As part of learning about Careers, we were treated to a visit from Charles & Kate Vickery today. They were very happy to talk to the children about their interesting jobs and take questions.
Kate works in leadership management and studied psychology. She was interested in television and took every opportunity to work in this industry and link it to her passions. She helps leaders with their emotions, how they can be better leaders and support others. She is a consultant and uses technology to link with clients around the world, particularly during the pandemic.
Kate advised the children to aim to work with their interests, posing the question – what do you love to do now? She said the boys and girls should pursue jobs that fit those interests and put their energy into that. She recommends that children think of alternative ways of working and to think about being entrepreneurs and setting up their own businesses.
Charles is a serial tech entrepreneur in media creation and uses many skills in his daily work. He shared that when he was four years old, he didn’t speak. He just loved making sounds and wasn’t ready for words. He learned to understand how to communicate in a more meaningful way fo him. He got into drama with his first experience of just one line to say and really liked it. His enjoyment of singing led to him being in a choir. The choir leader asked him to sing like an opera singer. He found his passion within himself, by ‘pretending’ to sing in this style and it has grown from there. He demonstrated his fabulous singing voice for the children. He wanted to remind the children that there are ways for us all to ‘find our voice’.
Atticus asked how many performances Charles has done – too many to remember. Charles has learned to sing in many different languages; French, Italian etc. He told us that the male voice doesn’t mature until about 21 years old, so lots of practice helps. His biggest audience was 40,000 people with the Pope in the audience. He has sung in Greece, Rome, New York and many places around the world. An interesting fact is that an opera singer uses the same amount of oxygen in an opera performance as a marathon runner. Katie asked how long Charles can hold a note for. It’s about 9 seconds.
It was a very interesting and informative discussion, with questions from our wrapt audience. We were treated to a performance of Maria from West Side story to bring the visit to a close. Thank you to Kate and Charles for sharing their career insights with us in a wonderful session.
# Successful Learners
As part of the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, we have received a delivery of beautiful books that detail the life of Queen Elizabeth II. Their arrival is poignant after her recent sad passing. The children were gifted a book each as a memento of her life. We hope they enjoy reading them.
