Laura Patridge, Programme Director of Future First
Future First is a national charity working in nearly 500 state schools and colleges across Britain linking schools with former students who can inspire and motivate current students to achieve fulfilling careers.
Each school’s alumni network is an incredible resource for the school enabling those schools to harness the talents and expertise of former students as role models, volunteers, mentors and e-mentors, work experience providers, governors and even donors.
60,000 former students across Britain have signed up with Future First to stay connected with their former school. They include people in all walks of life, from the professions of law, finance and medicine to bomb disposal experts, photographers and cake-makers.
Having been to the same school and grown up in the same area, alumni are immediately relatable to the current students, giving those students role models whose stories are inspirational, but critically also achievable.
Private schools and universities have harnessed the talents of alumni for many years, but the idea has never before been embedded in the state sector until now.
Recent related news pegs include Ofsted urging more careers advice in schools, Nick Clegg calling last week for everyone to play a role on advising pupils about careers and Iain Duncan Smith calling for more to be done in education to improve social mobility.
- Future First polls show ex-state school students are ten times less likely to view the people who went to their secondary school as very successful and ten times more likely to view the people who went to their secondary school as quite or very unsuccessful compared to their private school counterparts.
- Nearly 39 per cent of 16 to 19 year olds don’t know anyone in a job they would like to do.
- Nearly 70 per cent of 16 to 19 year olds think it will be hard to get a good job when they leave school.
- Future First research shows nearly ten million people are willing to sign up to their old state school.
