Higher Education Guidance

Our Careers Team offers positive, confidential, accessible, impartial, and bespoke guidance to our students

Our bilingual Career Services department is recognised by Ofsted as Outstanding, and the Careers Team provides a bespoke service to students and families throughout their secondary journey, helping them to shape and achieve their higher educational goals. Our graduates are studying at top Universities around the world and have gone on to excellent graduate degrees and successful careers.

Our role goes way beyond just helping with applications because we recognise that applying to University is a marathon, not a sprint. Having each of our students be their strongest selves starts early, and requires careful planning, strong communication, time, and individualised care. Personal attention is given to each student so they can prepare, craft, and excel at time of application.

Our role is to encourage, support, advise and guide each student along their secondary journey. We ensure they are developing not only academically and making the right course choices for their futures, but also to ensure they are becoming a well rounded individual and member of the broader community.

Where our Alumni are Studying

Our alumni are studying at universities around the world including:

University of Oxford
University of Cambridge
ICL – Imperial College London
UCL – University College London
University of Edinburgh
King’s College London
LSE – London School of Economics and Political Science
University of Manchester
University of Bristol
University of Glasgow
University of Southampton
University of Birmingham
University of Sheffield
University of Leeds
University of Nottingham

USA

Duke University
Cornell University
Georgetown
Rice University
University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
University of California San Diego
Columbia University/Sciences Po (dual degree)

Canada

University of Toronto
McGill University
Concordia
University of British Columbia (UBC)/Sciences Po (dual degree)

France

École Polytechnique
Sorbonne Université
Sciences Po
Université de Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne
Université de Montpellier
Université de Bordeaux
Université de Lille
Lycée du Parc
Lycée Henri IV

Europe/Rest of the world

University of Melbourne
Leiden University
Maastricht University,
Erasmus University Rotterdam, University of Groningen,
University of Geneva
Université Catholique de Louvain

Post-graduate studies at:

University of Cambridge
University of Oxford
London School of Economics (LSE)
HEC Paris
University of California Berkeley
Stanford University

A group of people sit in a row on chairs in a conference room. One person in the center speaks into a microphone. A large screen and wood-paneled wall are visible in the background.

Presentations Throughout the Year

LEAP Courses for High-Achieving Students

Feedback From Parents

Feedback From Students

Meet the Careers Team

A man with gray hair and a beard, embodying the spirit of our team, is wearing a black sweater over a white shirt. He stands confidently with his arms crossed in front of a backdrop featuring simple line drawings and text.

John Feehan English Language and Literature Teacher, Careers Counsellor

John Feehan

John Feehan was born in Liverpool and moved around the north of England from Durham to Sheffield, ending up at The Queen’s College, Oxford, where he studied Modern History. (“The title of my degree course, like many things about Oxford, is designed to confuse outsiders: ‘modern history’ means ‘not ancient history’, so we started with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 410 C.E. and carried on from there.”) but, by that time, involvement with the university dramatic society had put me on the path to a career in the theatre. I graduated from drama school in 1993 and was lucky enough to spend nearly ten years working with some of the best producers and directors in the U.K.

By 2002 I was tiring of the endless round of auditions and tours, so I changed horses and became an English language teacher, working in a variety of schools in London. I took my advanced diploma in language teaching in 2012. I am particularly interested in teaching pronunciation and non-verbal communication.
In my free time I like walking and cooking (and eating), and I still go to the theatre, I hope with a generous as well as a critical eye. Latterly, I have even gone back to history, and am finishing an M.A. dissertation on silence as a tool of political control in early eighteenth-century France.

John Feehan est né à Liverpool et a déménagé dans le nord de l’Angleterre, de Durham à Sheffield, pour finir à The Queen’s College, Oxford, où il a étudié l’histoire moderne. (“Le titre de mon cursus universitaire, comme beaucoup de choses à Oxford, est conçu pour dérouter les étrangers : ‘histoire moderne’ signifie ‘pas l’histoire antique’, donc nous avons commencé par la chute de l’Empire romain d’Occident en 410 après J.-C. et nous avons continué à partir de là.”) Mais, à cette époque, son implication dans la société dramatique de l’université l’a amené à suivre une carrière dans le théâtre. Il a obtenu son diplôme de l’école de théâtre en 1993 et a eu la chance de passer près de dix ans à travailler avec certains des meilleurs producteurs et metteurs en scène du Royaume-Uni.

En 2002, il commençait à se lasser du cycle interminable des auditions et des tournées, alors il a changé de cap et est devenu professeur d’anglais langue étrangère, travaillant dans diverses écoles à Londres. Il a obtenu son diplôme avancé en enseignement des langues en 2012. Il s’intéresse particulièrement à l’enseignement de la prononciation et de la communication non verbale. Dans son temps libre, il aime marcher, cuisiner (et manger), et il continue d’aller au théâtre, espérant porter un regard généreux ainsi que critique. Récemment, il est même revenu à l’histoire et est en train de terminer un mémoire de maîtrise sur le silence en tant qu’outil de contrôle politique au début du XVIIIe siècle en France.

A man with dark hair and a beard is smiling at the camera, exuding confidence in a white button-up shirt. The background features partial text, hinting at a formal or professional setting, perhaps introducing him as part of Our Team.

Florian Gonthier Professeur de SES, Careers Counsellor

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Hillary Collier Sy-Quia Head of English and Literature Teacher, Careers Counsellor

Hillary Collier Sy-Quia

As a child, Hilary lived in Northern West Germany, attending school there until she was 17. She went to university in England and then, one day only months into her first job (in a bank in the City: a short-lived experiment!), she watched the Berlin Wall come down and realized that, despite an undergraduate degree in German and History and a childhood spent in Germany, she knew nothing about the GDR. In 1994 she began her graduate degree at UC Berkeley and wrote her dissertation on the East German Socialist writer Christa Wolf. Upon graduation, she taught at UC Berkeley and Stanford University, but gave up an academic career to move to France in 2002. There she began teaching English Literature at Ermitage Ecole Internationale de France, just outside Paris, initially in the OIB section of the lycee, as well as teaching the A level English Literature programme. When the director of the school decided to launch an IB section, Hilary helped to get the school accredited to run the IB Diploma Programme and taught IB English A Literature, before becoming the Director of Ermitage’s IB Programme. In 2013 Hilary said goodbye to the team she had helped to establish and returned to California, where she joined the English Department of the French American International School of San Francisco. Having served as the Head of English, in 2015 she became the Assistant Principal. Alongside her administrative duties, she continued to teach English Literature and most recently, TOK. This year she has decided to return to the classroom, which has always been the place that gives her the greatest joy, and she is looking forward to joining the LIL team and rediscovering London after 30 years away! In her spare time, Hilary likes to sew, quilt, improve her knitting, try to paint, read a lot and enjoy the company of her friends and her three children – all of whom are much better cooks than she is, thank goodness!

En tant qu’enfant, Hilary a vécu dans le nord-ouest de l’Allemagne, où elle a fréquenté l’école jusqu’à l’âge de 17 ans. Elle a ensuite poursuivi ses études universitaires en Angleterre, puis un jour, seulement quelques mois après son premier emploi dans une banque de la City (une expérience de courte durée !), elle a assisté à la chute du mur de Berlin et a réalisé qu’en dépit d’une licence en allemand et en histoire ainsi que d’une enfance passée en Allemagne, elle ne savait rien de la RDA. En 1994, elle a entamé son doctorat à l’Université de Californie, Berkeley, et a rédigé sa thèse sur l’écrivaine socialiste est-allemande Christa Wolf. Après avoir obtenu son diplôme, elle a enseigné à l’Université de Californie, Berkeley, et à l’Université Stanford, mais elle a renoncé à une carrière universitaire pour déménager en France en 2002. Là-bas, elle a commencé à enseigner la littérature anglaise à l’Ermitage Ecole Internationale de France, située près de Paris, initialement dans la section OIB du lycée, ainsi que le programme de littérature anglaise A level. Lorsque le directeur de l’école a décidé de lancer une section IB, Hilary a contribué à obtenir l’accréditation pour mettre en place le programme du diplôme IB et a enseigné l’IB Anglais A Littérature, avant de devenir directrice du programme IB d’Ermitage. En 2013, Hilary a dit au revoir à l’équipe qu’elle avait aidé à mettre en place et est retournée en Californie, où elle a rejoint le département d’anglais de l’École Internationale Franco-Américaine de San Francisco. Après avoir occupé le poste de responsable d’anglais, elle est devenue assistante du directeur en 2015. En plus de ses responsabilités administratives, elle a continué à enseigner la littérature anglaise et, plus récemment, la théorie de la connaissance (TOK).Cette année, elle a décidé de retourner en classe, qui a toujours été l’endroit qui lui procure la plus grande joie, et elle est impatiente de rejoindre l’équipe de LIL et de redécouvrir Londres après 30 ans d’absence ! Pendant son temps libre, Hilary aime coudre, faire du patchwork, améliorer son tricot, essayer de peindre, lire beaucoup et profiter de la compagnie de ses amis et de ses trois enfants, qui sont tous bien meilleurs cuisiniers qu’elle, Dieu merci !

A member of our team, sporting short hair and glasses, enjoys the outdoors in a dark sweater layered over a checkered shirt. The serene background features blurred trees and a clear blue sky, perfectly capturing the essence of a refreshing day.

Kevin Ringuet Administrative Assistant

Higher Education Guidance