A SCHOOL in Alton turned its hall into a ‘careers cafe’ to help pupils on their way.

Professionals from myriad groups and services, such as Hampshire Fire and Rescue, Southern Health NHS?Foundation Trust and Surrey Libraries, converged on Amery Hill School on March 21.

The afternoon was organised by Joleen Riley, assistant headteacher at the Amery Hill school.

Mark Scot, from Amery Hill Vets, showed via X-rays how to mend a puppy’s fractured leg and a kitten’s broken ankle, which attracted a lot of interest, as did the Army and the firefighters’ representatives, while several of the girls gravitated to the hairdressing strand to learn from newly-qualified Summer Brash, from The Cutting Room in Alton, who told students how best to start as an apprentice in the trade.

Quite a few of the students can now qualify to run their own cafes after doing an expert job of running the refreshment stall.

The Alton Herald was also represented and our reporter had a busy time talking to several girl students, although one boy was brave enough to come and ask questions about how to become a journalist as all had a love of English and writing.

They have already has a taste of journalism as the school runs a media studies course and one of the young students said how she managed to write 500 words in just 10 minutes to practice meeting a deadline.

Other students walked round with their notebooks interviewing the professional careers advisers for material for an article for the school newspaper.