Case Studies (Information Updated 2020): Former Pupils

Matthew Parry

My name is Matthew Parry and I left Kings Leadership Academy Hawthorne’s in 2014.

Since I left school, I attended college and later started working for the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in IT Systems Support. I was given the opportunity to work on several teams within the MOD to gain experience and now occupy a role as a Commercial Analyst. I am also working temporarily as a Project Manager on several interesting changes in the business, hoping to earn a promotion into a project role a permanent basis.

When I look back on my school days and consider what was most influential in my career, the life skills I earned were most important in developing me once I started working. While the grades we achieve are crucial for figuring out our strengths and selling ourselves to employers, my experience has taught me that things we learn indirectly from school such as people skills, self-reliance and prioritising work are what make us most valuable. I also remember being told by one of my teachers that knowledge about something is only useful if you have the confidence to show that you know it. That really drove me to believe in my own ability, take myself out of my comfort zone more regularly and push myself to experience working under pressure. This helped me in situations like interviews, trying new tasks in work and meeting an entire building full of new people.