KES in the City

On Thursday, 23 February 2012, over 160 Old Edwardians, current parents and former parents of King Edward's School attended our first ever 'KES in the City' event.

The event saw the launch of our new OE Careers Network - a chance for current pupils to benefit from careers mentoring, work placements and careers talks from former pupils. 

The event was kindly hosted by Ian Metcalfe (1976), Managing Partner of Wragge & Co, the international law firm based in Birmingham, and a former pupil and parent. Ian spoke briefly about his memories of and connections with the school before introducing John Claughton, the Chief Master. John spoke about the new careers network but also the wider issue of how OEs could help pupils in other schools fulfil their potential and, therefore, the city's potential. The guest speaker was Andy Street (1981), Managing Director of John Lewis and a former pupil. Andy spoke about how businesses can be more responsible employers and also the importance of social mobility and important role that schools like King Edward's play in creating social mobility in Birmingham.

Photos

View photographs taken of the evening. 

Attendance list

View the list of all those who attended the event. 

Guest speaker - Andy Street (1981)

Andy has spent all his working life in the John Lewis Partnership, joining after graduating from Oxford with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics in 1985. After initial postings in the John Lewis department stores, he ran one of the Partnership's production facilities before returning to the department stores as Managing Director, John Lewis Milton Keynes in 1993. He was the first Managing Director of John Lewis Bluewater from 1998 to 2000 when he moved to Head Office as Supply Chain Director, John Lewis. He was appointed to the Partnership Board as Director of Personnel in 2002. In that role he was responsible for all areas of personnel policy within the Partnership as well as senior talent management.

In February 2007 Andy became Managing Director of the John Lewis Division, responsible for all activities within John Lewis.
Andy is also Vice Chairman of The Performances Birmingham Limited Board of Trustees, responsible for running the City's Symphony and Town Halls. He is also on the London First Board, member of the Prime Minister's Business Advisory Group and also recently appointed Chair of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).