On Thursday 25 January 2018, eight speakers returned to Stamford High School to speak with pupils about careers in modern foreign languages. Speakers included five Old Stamfordians, with three Stamford School alumni: Richard Wallace (OS 95), Dean Cornish (OS ), and Ben Hooson (OS ) along with two Stamford High School alumnae: Bronte Phillips (OS ) and Anna Little (OS 2015 ). Languages covered ranged from Chinese, French, German, Italian, Persian, Russian and Spanish.At Stamford Endowed Schools, we see the value and importance of Modern Foreign Languages in our curriculum and our students have the opportunity to study one (or more) of the following languages: French, German, Russian and Spanish. As Baronness Coussins, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages has stated: ” Employers in the UK say they are dissatisfied with the language skills of British school-leavers and graduates and often have to resort to recruiting from overseas to meet the needs of their companies. Research shows that the UK economy could be losing up to £48 billion every year in lost contracts because of a lack of language skills in the workforce.” The group also comments about the effect of declining language learning post-Brexit and have called for: "a national plan to ensure the UK produces the linguists we need to become a world leader in global free trade and on the international stage." The Endowed Schools are working hard to produce such future employees.Caroline Wray Head of MFL said: “This was a great evening and was very well supported by our pupils and their parents. We are very grateful to all of our speakers for sharing their experiences with us and informing us of just how important a role modern foreign languages have played in their lives. It was fantastic to have so many Old Stamfordians returning to school to demonstrate to our pupils how the love of languages and skills they gained at the Schools have helped them in their careers.”If you would like to return to Stamford Endowed Schools to offer guidance, expertise, skills or work experience please do make contact with the Schools:
alumni@ses.lincs.sch.uk
