A HIGH-FLYING businessman inspired budding Alresford entrepreneurs when he visited Perins School last week.

David Picton, Chief Sustainability Officer at support services giant Carillion plc, addressed Year 8 pupils, explaining how his academic studies had transferred to the work place and shaped his career.

After his speech, entitled “What I wish I’d known when I was at school”, students posed questions about how best to structure their education for today’s business world.

The visit was arranged by Speakers4Schools, an independent UK charity that provides state secondary schools and colleges with talks from a range of industry’s leading professionals and academics, free of charge.

David Picton told pupils how, when he was their age, he had had no idea of his own capabilities.

He suggested they start to think about their potential, values, skills and character, saying these qualities were just as important as qualifications and would determine the person they would become in the future.

This message was in line with the Perins Transformational Learning curriculum, which aims to hone work place skills such as independent enquiry, reflective learning, self-management, team working, effective participation and creative thinking.

Key Stage Three Manager and Science teacher Paula Kennedy said: “David’s speech was truly inspirational for the students.

“Some of the children were also able to speak one-to-one with him and had some really interesting questions to put to him.”