Page 42 - Headingtonian Magazine 2017

THE HEADINGTONIAN 2017
SCHOOL FEATURE
MENTORING FOR AGRICULTURE
Agriculture does not usually feature on the list of courses students at Headington study at University so I was very surprised to get
a telephone call from Tim Edge asking if I would help one of the current sixth form as she would like to study Agriculture.
As we are farmers and also have knowledge of which Universities offer Agriculture I said we would be happy to talk to Dearbhla. The agriculture industry in the UK is so diverse and moving forward at such a fast pace with improvements and innovation in technology that it needs young, dynamic and forward thinking people to work in it. I am keen
to encourage young people to enter our industry, and was pleased to be able to give some advice and help.
JANE BROWN
(1982)
Initially, I spoke to Dearbhla about why agriculture, what work experience had she done, where she was thinking of applying
to, and which course. She had done her research, and was already heading in the right direction, but just wanted confirmation and reassurance.
At the start of the summer holidays, I had
a voicemail saying that some of her work experience for the summer had fallen through and could we help – many of the courses require a certain number of practical weeks work experience prior to university entrance. We arranged a week for her to come and work on the pig unit and the staff at the farm thought she was one of the most enthusiastic students they have worked with.
Following on from this we were able to
give Dearbhla a reference for her university first choice, Harper Adams. We were delighted when she contacted us a few weeks later
to say that she had been offered a place
at Harper Adams which has recently been awarded “Modern University of the Year” in The Times Good University Guide 2017.
We know that Dearbhla is following a career path which will offer her plenty of choices with good employment prospects. The mentoring will not stop when Dearbhla leaves Headington – if she needs us, she knows how to contact us and if we can help we will!
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