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Willows Alumni

Acting

Kyle Lima – Kyle is an Actor, Write, Singer and Director. He attended the Royal

Welsh College of Music and Drama. Since graduating, Kyle has had a career in Theatre, Film and Television. He has collaborated with the BBC in developing scripts for radio and TV. He was appointed the 2020 PLATFORM Artist for Theatr iolo. Kyle was seen in 2019 ‘Gavin & Stacey Christmas Special’ and you will soon him in the ITV drama ‘The Pembrokeshire Murders’ opposite actor Luke Evans. 

Air force

James Carroll (Jim) – Jim’s is an Aircraft Technician with the Royal Air Force

 

Air hostess

Jodie Gibson

Army Recruitment

John Thomas – John works for Arundel Army Recruiting. He is the Operations Manager  

Banking

Jodie Thomas – Jodie works at Legal & General as Customer & Client Operations Bulk Asset Transfer Team Manager. In a nutshell, she manages a team of Senior Pension advisors. She deals with millions, sometimes billions of pounds, which naturally means attention to detail is key.  

Michelle Hall – Michelle is a Senior Manager of Unsecured Capital and Impairment at Lloyds Bank.  

Business 

Arrun Singh – Arrun is an Analyst at Deloitte helping new clients at bid stage for the Tax and Legal Department. Before embarking on this job, he studied a BSc (Hons) degree in Economics and Management & a Master of Business Administration at Cardiff University.

Call centre

Lynda Campbell – Lynda is the Head of Transformation for BA Global Contact Centres at British Airways.

 

Criminology

Ellouise Franks – From Willows Ellouise went on to study Public Services in Cardiff and Vale College. She is now in the second year of her degree in Criminology at USW.

Doctor

Hayley Gallagher – 

Education

Brooke Ash – Brooke works 1-1 in a school for children with disabilities

Engineering

Jessica Leigh Jones – Jessica is an Engineer and Astrophysicist who is the first female to win the UK Young Engineer of the Year Award. Jessica spoke about being an entrepreneur and Engineering careers.

 

Football Coaching

 

Rhys Burden – Rhys did a level 2 BTEC sport college course with Cardiff City FC Foundation. Through Cardiff City, at the House of Sport, he progressed onto a university degree with the University of South Wales. As a result, he is now paid to coach job Taffs Well U8s Academy team and has as an unpaid job at Cardiff City Foundation. Going forward he is looking to secure paid work with the foundation.

 

Gaming design

Jessica Hornby –

Hair Stylist 

Niamh Meighan – Niamh works as a hair stylist

Health Care 

Paul Dutton – Paul set up and runs his own healthcare company, called Igloo Healthcare

Alana Fowler – Alana, completed a Psychology degree at Cardiff University and is currently finishing a PGCE for adult learners. She presently works for Public Health Wales, advocating and improving cancer services across wales. During the Coronavirus pandemic she was part of a team at Public Health Wales building and creating the testing centres across Wales and supporting the government to increase testing and return of services key to helping the public return for other health conditions

 

Health Visitor 

Julie Lages – Julie currently work as a Flying Start Health Visitor for the NHS. She works in the more vulnerable areas of the city, providing health advice to families of children under five.  

IT Cloud Engineer

Phil Evans – Phil is an IT Cloud Engineer from Admiral. Phil spoke to pupils about the jobs he did before finding a career he loved. He also spoke about his work as a DJ and member of a band and his current role at Admiral.   

Law

Shauna Aquilina – 

Linguistics 

Keighley Perkins – Keighley is a qualified teacher. At the moment, she is doing a PhD inLinguistics. As part of her course, she gets to take part in exciting and novel research that will help people in the future. She also gets to travel the world, sharing my work with other researchers.

Marine Surveyor

Sam Ford –  As a marine surveyor, Sam gets sent across the UK and Europe to identify and analyse sediment and conditions for oil lines, offshore wind farms and moorings

Marketing

Amara Qasim – Amara is studying BA (Hons) Marketing which includes digital marketing, public relations and social media. She is hoping to graduate with a 2:1 then look for a graduate job in social media or online marketing.

Abdi Osman – Abdi is an Analyst on a Graduate Scheme at a company called IHS Markit in their Global Markets Group.

Master’s Degree

Charlotte Cornwell – Charlotte left Willows in 2013. After attending Willows, she got her A-Levels from St. David’s College. She then went to Aberystwyth University and got a degree in Criminology. She is currently studying for a

Master’s degree in Public and Social Policy at Cardiff University

Music

Abena Mensah – Since leaving Willows, Abena has moved to Manchester to attain a degree in Music and is about to finish her last year. She is hoping to move to New Zealand to study.

Musical Theatre

Jade Wellbeloved – after studying music and taking part in many shows in Willows, Jade has gone on to study Musical Theatre at University. She hopes to go on and study for a Master’s Degree in Musical Theatre once she graduates. She is hoping to work within the performance industry, but also really enjoys the teaching side of theatre.

Musical Theatre / Nursing

Dayna Fowler- Dayna attended the University of Chichester studying Musical theatre for 3 years gaining a Bachelor of Arts degree. She didn’t stop there – she decided to attend Cardiff University to study Mental Health Nursing. She hopes one day to be able to put both degrees together and create a music therapy course for mental health patients.

Nursing

Kayleigh Brookes – Kayleigh is a Registered Mental Health Nurse. She is currently a Ward Manager of two low secure mental health wards. She nurses men who are either a risk to themselves or others and require treatment for mental disorders.

Curtis Silvester – Curtis is in University studying Adult Nursing. He is also is a part-time manager in McDonalds

Lauren Broad – Lauren is a Critical Nurse at University Hospital of Wales

Optometrist  

Hannah Noor – Hannah is a qualified optometrist. Optometrists are health care specialists trained to examine the eyes to detect defects in vision, signs of injury, ocular diseases or abnormality and problems with general health.

Paramedic / St John’s Ambulance

Tom Biddlecombe – Tom is currently studying Public Services at CAVC. He will move onto a Paramedic course on completion. While studying, he also works part time for the St Johns Ambulance service, which he describes as great fun. 

Pension Advisor

Elle Franks – Elle works as a pension specialist

Photography

Carl Robertson – Carl is a Freelance Photographer and has been working with Cardiff City Football Club for about 5 years. He does all first team games and covers all of academy games from u9s through to the u23s.

Photo Journalist

Rhys Skinner – 

Psychology

Abbie Smart – Abbie attends Brighton University and studies Applied Psychology. She has just finished her empirical research dissertation on heteronormativity and consumerism in queer spaces. She says it was one of the hardest things she’s ever done, but the best thing that’s ever happened to her. She has plans to do a Master’s degree in the coming years. Other than uni, she currently works in a bar as a shift manager.

Software Developer

Paige Edwards – Paige studied Business and Management at Aberystwyth

University, after studying Maths and Business at St David’s, and Accounting at CAVC. Paige is currently a Client Relationship Manager for a company which develops software for the wholesale auto finance sector. She works with banks on a day to day basis to ensure things function smoothly.  

 

Solicitor

Emma James – Emma works for Hugh James as a solicitor

Paige Edwards

Danielle Crowther

Fahima Hersi

Support Worker

Anna Fleming – Anna is a support worker 

Teacher

Joanne Fabian – Joanne graduated from Bath Spa University in 2019 with a 2:1 in Primary Education Studies. She is currently doing a PGCE course at Cardiff Metropolitan University and hoping to be a qualified Primary School teacher in September.

Kimberley Brook – Kimberley works 1-1 in a school for 2 young children with disabilities that prevent them from being able to be independent in day to day life. Her job is to be there to help them with school life and to encourage and support their development.  

Training Provider

Paige Courtney – Paige left Willows High School in 2012 and went on to study at St David’s Sixth and then at the University of Plymouth, where she attained a BA in Theatre and Performance, achieving a 2:1. She now works for a global training company called Hemsley Fraser. She travels around the UK delivering conferences on how to make training more vibrant, energising and engaging. In the future she hopes to study how theatre can potentially rehabilitate young offenders.

Translation Service

Ellis Acton Dyer – Ellis finished College and went straight into full time work. I work for the Wales Interpretation and Translation Service (WITS) supplying interpreters to appointments across the Welsh Public Sector.

Turf Accountant

Charlotte Hopkins – Charlotte did 3 years in sixth form and is currently a

Customer Service Manager for Ladbrokes

Various 

Chloe Smith – Chloe has had a few jobs since leaving school