The prospect of heading off to university and beyond can often seem a little daunting, no matter how prepared you feel, so the girls were delighted to welcome back several of the School’s recent Old Girls to pass on their words of wisdom about the exciting adventure awaiting them over the next few years.
There was lots of laughter and smiles and the girls shared their stories about their experiences studying a huge range of courses at some of the country’s top universities including Medicine at Cambridge, Law at Southampton, Classics at Swansea, Veterinary Science at Nottingham and many more.
Acting Joint Head of Sixth Form Joint Mrs Pooley said “It was just so lovely to hear so many positive stories and advice from all over the world! The girls really took their time to pass on their wise words and inspirational tales, even when they weren’t available to come in person”.
Advice ranged from the upsides of taking a gap year and teaching at local schools during your studies to withholding the Wi-Fi password from messy housemates until they tidy the communal spaces.
Year 13 Bennath said: “It was very inspiring to see how successful and happy girls are, who have had exactly the same Sixth Form experience as us.”
The Old Girls themselves also seemed to get a lot out of coming back and were happy to pass on their wisdom as well as catch up with their old teachers and classmates.
Rachel, who already has a job lined up after completing a degree in primary education with QTS at the University of Brighton, seemed particularly nostalgic: “You just can’t appreciate how much support you have here at Truro High until you have left. Sixth Form was such a great experience for me as I was helped to get the best grades that I could, but still had a great social life and made the best friends ever”.
The rest of the Old Girls echoed these thoughts and there was a lot of gratitude of how hard teachers worked to help them be able to make the most of the opportunities that they’re now experiencing at university.
Former Head Girl, Zahra, excitedly told students about how she has the opportunity to study in Ottawa in her third year studying Law with International Legal Studies at Southampton. Freya, her former deputy spoke of how beneficial she found travelling on a gap year as she now heads off to studying Veterinary Science at Nottingham. Amy, currently studying medicine at Cambridge, left our girls under no illusion though – university is hard work, but it’s such a positive experience. Her former classmate, Elle-Rose, had lots of advice about planning for the future and is currently teaching Latin in a local secondary school alongside her university studies in Classics.
Year 13 Alice said, “It was really useful to get advice from people we already know which put our minds at ease. The advice that they gave about making friends was really practical.”
The visit came just a week on from another recent Old Girl, Rebecca, being kind enough to come back and visit to speak through her experiences of applying for and gaining a very competitive apprenticeship place at Rick Stein’s. Her tenacity and positive attitude mean that now, at the age of 19, she owns and manages her own successful restaurant business. Rebecca spoke of the realities of running your own business to pupils from Year 9 upwards and also helped to make pupils aware of the huge number of opportunities available them to achieve outstanding career success.
Every year, Truro High School waves goodbye to intelligent, confident, independent and well-rounded young women who leave the school for the UK’s top universities and art colleges sound in the knowledge that they can make their passion a reality. Truro High is currently ranked as Cornwall’s top school for GCSE and A Level by the Sunday Times Schools Guide as well as the county’s top A Level provider in the government’s latest league tables.
