Why I decided to take a gap year before university | An interview with Alice

Introducing Alice from the Class of 2021! Alice joined St Andrews in 2019, completed the two year IB Diploma Programme and is now working her magic in Primary School as a PE intern. Since graduating, Alice has been gaining valuable coaching experience in Primary School, which has also helped her answer the challenging question of what she wants to pursue in the future. Find out more below.

"Hello, my name is Alice. I was a student at St Andrews, and I graduated in 2021.  I completed the full IB Programme, and my subjects were English, Math, Spanish, Sports Science, Biology geography. My favourite subjects at school were Spanish and Sport Science."

What was the best part of School life at St Andrews?

"The best thing about St Andrews was having a lot of wonderful teachers. They've helped me and supported me all the way through my IB Programme, and every time I wasn’t sure about specific subjects or topics, I would always reach out to them, and they were always there to support me whenever they could. " 

Why did you choose the IB Diploma?

"I chose the IB Diploma Programme because I was unsure what I wanted to study afterwards at university. The IB provided me with the flexibility of choice and allowed me to study a great range of subjects."

"I also feel more prepared for university and the challenges that journey will bring"

What made you pursue a gap year after you graduated? 

"I took a gap year because I wasn’t so sure what I wanted to focus on at university or where I wanted to study. So I took a gap to gain experience, have a taste of sports coaching all different types of sports and understand what it’s like to work at a School.

"I reached out to my old PE teacher and Sport Science Coach Mr Adam for advice about my next steps after I graduated. Before I knew it, I was meeting with the Head of Sport at Primary Campus about a coaching internship. Since then, I have started the internship, had teaching mentorship and have been given lots of varied coaching responsibilities. This experience has taught me the importance of communication and how being patient  and kind with the children allows them to grow in confidence not only in PE and Sport but holistically as young learners."  

"It’s great because now that I’ve had this fantastic working experience at St Andrews, I realise that I want to pursue Sports Coaching as a career and at university. 

"I highly recommend taking a gap year and being productive during that time."

"I am very grateful for this opportunity and for their time and I cannot wait to take the knowledge I’ve gained from them with me to my next role.”

What's next?

" Completing this internship has been a great learning experience for me before my next step, which will be university"

“I’ve selected the University of Madrid located in a small village called Villaviciosa de Odón in Spain. I will study Physical Education and Sports Science which is a Bachelor of Science and a 4-year course. I am really looking forward to this next chapter, and I hope to be back soon! "