Fireside Talks

One of the defining strengths of Wellington’s Fireside Talk programme is its ability to place students at the heart of important conversations. The final event of the academic year exemplified this perfectly, as Upper Sixth student Talitha hosted an engaging discussion on wildlife conservation with Old Wellingtonian Charlie Mayhew OBE, founder of Tusk. “When students understand the world, they are far more likely to act in it.” This idea sat at the heart of the inspiring [...]

At Monday’s Fireside Talk, Professor Yang-Hui from the University of Oxford, took us on a fascinating journey into how artificial intelligence is reshaping mathematical discovery and what that means for the future of the subject. The talk explored three complementary approaches to doing mathematics. First, a bottom-up approach, where AI excels at formal logic, pattern-spotting, and automated proof-checking, tasks that would take humans years to complete. Second, a top-down approach, where intuition, creativity, and experience still matter most, with AI [...]

Last night we were privileged to hear from Sir Charles Dunstone, who shared open and insightful reflections from an extraordinary career. From timing the wave and knowing when to get out,  to staying relentlessly customer-facing, and even walking us through every decision behind Five Guys’ new lettuce burger, students were completely hooked! His message landed powerfully: in an AI world that can optimise everything rational, the human edge lies in questioning the status quo, spotting what could be [...]

A fantastic finale to our 2025 Fireside Talks. Historian Tim Bouverie captivated our students with sharp, vivid insights from Allies at War, revealing how Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin managed to fight a common enemy while disagreeing on almost everything else. He unpacked the Grand Alliance as a partnership built on rivalry as much as cooperation – fractious and suspicious, yet united by one urgent goal: defeat Hitler. He captured the tension between military necessity and political ambition, bringing [...]

We’re incredibly grateful to former Springbok captain Bob Skinstad for delivering an inspiring Fireside Talk on one of the most powerful questions in leadership: How can a leader transform a team’s culture to achieve greatness? How do they inspire courage, unity, and belief under immense pressure? This special collaboration between Fireside Talks and the Aspirational Athlete Programme featured Bob’s session: Crazy/Brave Leadership: How the South African Rugby Team Took Back Their Future. Bob shared compelling lessons [...]