A TRULY inspiring talk was held at Haberdashers’ Monmouth School as influential figures offered their advice to students, parents and the rest of the community.

Successful figures from all different backgrounds were invited to participate in a panel, answering questions asked to them about education while offering advice from their own personal stories and lessons learnt throughout their careers as educationalists and employment.

The panel was chaired by Dame Hilary Boulding, a recently appointed Govenor of Haberdashers’ Monmouth School and former president of Trinity College in Oxford.

Other participants on the panel were: Tom Campbell, CEO of E-ACT Multi Academy Trust, Yvonne Roberts-Ablett, Head of Curriculum Policy at the Welsh Government, Martin Collier, Former Master of Haileybury, Sir Warren East, Former CEO of Rolls Royce, Sarah Fletcher, Former High Mistress of St. Paul’s Girls’ School in London and MBE Melvyn Roffe, Head of Haberdashers’ Monmouth School.

The event provided an insightful opportunity for people to hear from the panel, ask questions and think ahead into future pathways in education.

It gave people the opportunity to hear from successful business people and hear insights from education to industry debating with each other and answering questions from the audience. It built off the school’s recent curriculum reforms and their Futures Programme but also venturing into wider questions such as the purpose and direction of education, and other topics such as the rising use of Artificial Intelligence.

The panel spoke on the purpose of Education all answering in slightly different approaches.

One key piece of information which the community took away from the event was the importance of collaboration.

“Humans are a collaborative species. The knowledge and skills are important, but the attitudes are what I look for when hiring people, said Sir Warren East.

“I don’t want to have machines; I want to have human beings.”

Another key takeaway which enabled a clear insight into what people could take with them to use in everyday life was the importance of listening.

“The world is better if people realise, they’re not always right,” said Sarah Fletcher.

After sharing an insightful personal story, Sarah Fletcher described being in education is like giving people “the wings” and that being the person who can help someone reach their goals and support them in the right direction can make differences leading them to where they take their career.

The importance of problem solving and taking risks was also highlighted at the symposium.

“You can’t have innovation without taking risk,” said Melvyn Roffe.

This shared the importance of not being afraid to take risks because this essential skills dives into personal growth, while unlocking new opportunities and building long lasting resilience. After one example was shared by Sarah Fletcher and children at her school presenting to a company the idea they had, it highlighted that even when initial ideas don’t always go to plan the importance of learning is, how can an idea be improved and what can be learnt.

Embracing “failure” is essential because it provides an opportunity to grasp at every opportunity and to learn, adapt and improve in future pathways.