Anna Paige, 1996

Anna read Modern & Medieval Languages at Clare before joining the civil service for over a decade. She is now Director of Strategy and Performance for United Learning focusing on ensuring schools across the country can give all young people opportunities to learn, challenge themselves and thrive.

Who was your greatest Clare influence and why?

I remember Clare as a place that encouraged us to take our passions - whether academic, political, sporting, musical or something else - seriously. For me, it was the first time in my life when I found other people who loved their subject and didn't feel the need to be diffident about their work. The friends I made helped me to grow into the person I am. Although I didn't share much of my subject with my friends at Clare (I read French and Hungarian and was one of only two students of Hungarian at Cambridge that year), we shared a love of the UL - and its cheese scones - and an inclination to take our studies seriously. Their friendship was a hugely positive influence on me then and has remained so ever since. 

Anna's Story

I chose Clare partly because of its location and size - a small college on the Backs seemed ideal - and partly because of its reputation for music. I found that both enriched my life in Cambridge immeasurably. I remember late spring days revising for exams in the quiet beauty of the Fellows Garden and sunrise walks along the river to Grantchester. I met some incredible musicians and music punctuated my time at Clare, from the casual brilliance of my friends practising in their rooms to candlelit Chapel services and concerts at West Road. (Ironically, although I chose a 'loud' staircase so that I too could practise in my room, I found the quality of what surrounded me so overwhelming that I barely played at all after I arrived - one of my chief regrets.)

In my first year I had a large set at the bottom of S staircase, which acquired the status of an impromptu tea room. Whenever I was in my room the door was open - people would stop for a cuppa and a chat on their way in or out, so I was rarely without company. It was a wonderfully sociable time. 

I was Women's Officer for the Union of Clare Students in 1997/98, the 25th anniversary of co-education. I organised a full-day event to mark the occasion, inviting alumnae to speak about their careers and about their experiences as women at Clare. (At the time, the development office was a much smaller outfit than it is now. I recall that I was given access to a list of alumnae and pretty much left to get on with it.) As part of the planning for the event I spoke to a number of the fellows who had been involved in making the case for admitting women and to some of the first women students and fellows. Sadly I no longer have any of my notes of those conversations but I do remember their willingness to share their stories with me and the warmth - and humour in many cases - with which they talked about the decision.

When I left Clare I joined the civil service - initially because I thought it would be interesting enough until I worked out what I really wanted to do. My degree - in particular, the discipline of making sense of new material every couple of weeks and the skill of crafting and defending an argument - proved to be an excellent preparation for what turned out to be 16 years in Whitehall and a career in education policy. Now, as Director of Strategy and Performance for United Learning (a large, national group of schools in both the public and private sector), my focus is on creating the conditions in which schools across the country - from Carlisle to Poole - can give young people (many of whom come from places and backgrounds that are still under-represented at Cambridge) the opportunities I had to follow my interests and enjoy the intellectual challenge that was so important to me at Clare.