On Monday 12th September, the Sixth Form gathered in the Lecture Theatre for a talk by Marco Schwartz and Quentin Nason on finance.

Marco and Quentin work with City Pay It Forward, a charity which works with schools to help students better understand finance. Their engaging talk began with an explanation of the stock market: how a company enters the market; how shares are bought and sold; and, perhaps most importantly, how the girls themselves could get involved in it in the future.

The focus of the discussion then turned to what must be the most discussed, and most controversial, economic topic of recent years: Brexit. Quentin explained that, despite what we may read in the papers or hear from politicians, no one actually knows how Brexit will pan out. As an example of this uncertainty, he brought the girls’ attention to the stock market in the immediate aftermath of the Referendum. As expected, he explained, the market immediately took a swift downward turn after the vote; however, against most expert’s expectations, it has now risen and settled at a level similar to that pre-Brexit.

Marco and Quentin then took questions, which ranged from queries regarding student budgets to personal views on Brexit.

Overall, the lecture was both engaging and hugely educational. We are very grateful to Marco and Quentin for coming in to talk to us.