At St Joseph’s, we have a regular programme of guest speakers, where we invite role models from commerce, science, technology, sport, education and the public service to meet our children, share their experiences and hopefully, inspire the next generation of leaders.
These typically take the form of a formal presentation to the whole school where parents are also invited, followed by smaller, class-based workshops where the children can ask questions of our speakers.
St Joseph’s has welcomed the following speakers:
- Mr Craig Eastmond, professional footballer and including for Arsenal and now as captain of Sutton United
- Mr Louis Harman, a serving police officer who used to work with the school as our sports coach under his own company H&S Sports when he was a student; he presented with his colleague Ms Lisa Welch and they both spent time with our pupils to explain what they do to keep us all safe
- Ms Sharnette Donacien, a former pupil at St Joseph’s who has gone to have a successful career in banking and finance and now is a published author of children’s books (incl ‘Ada’s Wash Day’) and is a careers coach
- Ms Maria Starrs, a Management Accountant who lives locally and answered the call for visited the school to talk about her career and how finance and accounting can help us in our everyday life
- Ms Coreen John, a Data Engineer for ASOS who spoke about working in the software and online world, and working with data to make better business decisions
- Mr Callum Simpson, National Skills and Training Manager for the Crown Estate and a parent at St Joseph’s
- Ms Pamela Dusu , Senior Projects Lawyer and member of the Board of Trustees of the Dulwich Estate, who is passionate about supporting the ambitions of those that come after her and is the co-founder of a mentoring programme for black and ethnic minority lawyers called Creating Pathways
- Ms Zainab Zorokong (one of our school Governors) and Mr Arindam Das (Trustee of the school’s charitable foundation) – formed our first ever “Dragon’s Den” – where our young entrepreneurs pitched their business ideas in order to secure an investment so they can start their venture, including selling items during the Christmas Fair and after school
- Mrs Kelly from SouthEastern who visited the school and spoke about her role as a train driver in London and the many skills needed and training required for safe and efficient transport operations
- Ms Maryline Guyonvarch-Tyler and Ms Sophie Baccolini – construction project / contract managers from Built by ITC spoke to junior children about their roles and the people and things that inspired them to enter this profession
- Ms Bryony Smith is an English national cricketer. She made her debut in the third WODI against the West Indies on 13 June 2019
- Mr Dolapo Awoyinka from Helios Investment Partners – one of the largest private equity investment firms specialising in Africa and emerging markets
- Mr Chris Snode from the British Diving Talent Programme – he represented Great Britain at the 1976 Summer Olympics, 1980 Summer Olympics, and 1984 Summer Olympics and he represented England at the 1978 and 1982 Commonwealth Games, and won four gold medals
- Mr Tosin Awoyinka from Coller Capital – a specialist secondaries investor focused on the private equity market
- Mr Francis Ageypong who won the silver medal in at the 1996 European Indoor Championships in Athletics, and finished 7th at the 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He also represented Team GB in the triple jump at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games
- Mr Arindam Das from Westwood Energy – global research and advisory firm specialising in energy and natural resources
- Mr Jermin Lutchman from Palace for Life Foundation – the official charitable foundation of Premier League club, Crystal Palace
- Mr Stephen Akinsanya – criminal barrister with over 30 years experience working with young people; a former old boy of St Joseph’s College (where he is now a Governor) and who is passionate about helping young people unearth their gifts