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The great British summer is finally here, and while everybody should enjoy the sunshine while it lasts, this is also an excellent opportunity to add to your CV and increase your future employment prospects.

You may not be looking for a job until next summer or beyond, but time flies, and starting to prepare early can help ensure that you stand out from the crowd. Between beaches and barbeques, give serious consideration to these five activities while you enjoy a summer break.

 

Virtual Internships

It’s a staggering fact that almost three-quarters of graduates joining the top investment banks have been recruited via internships. Moreover, at least half those offered graduate jobs at leading law firms, finance companies, and oil and energy businesses had completing relevant work experience.

Businesses willing to offer in-person internships or work experience are rather thin on the ground at the moment. We live in the digital age, though, and internships – like so many other aspects of 21^st Century life – are now virtual.

These virtual internships tend to be short and sharp, yet offer great insight into the activities which a full-time role constitutes and will make your CV more appealing.

 

Networking

LinkedIn research found that 80 percent of professionals consider networking to be important to career success!

Taking the opportunity to pick the brains of industry professionals will help you understand the current state of play in your chosen vocation.

Ask around your personal networks or use social media or professional networking sites like LinkedIn, to seeking out contacts who may be able to spare the time for a chat. Ask them about their careers – how they found their dream job, what made them successful, and how they have negotiated any obstacles in their path.

 

Volunteering

Do not fall into the trap of assuming that only industry-specific experience will impress an employer. Recruiters will always look favourably on an applicant that gives up their time to aid a charitable endeavour, and most non-profits are crying out for help right now.

Volunteer work is rewarding, offers the opportunity to make a real difference, and it will teach a range of transferrable skills that you can carry over to the workplace. For example, teamwork, time management, and communication are all honed by taking on a voluntary position.

 

Learn a New Skill

A CV can never boast too many additional skills. Use free online resources like Future Learn or edX to attend a huge variety of courses. Studying online can be done in your own time and will grant you skills that may come in helpful – both personally and professionally. Many of these platforms also provide digital, verifiable micro-credentials, so you have proof of the skills you’ve gained. Independent study will also show a potential employer that you take self-improvement seriously and seize any initiative.

 

Start a Blog

Did you know that Groupon and Huff Post started life as blogs?

Blogging is a significant element of any digital footprint. Many businesses use blogs for content marketing, so showing a flair for the written word boosts your chances of finding work. What’s more, blogging about a subject that interests you encourages research, which furthers knowledge.

A blog can also be a way to find new routes into a chosen industry. Gain enough traction, and professionals may approach you. Even if this is not the case, pointing people toward a blog is a great hook and conversation starter when you do make contact. Any employer will be impressed by independent thought and new ideas.

 

For more information, get in touch with us today on 0208 133 6284 to discuss how we can help.

Students!

This is the first entry in a series of undergraduate reading recommendations.

We asked our top tutors to recommend books and articles they either found useful when preparing for university admissions, or they realise would have been useful to explore, with hindsight.

These books aren’t just appropriate for Oxbridge applicants, but can be explored by anyone looking to get a feel for the subject at undergraduate level.

We hope you find the resource useful. We will be uploading a new blog covering a different subject each week.

For more undergraduate application advice and / or to enquire about tuition, please call us on 0208 133 6284 and we’ll be happy to help.

   

1. ‘What is History’ by E H Carr

This is a seminal book by a renowned historian. He asked some of the key questions about the subject that are often overlooked. Required reading for any applicant.

Recommended by George (Studied History at University of Oxford)

 

2. ‘The Idea of a University’ by J H Newman.

Cardinal Newman wrote this in the 1860s as the debate over universities raged. His redaction is erudite and thought provoking. His take on what a university should be will strike you as strange.

Recommended by George (Studied History at University of Oxford)

 

3. ‘War and Peace’ by Leo Tolstoy.

Great Man Theory; do individuals make history or do forces? That is a crucial historiographical battle to this day. Most people would say the true answer is both. However, you need to engage with Count Tolstoy’s unique perspective.

Recommended by George (Studied History at University of Oxford)

 

4. ‘The Tyranny of a Construct: Feudalism and Historians of Medieval Europe’ by Elizabeth AR Brown

The American Historical Review Vol. 79, No. 4 (Oct., 1974), pp. 1063-1088 (26 pages).

Medieval History

Introduction to an interesting debate around whether ‘feudalism’ actually existed in medieval Europe. Part of the problem with the word “feudalism” is that historians don’t have a single definition for what it means. Some even changed their definitions of feudalism over their historical careers (e.g. Georges Duby, and Joseph Strayer)! Lots more to read after this – e.g. work by Susan Reynolds.

Recommended by Sam (Studied History at Cambridge)

 

5. ‘Telling Feminist Stories’ by Claire Hemmings

Modern British sociocultural history

A great introduction to feminist history and dominant narratives of ‘waves’ of feminism. If of interest, see also Nancy Hewitt, ‘No Permanent Waves: Recasting Histories of US Feminism’. Overall an interesting topic to talk about at interview.

Recommended by Sam (Studied History at Cambridge)

 

6. ‘Explaining the gender gap: the Conservative Party and the women’s vote’ by Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska.

See also:

• ‘The Labour Party, women, and the problem of gender, 1951-66’, by Amy Black and Stephen Brooke inJournal of British Studies 36 (1997);
• ‘Mrs Maggs and Betty: the Conservative appeal to women voters in the 1920s’ by David Jarvis, in Twentieth Century British History, Vol. 5.2 (1994).

Modern British political history

Why did women vote differently to men in the postwar period? A classic historical/historiographical debate that is easy to get to grips with, but has a surprising amount of depth to it.

Recommended by Sam (Studied History at Cambridge)

Athena’s new state-school Oxbridge mentoring programme got off to a flying start with 40% of participants gaining an offer to study at one of the prestigious institutions. This represents an increase of almost 100% compared to the national average offer rate for the universities (20.6%).

Athena offered up to 8 hours of one-to-one sessions to a group of state-educated students, free of charge. Each student was paired with a specialist Oxbridge mentor, who worked to prepare them for their December interviews; the final hurdle before potentially receiving a coveted offer. This involved expanding knowledge of topics mentioned in the personal statement, solidifying understanding of syllabus content, as well as getting students used to handling the more open-ended and stretching questions that can come up. For some students, the art of discussing their subject of interest needs to be developed, as someone may have a tendency to answer questions thoroughly on paper, but struggle to do the same when in discussion. Sessions were delivered online.

 

Amelia – Computer Science, Cambridge

Students fed back positively of their experiences. Amelia, an offer-holder for Computer Sciences at Cambridge, rated our scheme 9/10, saying that ‘[they] don’t really do computer science interview preparation at [her] school’. She explained that our tutor ‘helped [her] tackle problems in a method that was more organised and less scattered’ and further benefitted her to the extent that ‘when [she] actually did the interview, [she] found that the skills that [she] developed to keep chipping away at a problem gave [her] more confidence.’

 

Monique – Law, Cambridge

Monique, who gained an offer to read Law at Cambridge, also rated the scheme 9/10. She wrote: ‘I would say this scheme has helped me immensely to secure a better result in the Cambridge interview… I think it was great how James [our tutor] structured the sessions, so this meant that we were able to cover a lot of areas, quite thoroughly, in a relatively short amount of time. [He] encouraged me to think and try and develop an answer for myself.’

Nelson, one of Athena’s directors, said ‘It was the first year we decided to run this Oxbridge Access Scheme. We have seen both universities* pursuing this end for some time and are delighted with the success our program generated. We will be looking to expand this endeavour in future years, and we wish all participants the best of luck as they go on to start at their new universities.’

*Cambridge Access , Oxford Access

 

Mainstream school information resources can be generic and overly saccharine.

 

We have come to notice that there is a disconnect between the way schools are portrayed publicly / to prospective parents and the experiences students actually go on to have at the schools.

 

Schools are often described in terms of their academic performance, the strength of their pastoral support network and in terms of their facilities. From this, parents might feel they can reliably predict how their children will fare at a given school, yet a piece of the puzzle must be missing by the fact that a sample of students from a school will report significantly varying experiences and emotions.

 

We, therefore, thought it would be a useful endeavour to put together a collection of honest school reviews from the perspective of alumni.

 

We have asked our tutors, all of whom were high achievers at their respective schools, to discuss openly about their schools. We probed students’ best and worst aspects of school life, the religiosity of their school, the ethos, the punishments and much more.

 

These reviews provide an honest and unbiased ‘insider’s take’ on life at a given school, and can hopefully be a useful information resource to supplement the more mainstream information available online and via open days.

 

If you have any schools you would like to see included on or list, or any questions you’d like us to ask our tutors, please let us know.

 

Thank you,

The Athena Team

 

 

Most independent schools will only offer an international student a place if they have a UK-based guardian. The guardian will act as your representative and support your child while they are in the UK.

Beyond the school requirement, there are plenty of reasons why international students need a guardian. We have put together ten, below.

1. Guardians arrange host families

Students stay with host families during holidays and leave-out or exeat weekends, when they can’t go home.

The experienced team at Academic Families will find a host family to best suit your child and will provide a home away from home. Students benefit by spending time with a local family, learning about and experiencing another cultural environment, and joining in family life.

2. Travel arrangements

Your guardianship company will arrange all your child’s transportation within the UK.

This will include taxis to and from the airport, with a taxi company whose drivers have gone through complete police checks.

3. Point of contact

Guardians are the vital point of contact for the school for matters concerning the student’s non-school time in the UK. For example, during holidays, leave weekends and emergencies where the student is unable to return home.

4. Monitor students’ progress

Guardians take an interest in a student’s work and progress, monitoring both their academic and social development. Guardians will have regular contact with the student throughout the year. Host families often notice if the child is not happy and tell the guardians who then liaise with the school.

5. Parents’ meetings

Guardians can attend parent meetings and send a report back to parents.

6. Shopping

Guardians can set up bank accounts, buy phone cards and help with uniform shopping, prior to the student arriving in the UK.

7. Exam advice

A guardian can give help and advice regarding examination choices and university selection, including assistance with the completion of application forms. Some guardians, like Academic Families, also offer extra academic support, such as one-on-one tutors.

8. 24/7 availability

A guardian will be available to both students and parents 24 hours a day, in case of emergency.

9. Summer camps and language schools

Guardian companies can arrange for international students to attend summer programmes and language schools during the holidays.

10. Emergency host family

If a student is suspended from school for a few days, or even weeks, guardianship companies will arrange for an emergency host family. In addition, they will attend meetings with the school to see how the school and student can move forward.

Guest post by Academic Families

Hi everyone,

We are very proud to announce our new offering: Athena Minds.

Athena Minds is an education-related wellbeing support service.

We offer friendly mentors, counsellors and chartered psychologists, as well as educational therapists, to assist students with mental health management.

Examples of requests we accommodate include:

Exam Anxiety

COVID-19 Anxiety

Social Anxiety

Bullying

Home Sickness

LGBTQ+ Support

A child’s education provides scenarios that can challenge their mental health. COVID-19 has further augmented this, by forcing seclusion and adding unpredictability to a child’s immediate future.

Excessive worry can have a very significant impact on a student’s ability to perform optimally in examinations, and so it is of the utmost importance that mental health management support is accessible to those who seek it.

In the tuition industry, mental health is a neglected area, compared to that of academic attainment. We believe that mental health support and academic tuition can work synergistically in maximising a child’s wellbeing AND achievement.

We are very excited about this initiative and hope it can make a positive difference to students’ contentment and performance.

For any enquiries about this service, please get in touch – either by phone call: 020 8133 6284, or by email: toby@athenatuition.co.uk

Property in the UK can attract premiums of up to 15% simply by being in close proximity to an in-demand school. Given the London housing market being what it is, this has led to some parents paying up in an attempt to get their children into the top performing state schools in the capital.

Naturally, all parents want the best education for their children, but is paying this premium actually worth it? To find out, let’s take a closer look at how catchment areas actually work, and compare their cost against other traditional types of paid education.

 

How do catchment areas work?

In the UK, one of the main criteria that non-selective, non-fee paying schools look at when admitting students is the proximity of a child’s home to the school in question. Therefore, living in certain postcodes increases the chances of your child attending a particular school.

Catchment areas are not as simple as “live within 5km of x school and your child is guaranteed a place there”. Rather, living within a school’s “catchment area” is a requirement for your child to go there, but does not guarantee that they will get a place there.

State school admissions depends on a number of factors including proximity of your home to the school (you are generally given priority if the school in question is the closest one to your home) and whether you live in a school’s “high priority neighbourhood”.

It’s also important to remember that not every school has the same catchment area, rather it is measured on the size of the school, and population density of the area that surrounds it. 

To make things even more complicated, the way that catchment areas are measured varies from local council to local council, with some using walking distance, some using raw distance, and others using predetermined areas. Schools’ catchment areas can also change from year to year.

 

Catchment area premiums vs private education

Typically, in cities at least, you can expect to pay around a 15% premium to live in the catchment areas of the most popular schools.

Now, consider private education, the average cost of private day schooling in the UK is around £17,000 a year. Over a child’s secondary school career, this amounts to £119,000.

Therefore if the price of a family home in your area is significantly over £800,000 on average, then private schooling may be a more cost effective option than chasing a catchment area. Admittedly, not all private schools offer the education of a top-performing state school, but there are plenty of highly academic private schools available.

Private tutoring could also be a cost effective option to ensure a better quality education for your child. This could be particularly useful if your child struggles at certain subjects specifically, or if their school isn’t geared to teaching certain subjects well. Getting the extra support could provide a better rounded education without that 6 figure cost.

 

Some problems with paying the “catchment area premium”

Ultimately, given that catchment areas are not an official policy, and that they are subject to adjustment year after year, it may not actually make sense to pay a huge amount of money just to increase your children’s chances of going to one particular school.

Add to that the fact that schools quality can fluctuate a lot over a seven year period, and chasing catchment areas often just does not make sense.

If you do have your heart set on a particular school, you should ask yourself the following questions before you make a financial commitment to it:

• What are the quality of your other local state schools? Is the best one in the area massively better than what is available?
• How steady are the school’s results? Do they have a track record of quality or are they a flash in the pan?
• How likely does moving to a certain postcode make your child’s acceptance into a particular school. It would be worth talking to local estate agents, the local council, and the school itself about this.
• What local private schools are available and what are their costs and average results?
• What local private tutoring is available.

Guest post from Dwell Estate Agents.

At Athena Tuition we work to find tutors for students every day, and here are a few general pointers which guide our decision making in selecting tutors:

 

1. Is the tutor DBS checked? 

   Getting a DBS check is a must for any tutor who has registered with an organisation or tutoring agency. Safety should always be paramount for your children, and that’s why this is number 1 on our list.

2. How much tutoring experience does this tutor have?

   We have come across applicants before who have received excellent grades in their own time at school but never actually tutored the subject to someone else before. It could also have been a while since they did similar work, and some subject exams have changed significantly over the last few years. Do your best to find a tutor who has tutored the subject recently, and ideally has lots of prior experience in the subject. Investigate – ask for details and be specific into their experiences/ teaching journey and how they handled their tutees.

3. Where are they based? 

   In our experience location matters a huge amount for tutoring to succeed. If a tutor lives far away from you, that makes it much harder to find viable slots to fit a tutoring session in. A long travel time can also mean that you kiss goodbye to the ability to quickly reschedule a lesson or to fit in extra sessions when exams approach.

4. Personality and teaching style match 

   Are you looking for someone who is more routine in their tutoring, or someone a bit more unconventional with lots of flair and charisma? Think about what kind of tutor your child would respond to best. Finding a good personality match between tutor and student is very useful to speed up a student’s learning.

5. Reliability and responsibility 

   This factor is really one of the most important in this list. Look for someone who displays reliability and responsibility in every aspect of their conduct. You’re ideally looking for someone who will work with your child until their exams or learning goal is met, and you really want someone who does their absolute best to arrive on time, hold lessons when they say they will and behave conscientiously to help their student achieve a good grade. It would be much better in our experience to get a conscientious and hard-working tutor who really cares about doing a good job than a tutor with just a glittering CV

 

 

I covered two ideas in Part 1: the importance of setting medium-term goals, and when (and how) to start thinking about exam timing.

In this second article, I explain how the right approach to school applications can help to reduce stress, and how to encourage a healthy attitude to failure.

If you’d like more focused exam preparation advice, please see my school entrance exam and interview guides.

 

3) Spread the risk

This advice is for families with a number of local selective schools to choose from.

It’s very common for parents to say that they have decided only to apply to one or two schools in order to reduce stress for their children.

For some families, this will be the right decision. However, over many years as a tutor I often saw how the opposite approach can make things easier

If a child knows that they have very few chances to get into a ‘good’ school, the pressure can be enormous – and counterproductive.

On the other hand, while the idea of sitting six, seven or eight different schools’ exams would inspire horror in most adults, I have seen many children tramp happily from assessment day to assessment day, enjoying the new experience and the break from ordinary schoolwork; and performing extremely well across the board, because the large number of opportunities takes away the pressure from each test.

 

4) Don’t let your child develop a fear of failure

For many adults, fear of failure is a powerful motivation. This is also true for some children; but for most, it quickly becomes discouraging. As I mentioned in Part 1, few children are inspired by long-term goals – but these can feel like a burden.

For this reason, it’s extremely important not to let your child worry about life questions which start: “But what if …?”

Encourage them to feel that success in their exams would be something to be proud of; but on the other hand, however strong your fear that they won’t win a place at your favourite school, keep it to yourself!

Reassure your child that whatever happens, they’ll end up happy and successful and in a good school.

This is especially important if your child is aiming for a grammar, and the alternative is a comprehensive which you don’t much like. Your child needs to believe that the grammar school would be great, but that they will have a splendid time whatever happens. It’s essential to convey this message, even if you don’t think that it is likely to be true.

Protecting your child from a fear of failure will put them in a much better frame of mind to perform well – and make it more likely that your private fears aren’t realised.

 

5) … But don’t get stressed about stress

Despite everything I’ve said, it’s important to remember that a certain amount of stress is unavoidable – and a natural response to an important milestone like the 11-plus.

If you act wisely and help your child to keep it under control, a little worry from time to time isn’t always a bad thing.

 

Robert Lomax worked as a school teacher and tutor for many years. He is an educational author and publisher and writes the popular RSL Educational blog.

© Robert Lomax 2018