On Thursday 21 March, year 12 and 13 students attended a talk given by Angela Harrowing. Her current job is as a civil servant, working at the heart of Parliament. Angela began her talk detailing her journey to her current job, which was particularly interesting since she admitted that she has not sure of what career to go into. This was a part of the talk that all students, not just politics students, had complete interest in since many of us are about to apply to or attend university and the pressure of knowing what to do after this stage can be overwhelming.

Angela proceeded to tell us what the Cabinet Office does and why it is important. This was particularly interesting to me, despite learning it within my politics syllabus, as it brought the job of working in the Cabinet Office to life and gave me more detail. A particularly interesting fact that we learnt during the presentation was that as a civil servant working in a government office you are not allowed to discuss your political views but you are still given the right to vote. Another thing that struck me during the talk was how inspirational it was. Many of the politicians and leading figures of politics are male so it was both refreshing and encouraging to be able to hear a woman speak of her success in her career working in UK politics.

Angela ended the talk by answering some questions from pupils and students such as “What is your day to day life like working in the Cabinet Office”. This allowed all the students to hear of what a job in the civil service could potentially entail and perhaps inspired some of us to pursue a future in the civil service.

– Kaliyah Sesay, year 12