It’s not every day that a three-time world champion visits the School, but Senior School students had the opportunity to hear advice from one of the legends of Formula 1, Sir Jackie Stewart OBE, when he spoke at a recent Assembly.
Sir Jackie reflected on the challenges he faced as a student with dyslexia, as well as the role sport has played in shaping his life.
“When you’re dyslexic you can’t do the things that other people do so easily,” Sir Jackie told students. “At 14, I was a complete disaster at school and I was hanging out with the wrong people. Instead of escaping into drugs, like many of the kids around me, I found sport. It saved my life.”
While dyslexia created difficulties in Sir Jackie’s education, he told the Assembly that it hasn’t been an entirely negative force. “Many dyslexic people have been very successful because they think outside the box,” he explained. “Not being able to do things the same way as everyone else means you find other ways of achieving.”
Throughout the challenges and triumphs of a sporting career, Sir Jackie says it was the people around him that mattered most. “One of the most important decisions you’ll make in your life is choosing who you spend time with,” he told the Senior School. “Choosing your friends carefully is as important in business as it is in life.”
School Captain, Harry Chester, was particularly moved by Sir Jackie’s speech. “I feel very connected to what he said,” Harry said after the Assembly. “It moved me on a personal level. His achievements despite dyslexia are quite incredible.”
By coincidence, our Director of Career Development, Kirsten Larn, first heard Sir Jackie speak at her own school assembly. “Last time I heard him was when I was in my final year of schooling,” Ms Larn remembers. “As he did today, Sir Jackie was very able to connect with the students through his story, even though by then he was already an international superstar.”