Schools & Colleges

Schools & Colleges

We believe nothing better inspires young people than the direct sharing of advice and experiences

All state-maintained secondary schools, colleges & academies in the UK are eligible to apply for a speaker. We will get in touch as soon as a speaker is able to commit to speaking at your school. Please note we prioritise under-served, higher-need schools in our network and aim to reach students with the least access to outside speakers so we hugely encourage these schools to apply. You can find out more about our Inspiration programme and how it works here.

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Recent research from Speakers for Schools and Education and Employers reiterated the importance of hosting external speakers to help prepare young people for their futures, 93% of state school teachers surveyed said that hosting an external speaker helped to broaden students’ aspirations about potential jobs and 80% of state school teachers surveyed said that talks encourage pupils to believe in their skills and abilities. Find out more about this research here and Speakers for Schools overall impact here.

“I created Speakers for Schools because I was infuriated that only the leading independent schools were asking me to give talks to their students, rather than the kind of state school which gave me such a great and rounded education in the 1970s.”

Robert PestonFounder of Speakers for Schools

It is always great when students have access to professional in the real world and are able to engage them in discussion - and Russell enabled this to happen Many thanks

Teacher, St Bonaventure's School

It was really interesting to hear about the things that David Dein has done and why he set up the Premier league. He has made me want to work harder to achieve my goals.

Student, Folkestone Academy

The Q&A was so amazing. Just the breadth and thoughtfulness around the questions.

David Morrissey, Speaker

“Speakers for Schools has helped to raise the aspirations of our students with the speakers reinforcing that they were ‘once like them’ and dispelled many myths"”

Emma McDermottAssistant Vice Principle, Castle View Academy