Perins School welcomed businessman David Picton as part of the Speakers4Schools programme.

He met students and gave a speech on his career and how the choices he made at school helped to determine his life.

Mr Picton, who is the chief sustainability officer at Carillion Plc, gave a stimulating talk to Year 8 students, entitled "What I wish I’d known when I was at school".

He explained to the children how his academic studies had been transferred to the workplace and how this helped shaped his career. Afterwards Perins students had the opportunity to question him and get more first-hand insight into how best to structure their education for the business world today.

The event was organised by Speakers4Schools, a charity that provides state secondary schools and colleges with talks from a range of industry’s leading professionals and academics, free of charge.

Perins was the first such speech for Mr Picton, who lives in Testbourne and is married with two teenage daughters.