Sixth Form students welcomed Sarah Laing who delivered the Nicholls Lecture entitled 'Yes Minister! How to run the country as part of the modern civil service'.
By Lucy Cuthbertson, Upper Sixth student
On Friday 26th November, Sarah Laing delivered a talk on her experiences as a civil servant for the Welsh government as part of the Nicholls Lecture Series. Sarah gave insight into working for the government on several important issues, with the focus on her current project of decarbonising Welsh households.
To learn of her work directly with the minister of climate change was incredibly inspiring and discovering that Wales is the first nation to declare a climate emergency heightened my awareness of this issue. The lecture additionally covered her previous projects, such as lessening the problem of homelessness within Wales, which she successfully managed- ultimately reducing the figure of 60% of homeless people returning to the streets after seeking help, to an astonishing 5%.
I, and many other of my peers, resonated with the talk as Sarah drew on her own experiences of feeling uncertainty about her ultimate career path. Following the lecture, several students joined Sarah for lunch to continue to hear about her experiences in depth. I would like to thank Sarah on behalf of all of Sixth Form for an inspiring and thought-provoking lecture.