On Friday 18 October, the OO Club welcomed 14 alumni and three current parents back to Oakham School for the fourth Upper School Networking Evening. Throughout the evening they shared their knowledge, expertise and career experience with 80 pupils.

The evening began with pre-dinner drinks, a chance for pupils to work on their small talk and introduce themselves to the guests for the evening. The Headmaster than thanked the OOs for coming back to Oakham to share their advice and wisdom with current Oakhamians. He also congratulated the pupils on taking a leap and attending an event of this nature; for many of them, this was an opportunity to work on their networking and small-talking skills with strangers, an important skill to learn.

After the networking session, a sit-down meal commences where pupils are seated on tables with OO’s in a similar profession to their ideal future career. Between the main course and dessert, pupils switched tables to ensure they had multiple conversations with people of different backgrounds, careers, and interests.

The attending OOs were from the law, financial, business, medical, engineering, corporate, media, and marketing professions, giving current Upper School pupils a wide range of areas in which they could expand their knowledge.

Oakham School Alumni Relations Officer, Charlotte Woodward, explained “It was a lovely evening which led to many insightful conversations for both current Oakhamians and Old Oakhamians in the Barraclough. Thank you to all the Old Oakhamians and current parents who attended the event. Our current Oakhamians who attended found the evening insightful and greatly benefitted from the OOs sharing their knowledge, expertise, career stories and advice.”

This is an annual occasion, so keep an eye out for next year’s event, which will be on the Friday before half term. Upcoming events organised by the OO Club includes the next OO Professional Industry Networking event for finance professionals in London on the 13th of November.