BISHOP’S Stortford College was delighted to host the first ever Bishop’s Stortford Educational Trust (BSET) Futures Fair on Saturday 17 January 2026.

Running from 11.00am – 4.00pm, the Fair saw over 950 attendees from 19 local secondary schools, including Aldenham School, Avanti Grange, Birchwood School, Bishop’s Stortford College, Broxbourne School, Forest Hall School, Hockerill Anglo-European College, Leventhorpe School, Long Road Sixth Form College, Saffron Walden County High School, Stansted Airport College, St Christopher’s School, St Edmund’s College, Stephen Perse, St Mary’s Catholic School, St Nicholas School, The Bishop’s Stortford High School, The Hertfordshire and Essex High School, and Wanstead High School.

Free, and open to all in and around the Bishop’s Stortford community, pupils from Years 8-13 had the opportunity to explore the vast range of post-18 options available to them with 38 exhibitors in attendance, across universities, employers, and school leaver opportunity providers including University of Cambridge, University of Exeter, Durham University, The Degree Gap, Manchester Airport Group, Unilever, GSK, and more.

A successful, sold-out talks programme also provided expert insights into competitive university applications, degree apprenticeships, studying abroad, and how parents can support their child’s post-18 options.

Head of Futures at Bishop’s Stortford College, Louisa Piercy, commented “We are delighted with the success of our first event of this kind. By bringing universities, employers and training providers together in this way we’ve been able to give pupils across the community a valuable opportunity to explore the many pathways open to them and to broaden their horizons.

“It’s been inspiring to see such enthusiasm for exploring the study and career options available beyond school. We’ve had fantastic feedback from visitors and from exhibitors, with requests already from others to exhibit at a future event.”