For our Alumna of the Month interview, we spoke to Emma Cochrane. She started Reception at Bromley High School in 1998 and left in 2012 after studying Biology, Chemistry, Geography and AS Maths.
Emma left school to study Medicine at the University of Birmingham, followed by an intercalated degree in Womens’ Health with Basic Medical Science at King’s College London. She is currently working on the emergency Senior House Officer medical rota at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester.
Please briefly describe your current role
As an emergency Senior House Officer, I am covering the COVID-19 area as well as the general medical take. My daily job involves reviewing patients on the ward round, clerking in new referrals from A&E or GPs and managing acutely unwell patients on wards.
In August I am due to start GP training in West Sussex.
How did Bromley High School help shape your future career?
I decided to apply for Medicine during ‘Project Kenya’, a version of World Challenge, when I took part in a couple of medical days with a local doctor travelling to remote communities to manage complex patients with limited resources.
I always had great support from all my teachers. I was encouraged and guided through my medical school application and coached for my interviews.
What aspects of Bromley High School did you most enjoy, and find most rewarding?
Sport played a huge part of school life for me. Before school, every lunch time and after school every day, I could be found playing sport, except when I was attending early morning Maths or triple Science lessons or lunch time Maths clinics.
Through school links to local clubs which I then joined, I was able to compete nationally and internationally in gymnastics, swimming and netball. This had a massive impact on me and continues to do so in training and competing at local, national and Army/Inter-Service level in triathlon and netball.
What is your favourite memory of being at Bromley High School?
My favourite memory is winning the GDST Gymnastics Competition in my final year at school. Although we regularly won, despite Croydon and Putney’s best efforts, this was especially memorable as I captained the team, scored a ‘perfect 10’ on vault and brilliantly concluded my fourteen year involvement in gymnastics at the school with our amazing coach Marion James.