I could never have afforded Hymers. I was from a single parent family and all that entails. When the school got in touch with my mother to tell her not only would they like to offer me a place at Hymers but also an assisted place we jumped at the opportunity. Alongside the great education the school had fantastic extra curricular activities. I was a keen sportsman and no other school in the area could offer me the same facilities, fixtures list, coaching and tours such as Australia with the rugby team.

The two biggest impacts Hymers had on me though were to shape my career choice and to shape me as a person. Mr Exley and Mr Gravelle both stoked my interest in economics (amazingly). Alongside Mr Sweeney (Can’t remember the spelling, could have been Swinney!) and his maths lessons, they gave me an excellent base to go along with the interest and after studying economics at university I joined the Bank of England’s graduate scheme where I worked during the financial crisis (it wasn’t my fault!). More recently I have worked at the British Business Bank. We have been responsible for the rollout of the government guaranteed loans for small businesses during the pandemic and hope to be key to helping businesses build back better as the economic recovery gathers pace. Probably the biggest thing Hymers gave me though was a confidence in myself as a person and an understanding of what I needed to do to be successful. While the teaching was excellent, they expected you to be self sufficient.

They spoke to you as an adult and didn’t shirk from the odd home truth if you fell below the standards expected, something that happened to me more than once. Attending Hymers had a huge impact on my life. Without the assisted place I would not have been able to attend. The assisted place meant I could attend, covered my meals, subsidised educational trips so I wasn’t disadvantaged and ultimately meant I could play a full role in school life. I met many of my best friends there. Indeed my two best men are old Hymerians and I was best man for another assisted place recipient. As such I was always be grateful for the opportunities Hymers gave me.