Call for ex-students to help Bethnal Green’s Morpeth pupils find a career

A call has gone out to former pupils of a secondary school in London’s East End to help support children currently enrolled there to find the right career.

The current Year-10 and Year-11 pupils getting ready to leave Bethnal Green’s Morpeth Secondary next year have similar challenges and choices to those that former students now in the working world once faced.

Morpeth is one of 500 state schools which have registered with the Future First charity to set up networks of ex-pupils.

The charity’s vision is every state school or college having an alumni support network to help their pupils.

“Four-out-of-10 state school pupils don’t know anyone in a job they’d like to do,” explained the charity’s director Alex Shapland-Howes.

“It helps if they see someone who went to the same school, grew up in the same community and has achieved a fulfilling job—it shows that it’s possible for them, too. Hearing first hand can make a huge difference.”

A network of past pupils with all their experience could help broaden pupils’ horizons as well as equipping them for the working world.

More than 50,000 former pupils across Britain have already signed up to stay connected with their old school, some involved in roles as career and education mentors, work experience providers, governors, donors or fundraisers.

People can sign up to the alumni scheme on the Former Students weblink.