Private School News

A Day in the Dealing room for Padworth students

Padworth College Sixth form students visited the ICMA Centre at Henley Business School, University of Reading to find out more about courses and careers in finance and investment and to participate in a practical share dealing session in the brand new state-of-the-art Dealing room.

The group of 10 students from Padworth College, who are all studying Business Studies and Economics A Level, attended two lectures during the afternoon. The first was given by Dr Adrian Bell, Director of Teaching and Learning who spoke about the role of the ICMA centre and the Finance and Investment Banking course at the University of Reading followed by an interesting talk from Graham Philpott, Deputy Director about the range of careers which former graduates had forged after the course. Mr Philpott also gave the students some useful tips on preparing a successful CV.

The students were then given a tour of the Dealing room and shown how to operate the sophisticated dealing system. Economics student, Alma Pereira said, “It was so interesting – not only did we gain the fundamentals of the share market but we actually applied them in the simulation exercise. At the end, some of us made huge profits while others ended up with equally huge deficits – we all found this an exhilarating experience”.

The ICMA Centre has the most extensive non-investment bank dealing room facilities in the world and was established with funding from the ICMA. The Centre is equipped with all the latest trading technology giving it the feel of a real trading floor and it is sponsored by Thomson Reuters.

Head of Economics, Michael Laizans said, “This trip has given our students a real insight into the world of banking and share dealing – the hands-on experience in the Dealing Room was extremely useful and I think will really help their understanding of investment and banking practices. We are very grateful to Reading University for giving our students this opportunity”.