No. 141
The Trusty Servant
Win Coll Soc News
Life after Winchester Ros Laird, Head of Careers, writes:
As you will have read in the Trust e-Servant, we have often called for support with the Life After Winchester events we run for VI th Book. These events encourage pupils to look beyond their A Levels and begin shaping a vision for what life after Winchester might hold. Some arrive in VI th Book with a clear sense of direction. For others, the sheer range of options— and the uncertainty of where to begin— can feel overwhelming.
That is where our department comes in. Our purpose is to guide pupils across the school as they learn about themselves, understand the labour market, explore potential pathways, narrow these down to meaningful targets, and ultimately plan and prepare strong applications for their next steps.
What does life after Winchester look like? In an increasingly competitive higher education and employment landscape, Wykehamists continue to thrive. Our 2025 leavers secured places at leading universities in the UK and abroad, including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and Durham. Many pursued sciences, engineering, medicine, classics and economics, while others excelled in psychology, architecture, modern languages and geography— a testament to the breadth of talent within our community. More than 20 leavers embarked on gap years, from working in Hong Kong and Japan to gaining clinical experience in the NHS( where one pupil’ s role as a phlebotomist helped secure four offers for medicine this year).
Although the application cycle is still underway for our current top year, we are delighted to share their early successes: 38 Oxbridge offers; places at leading UK creative schools for Fashion Design; over 35 US university offers; and apprenticeship offers from Goldman
Sachs and NATS. This year has also seen a rise in applications to universities in Europe( including Bocconi, IE Madrid, ESADE and Trinity College Dublin) as well as Hong Kong and China. We are sure you will join us in wishing VI th Book every success in their forthcoming examinations.
None of this would be possible without the generosity of Old Wykehamists. Pupils consistently speak of the value of their conversations with OWs— whether recent leavers offering honest insights into university life or the more experienced sharing career wisdom and perspectives on the job market. These interactions play a vital role in preparing pupils for life beyond Winchester.
As our VIth Book expands and our curriculum evolves, so too do the opportunities to connect current pupils with the knowledge and experience of Old Wykehamists. Each year, we run:
• Life After Winchester – University & Apprenticeships
• Life After Winchester – Employment
• Futures Fair – our annual careers fair( Saturday 14 th November, see below)
• Wykeham Links promotional events
Alongside these our department receives weekly enquiries from pupils keen to learn about the career journeys of Old Wykehamists.
To continue offering this level of support— and to expand it— we need your help. Whether by volunteering your time at an event, becoming a Tégé on Wykeham Links, or simply taking a few minutes to update your career information on your online profile( see below), your contribution directly strengthens the guidance we can offer.
We are always delighted to hear from
Top UK Destinations 2025 University of Oxford Imperial College London University of Cambridge University College London Durham University University of Bristol
London School of Economics and Political Sciences
Kings College London University of Edinburgh Top US Destinations 2025 Yale University Harvard University University of Chicago Columbia University Cornell University Johns Hopkins University Barnard College Fairleigh Dickenson University Northwestern University
Old Wykehamists who wish to share their experience, offer advice, or simply reconnect with the school. If you are able to support our work in any capacity, please do get in touch with Win Coll Soc( see the back page) of the Futures Department( futures @ wincoll. ac. uk). We would be very happy to hear from you.
Together, we can ensure that every Wykehamist steps into life after Winchester with confidence, clarity and the support of the community behind them.
Your school needs you!
Well, we need to know what you have done since leaving.
As Ros has described above, we are delighted by the number of Old Wykehamists who support current pupils( and other OWs) through
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