In the Spotlight: Sophie Clare

This month, Sophie Clare (2011-20) is in the spotlight:

Tell us about what you do now. Has your time at the school influenced your life today? 

After leaving BMS in 2020, contending with the upheaval of the pandemic and a quite bittersweet conclusion to my time at school, I went on to study my BA in Modern and Medieval Languages from Christ’s College, Cambridge.  Despite starting my time at university during Covid lockdown, and dealing with the unique challenges of social distancing at matriculation, formal dinners, classes, etc. things were soon back to a new ‘normal’ and I was fortunate to enjoy four years of fascinating study, wonderful friendships and a supportive and inspiring community (in many ways, very similar to the community I was accustomed to at BMS). I graduated in June 2024, which was a proud milestone as a first-generation university student.

My studies culminated in two dissertations - one concerned with character development in medieval French and German literature, and the other looking at the appropriation of medieval literature by Nazi propaganda in World War II. I would not have had the confidence to tackle such varied topics (in particular, the history dissertation) without the support of my sixth form teachers and the research and historiographical skill set I gained during A-levels.

In my third year, I spent six months working at a global public health conference centre in Annecy, France, nestled between the lakes and the mountains and accompanied by two Bernese Mountain Dogs. This was followed by six months at a legal translation firm in Berlin, Germany. The year abroad was an amazing opportunity to travel and consolidate professional skills outside of my academic experience, which helped inform my decisions when deciding on a career path after university.

I am now halfway through my graduate training scheme at Infinite, a PR and communications agency primarily working with legal, financial, and professional services firms. I’m based in our London office, just opposite the Old Bailey and around the corner from St Paul’s Cathedral. It’s a lovely area to work in and I enjoy exploring the area during lunchtime walks, whether to the Inns of Court, South Bank or the many nearby coffee shops!

My time at BMS has informed my university life and early career immensely, both in the practical and academic skills I developed, and in the confidence and ‘soft skills’ fostered through the BMS community. I was able to throw myself into the extra-curricular life at university because I had already learned how to organise my time most effectively, to manage House events, clubs, and my homework while at school! I just had to scale things up to the workload and different schedule at university, which certainly brought some continuity to the step from sixth form to university, even with the upheaval of the pandemic.

Now that I am in the working world, different elements of BMS provide insights I can apply to my professional (and of course personal) life. I think BMS above all taught me to approach decisions and opportunities in life with an open mind and a ‘why not?’ attitude - to aim for the moon because even if you don’t reach it, you’ll fall among the stars. With a supportive family behind me, but without parents or siblings who had studied at university, I relied on the expertise and knowledge of staff and peers at BMS to inform my approach to the whole process of university admissions. I learned from BMS that it is far better to try your best and realise something isn’t right for you, than not giving it a chance and being left to ask yourself ‘what if?’. If I wasn’t instilled with this approach and willingness to aim high, both by my family and by BMS, I might never have applied to Cambridge at all.

Tell us about your time at BMS. Do you have any special memories you would like to share? 

I joined BMS in Year 5, and from the start enjoyed immersing myself in a welcoming and enriching environment where my academic curiosity was encouraged, and I had the opportunity to explore varied extracurricular interests. I remember great fun was had when teaching staff selected a song for everyone to file (or dance) in to the Junior School assembly (Gangnam style is perhaps an emblematic example of the era!).

Highlights from Senior School include House Music, Drama and Dance each year, as a proud member of Mobbs house! A special memory is my duet with Jade Ajibola, to ‘When She Loved Me’ from Toy Story in Year 8, complete with our cowboy hats.

I also enjoyed University Challenge club, book club, the Fawcett Society, and participating in Open Days and other outreach events. I think I was well-known for having almost as many badges as I could fit onto my blazer lapels!

Whether conducting open day tours or showing students around the Chemistry and Languages departments, it was always great to give back to the school community and I continued in this spirit by volunteering for outreach events at university, as well as being a student ambassador for Cambridge’s German department.

I’m very grateful to have such varied and positive memories of school life, in and outside of the classroom. Whether getting an Eagle Point for a correct answer in hockey (to my immense surprise), a Beowulf inspired metre stick ruler ‘sword’ fight in the Junior School playground (thanks Mr B!), choreographing some Latin moves for the 2020 dance showcase, the Aberdovey residential, Bronze DofE shenanigans (playing card games with Lindor truffles as prizes while camping), or the joys of making announcements on the tannoy as a lunch monitor and contending with a wave of hangry Year 7s each Friday… 

Everyday memories of spending time in the common rooms – including as a Sixth-Form Monitor for the Year 11s – having a laugh with classmates and teachers, walking from the swimming pool car park into school and catching up one everyone’s weekends – all bring back lots of nostalgia.  I feel lucky to have made such strong friendships through my time at school.

Academic highlights were wide ranging, and all thanks to the support I received from my teachers throughout. I particularly appreciate having been encouraged to try new approaches to my work and to explore my interests beyond the syllabus. This approach to learning with curiosity and open mindedness certainly helped prepare me for my time at university.

Who was someone from your time at BMS who had an impact on you and why? 

It would be difficult to list everyone from BMS who made an impact on my school experience, without listing the full list of teaching, support and leadership staff, and all the friends and peers I was lucky to cross paths with over eight years!

An honourable mention to the librarians, who maintained such a welcoming and calming space. I especially loved the Senior School library, with it’s great vantage point over town. I could often be found working there, especially in Sixth Form where I spent a notable amount of free periods sat at computer 18 - favoured for proximity to the printer and extra desk space for my history coursework reading!

I also loved working in the school library after school during Sixth Form, it was a lovely way to get to know students from different years, test my memory by helping them with maths homework, and to give back to such an important component of my BMS life!

A special shout-out is also deserved for Mr Robinson, Mr Killen, Mr Watkins, Mrs Williams, Miss Crawley, Mrs Wright, Dr Boa and Ms Webb who inspired me to pursue French and German (and as many historical topics within my course as possible) at university.

The Oxbridge applications team and all the staff who supported me through university applications, as well as Mr White and the excellent Sixth Form team, cannot be missed out!

Thanks also go to the OBMs who were at Cambridge alongside me, it was super special to have our own BMS community within the Cambridge bubble and to share in that combined journey together. 

What do you do like to do in your spare time? 

Much of my spare time during the week is spent commuting between Bedford and London, so I enjoy reading and listening to podcasts on the train.

Music is a big part of my life, soundtracking my days and bringing joy whether playing piano, ukelele or my favourite – bass guitar, which I picked up while at university. I love how much more easily I can find a bassline and play along with friends than having to sightread a whole piano piece!

Ballroom and Latin dance played an important role in my life from age 5 to 17, and I enjoyed some opportunities to dance during my year abroad (such as salsa classes at Monbijoupark in Berlin!)

I also picked up skiing again while in France, which was a throwback to a ski trip with BMS friends in 2016. Since I love to travel, I hope to continue revisiting places from my year abroad and exploring new destinations, especially when I can get some French or German speaking practice!

At university I pursued freelance writing and journalism work, which prompted my interest in PR and was focused on motorsports and sustainability, two areas I’m passionate about. Old classmates might remember my dual passions for Strictly Come Dancing on the one hand, and Formula 1 and Top Gear on the other…

My freelance work continues alongside my day job, which brings some super fun opportunities: whether Sim racing at Motorsport UK’s HQ, attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed, or going into my fourth season as an accredited journalist in the world of Formula E.

Whenever I have a free weekend, I also work part-time for the Bedfordshire libraries service. This was a role I started aged 15, encouraged to apply by the BMS librarians! I love to encourage families and children to share a love of reading, we also provide IT support and administrative resources to unhoused community members, as well as hosting activities for library members of all ages. If you’re ever in Bedford Central, Putnoe, or Kempston library on a weekend - I might be there to say hello!

What advice would you give to your younger self? 

Always be open to new opportunities - but think about what you say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to. Trust yourself to know when focusing on a select few things and performing well is less strain than being all things to all people.

Have confidence, and don’t worry too much about other peoples’ opinions - whether at school, university, in the working world or in social life:

I think it’s human nature to compare ourselves to others. I learned from BMS that everyone will follow different routes to their goals and milestones - I found that when undertaking a new challenge, it was easy to compare what I was doing to those around me, and sometimes wondered if I was making the right decisions. I learned to speak with my friends, teachers and peers if I was having those doubts, because looking back with hindsight I knew that I reached the same deadlines or results as my peers even if we approached specific tasks in different ways best suited to us.

Having confidence to set out and communicate my goals, and not to be afraid to ask questions, has also made a huge difference whether navigating university, my year abroad or approaching difficult life choices in general.

One nugget of wisdom from Mr Searle when I was torn between A-level options: flip a coin and see how the result makes you feel. If you wish it landed on the other side, then you know what choice you deep-down want to make.

I think it’s important when reflecting on life decisions or deciding on future pathways that nothing is set in stone, we have so many opportunities for growth and redirection. I found this useful when navigating job applications (and inevitable rejections) after graduation. Like the fig tree in The Bell Jar, there are so many possible pathways and once you get excited about one, you could miss out on another! I think trusting your choices and approaching rejection as redirection is a really helpful mindset. Having had my university application transferred from Emmanuel (my dream college) to Christ’s (somewhere I had never visited or heard of, even though it is on the same street as Emmanuel!) meant I had no idea what to expect when starting university. In the end, Christ’s offered a strong community and structure which suited me very well, as well as many supplementary academic resources and unique social opportunities which I wouldn’t otherwise have encountered. That’s not to mention the friendships and connections made (whether academic, extra-curricular or professional) which have shaped the first years of my twenties.

Are there any other thoughts you would like to share with the OBM and BMS community? 

I wish the OBM and BMS community a very happy and healthy New Year 2025. I’m so appreciative for this network as an opportunity to reflect on shared experiences, gain insights into professional and life lessons learned, and to reconnect with school friends now pursuing exciting lives around the country (and world)!

I’ll hopefully be visiting BMS again sometime this year, I always love going back and encouraging students to pursue languages at A-level or university by sharing my experience.

I think the key lesson I took from school life was to always give things a try, put forward my best effort and not be afraid to make mistakes, as that is where you learn the most!

I’m hugely thankful to BMS not only for the intellectual foundations and ‘soft skills’ I draw on every day, but for the confidence, life lessons and lifelong friendships I gained at school.