I am also currently in the process of applying to law firms to start my career as a solicitor after I graduate. How did Lady Lumley’s help you succeed? Everyone who taught me at Lumley’s knew how stressed I would get about my exam results! Having such great supportive teachers meant that I didn’t let my worrying get the better of me (despite the amount of unnecessary crying I still did about my GCSEs and A-Levels!) and I was able to achieve exam results that I never thought were possible! A special mention goes to the language department at school (Especially Frau Mark, Herr Mann, and Frau Pemberton!). I wouldn’t be living in Russia currently if they hadn’t made me believe that I could succeed not only in German (which I studied at GCSE and A-Level) but also in learning a new language. I chose to pick up Russian, Serbian and Croatian all while at university thanks to the encouragement from the all the language teachers at Lumley’s which has let me go on to study some really interesting things. Even though I left Lumley’s over three years ago, previous teachers have still gone through and read my CV which has been a massive help in terms of graduate job applications. Even after I finished school, Lumley’s is still helping me.