In September, the Year 13s were fortunate enough to receive a Speakers for Schools talk by Futures For All, a charity giving state schools access to talks from today’s leading professionals and academics. 

The speaker in question for the PSHE session was Helen Calcraft, a founding partner of Lucky Generals (named after the Napoleon Bonaparte quote “I’d rather have lucky generals than good ones”). Lucky Generals are one of the top ten creative agencies in the country and have a number of high profile clients including ASDA, AG-Barr (Irn-Bru and Rubicon), Yorkshire Tea, Co-op, and Holland & Barrett.

Lucky Generals is known for its bold, witty, irreverent advertising that blends sharp British humour, cultural storytelling and strong brand purpose.

Helen talked about her own experiences in education and how she was not necessarily an A* student herself but found a career that she was passionate about. Many students would not have considered a career in advertising previously and Helen was kind enough to stay behind afterwards and take questions from students potentially interested in a future career in the advertising industry.

Students were given the ‘remit’ to make a new Yorkshire Gold brand more popular in the south of England. Students were given the option of the advertising campaign being in a variety of different potential formats. A number of potential ‘stars’ were considered by the Year 13s to represent the south including Danny Dyer, Ray Winston, Vinnie Jones and Dua Lipa. A number of different locations were also mooted that ranged from desert islands to prisons.

A big thank you to Helen for an informative and thoroughly entertaining PSHE session (and the Yorkshire Gold tea bag she gave to every student!).

‘Very good and interactive’ EB

Mr. Matheson – September 2026