John Lyon’s strong links with the global family of Harrow schools have been reinforced at the 2018 Harrow Family Fifth Form Conference.

Year 11 pupils from each of the five schools in the Harrow family came from around the world for the conference from 21st to 26th June 2018.

The Fifth Form Conference, now in its fifth year, saw 45 pupil delegates gather for a series of talks, presentations, workshops, visits and social activities revolving around the conference’s title, Informed leadership for a shared future.

Ten Year 11 pupils from John Lyon joined their peers from Harrow School, Harrow Bangkok, Harrow Hong Kong and Harrow Shanghai for the conference which gave them an opportunity to share in each others’ cultures, whilst discovering their shared interests and goals, including the important university application process.

Speakers at the conference included Dr Colin Stokes, founder of the Prostate Project which has raised £8m for the research and treatment of prostate cancer, top young British entrepreneur Zander Whitehurst, Isis Dove-Edwin who directs a startup technology company, and Headmistress of Francis Holland School Sloane Square, Lucy Elphinstone.

The conference also allowed the delegates to leave the main site, with visits to University College London (UCL) and a number of colleges at Oxford University to learn more about the process of moving from school to university, an afternoon at the annual Harrow vs Eton cricket match at Lord’s (unfortunately won by Eton), and a night out in the West End to see Thriller Live.

The conference culminated in activities reflecting the charitable ethos that runs deep within John Lyon and the other Harrow family schools, with the attendees planning and carrying out a set of activities for local primary schools and a care home. These included sport, music, art and drama based activities for the primary school pupils alongside a standalone activity for Bradbury Court care home in Harrow.

At the very end of the conference, all delegates gathered for a formal dinner, where they were able to reflect on the week-long programme.

John Lyon’s Head of Year 11, Mr Thomas Yardley, said: “This year’s Harrow Family Fifth Form Conference proved to be a hugely successful six days. As ever, it was a wonderful opportunity for our John Lyon delegates, who were able to learn a lot in a short space of time alongside their peers, not just from up the Hill, but from around the world. The creative and fruitful atmosphere will serve our boys well as they move on to Sixth Form life and then university.”

The Harrow Family Fifth Form Conference is one part of John Lyon’s ever-growing relationship with the Harrow International Schools. Each year an international exchange programme sees John Lyon boys travel to an international school to experience life in those schools, attend lessons, meet students, experience the culture and visit various tourist sites.

Read more about 2018’s exchange visit to Bangkok, Thailand.