German Exchange Trip

Posting by Deborah Smail-Ross, Modern Language teacher at the College

The Modern Language department at The Sixth Form College, Solihull offers five languages and great links with schools and other organisations for those subjects. This includes German, for which we have a partnership with a school in Main-Taunus-Kreis near Frankfurt, called Albert-Einstein-Schule.

Our A level German students took part in an exchange partnership with this school last week and they really enjoyed the week-long trip. The students stayed with German pupils of a similar age from Albert-Einstein-Schule and enjoyed a range of activities, all aimed towards helping the students improve their spoken German and to embrace German culture.

Activities included joining in the lessons of their partners at school, as well as a variety of visits and outings. They enjoyed a line dancing lesson, a ten-pin bowling outing and met with the Mayoress of Schwalbach am Taunus, while also enjoying an afternoon in Frankfurt visiting the Frankfurt Christmas Market.

The students also enjoyed a visit to Wetzlar, which involved a tour of the town ‘in the footsteps of Goethe’, who wrote his famous ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’ after living in the town shortly as a newly qualified lawyer.

In addition, the students also visited the multi-national Continental Teves factory, with which the College has links. The students watched brake components being made by robots and heard presentations from the apprentices and from a former student of the College, Jack Wilson, who is currently spending his university year abroad at the company.

The trip was a huge success. The students learnt a lot and really developed their spoken German, as you do when you immerse yourself in the language. They also took part in some really fun activities and made some new friends, many of whom I am sure will keep in touch. We thank the Albert-Einstein-Schule and Continental Teves for accommodating us on our trip.

A return exchange visit is planned in the New Year. The German students will be visiting the College in February and apprentices from the Continental Teves factory will participate in a 3-week training programme at the College later in the summer term.

More photos are available on the College Facebook page.

High Court Judge meets Law students

Posting by Bev Bishop, Marketing Co-ordinator

As Marketing Co-ordinator at the College, I don’t often get to go on fieldtrips with the students, but this term I have had the opportunity to visit Birmingham Crown Court with A level Law students on two occasions.

This week saw one such trip as I joined a group of 27 students in the city centre law courts. The visit included a talk from one of the court ushers, who explained how the crown court works. This included information about judges, jurors, barristers and other court officials, not to mention court procedures.

The usher who gave our talk let students sit in the judge’s seat and in the dock, which gave us all a giggle! He also mentioned our visit to the High Court judge in the court he was working in that day and in turn, the judge invited us into court for a private question and answers session.

We were very privileged to be granted 10 minutes with such a high profile judge – in this case a Lord – as it is highly unusual. The judge was very friendly and came down to the floor of the court, rather than sitting in his normal seat. He sat on the defence and prosecution tables in a much more informal manner, which helped to put the students at ease. Nonetheless, we were all a little in awe of such a high-powered Lord. He was very friendly and answered our questions very candidly. He told us about past cases he has presided over, including some very grisly murders. He also explained how he had become a High Court judge and talked about safety issues for judges, such as protection offered to them when presiding over terrorism cases.

As well as these talks, the students got to sit in on cases being heard that morning. Among the cases scheduled were trials for fraud, theft and drugs. There were, rather shockingly, three separate child abuse cases being heard that morning and even a murder trial taking place.

The students got to see juries working, to see witness questioning and cross examinations and even learnt about how vulnerable witness, such as in child abuse cases, get to give their evidence via a video link, rather than being subjected to the trauma of being in court.

I found the trip fascinating and I feel sure it will have benefitted the students too. When they come to sit their Law exams, not only will they be able to call upon things they learnt in class, but also to visualise what really happens in a courtroom, which is a big aid to memory.

Hilton Metropole host Career Academy

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Career Academy Manager

Year 13 Business Career Academy students visited the Hilton Metropole this week and met with Liz Watson, the firm’s Director of Business Development.

The students were welcomed into one of their meeting rooms to get the idea of what a meeting at the Hilton would be like. They were greeted with tea/coffee and some festive mince pies and chocolate brownies, which went down very well.

The students then listened to a short talk about how the Hilton used to be two hotels called the Warwick & Metropole. The students were taken on a tour and whilst on the tour, we bumped into the new Executive Chef, as he was preparing a big convention for that evening. The students learnt about head-hunting, as the Chef explained how he had been asked to move from the London Metropole to Birmingham, due to all his hard work and experience this term. The students were amazed to hear how many meals are served during busy weeks.

Whilst on the tour, the students saw some of the rooms the hotel offers its business clients, as well as the Executive lounge, which is open to its VIP clients. The students walked through lots of conference rooms and learnt how important it is for the Hilton to keep up to date with changes in the way businesses operate, to ensure the services that they offer are correct.

The hotel has a range of facilities including the largest indoor swimming pool in a hotel and a gym that the students visited. The Hilton also has air hosts/hostess staying from the airport. As such, they have to serve breakfast at all sorts of hours to ensure all their guest get the best experience.

It was an informative visit for the students, who got a real behind-the-scenes taste of what business is like in the hospitality sector. Visits such as these form an important part of the Career Academy scheme, with mentoring, guru lectures and paid internships also forming part of the initiative.

New Capital Experience for Business Career Academy

Posting by Ruth Sharp, Business Career Academy Co-ordinator

The Business Career Academy is new to me this year. The scheme itself was launched at the College last year and the first cohort of students have flourished under the initiative. My job is to bring a new group of Business students through.

That job started by selecting the students who would be part of the Business Career Academy and representatives from Lloyds TSB helped me to do that recently. Then, this week, we had our first trip with the successful applicants and it took us to London to take part in Career Academies UK’s ‘A Capital Experience’.

The students who successfully applied to the Business Career Academy are all on the BTEC Extended Diploma in Business course, which is a course I am very familiar with, having taught on this qualification for many years. For those as new to the Career Academy as me, here’s what that is: it’s part of a national scheme that raises the aspirations and develops the employability skills of young people. Career Academies UK works with the College to secure workplace networks and experiences for students, linking up with both local and national employers.

At ‘A Capital Experience’, students from Career Academies across the country visited London to get a taste of the banking sector. Our students spent the morning visiting Deutsche Bank and in the afternoon attended a conference at the Royal Festival Hall. The morning excursion enabled the students to see merchant bankers “on the floor”, juggling phone calls and banks of computer screens filled with financial information. It was a real eye-opener for the students, not least because of how hectic it is working on the floor in a huge global business like that.

The afternoon included a networking session, in which a bell was repeated rung and students were given a minute to introduce themselves to someone they had never met before and exchange contact details. This was a useful exercise, particularly in that it taught the students how important it is to collect contact details when you are networking, so you can follow up the initial meeting with further communication.

It was a great trip. The students were a credit to the College and they learnt a lot. They will have lots more wonderful opportunities this year, including more visits to local businesses, guru lectures from business representatives, mentoring and a six-week paid internship next summer.

Following hot on the heels of this Business Career Academy, a further four strands of this scheme are being launched, covering IT, Media, Public Services and Science. Any businesses who are interested in becoming involved in the scheme, be it to host students on visits, give talks, provide mentoring or internships, are asked to call Sue Brookes on 0121 704 2581 or email careeracademy@solihullsfc.ac.uk.

Students bitten by Apple bug

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Career Academy Manager and Business teacher

           

The Apple store in Touchwood played host to me and the second year Business Career Academy students last week and what fun we had when we visited.

The students, all in their second year of the BTEC Business qualification, were on their first fieldtrip since their return to College from their summer internships.

The fieldtrip was hosted by Shiva Patel, who spent the afternoon with us and showed off Apple’s fantastic gadgets. This included the Mac Book Pro and Shiva demonstrated how the students could use it to enhance their BTEC coursework using the ‘Pages’ software. The students used their current coursework assignments for the Market Research unit to design posters that they would then use as part of the market research for their Business Plan unit.

The students experimented with the fast and efficient way the Apple software worked and even had one-to-one support on how their assignments could be improved with a touch of Apple sparkle. At the end of the fieldtrip the students were given a copy of all their posters to take away with them to print off in College

Apple also gave the students their very own Apple t-shirts, which they wore with pride.

It is visits such as these that form part of the Career Academy experience. The College is working with Career Academies UK to implement this national scheme which raises the aspirations and employability of young people by offering not only visits, but also guru lectures, mentoring and paid internships. The students on this recent visit all recently completed six-week paid internships at local businesses.

These recent internships saw the students at a range of local businesses, from hotels to building societies, and solicitors to council offices.

For student Sam Wallace, it was Coventry Building Society who offered him an internship. He spent six weeks at the firm and his duties included serving on the counter, processing customer transactions, answering queries and arranging meetings with the advisors. He also took part in a community event in Chelmsley Wood and partially completed his Customer Service Assistant Taskbook, as well as working in the firm’s banking hall as a meet and greeter.

Meanwhile, the Village Hotel offered fellow student Nadia Begum a similar internship. During her six weeks with the firm, the former Langley School student worked in all departments of the hotel.

Chartered Accountants Grant Thornton were also part of the scheme. They offered an internship to Rittika Sharma, who spent time working in the firm’s audit department. This time was split between external audit and government audit and involved checking the clients financial records to source invoices and preparing the income and expenditure statement for the service charge. She also worked on an NHS corporate governance project.

Another accountancy firm, BDO, offered an internship to Ryan Fryer. He worked in the Market, Sales and Clients Department, carrying out data management and cleansing tasks, as well as supporting marketing events. He also performed a number of research tasks, involving researching companies and industries.

Away from accountancy, another student worked with Chiltern Railways. Munib Altaf was employed setting up an inventory programme for the small on-board shops that Chiltern run from Birmingham to London. Whilst he enjoyed the job it took a while to get used to getting up at 5.00am to get the train to London. His internship was also extended by a few days, so he could train other members of the team on how to use the inventory programme he’d been refining.

                                        

Meanwhile, five students went to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. Dipesh Sharma, Dipesh Chauhan, Siobhan Williams, Primal Chhaya, Fatima Az-Zahra took on a variety of roles in several different departments at the Council.

I’m really proud of the students for the work they did over the summer. They are now into the second year of the Business Career Academy and I can see how much they have developed in confidence and experience over the first year, which is great to see.

Open Day Tops Hectic Term

Posting by Bev Bishop, Marketing Co-ordinator

What a busy spell we are having at The Sixth Form College, Solihull. Indeed, so hectic is it at the moment, that already today I have sent out four press releases to the local media!

With so much going on, I thought I’d share with you just a taste of what goes on at a vibrant College like this.

The peak of our activity came last Saturday, when we held out Open Day. We were open from 9.30am until 3.30pm and we had just over 1,400 prospective students visit us. All those students brought at least one parent and many brought both parents and brothers and sisters, so we had thousands of people on campus.

It was a wonderful, if exhausting day. Huge thanks go to all the staff and to the students who worked all day to help show our visitors round and answer their questions. We had staff and existing students in every subject area, as well as Principal presentations taking place. The student guides, in particular, were outstanding and spoke with such maturity and enthusiasm about the College as a whole and their particular subjects. Parents were so impressed with them and it made me feel so proud of them all.

We had so many positive comments from prospective students and parents over the course of the day and many said they would definitely be applying to come here next September, which is very encouraging. Already we have had more than 400 applications for September 2012, but students have until 30 March 2012 to get their applications in, so there is no need to panic yet!

We all felt like we needed a rest after Open Day, but there is never time for that at a big College like this. We had a timetable suspension day on Tuesday, so lots of students had no lessons, but don’t think for a minute that we were idle. Teachers were having meetings with their Year 13 students to review progress and these reviews will be made available to parents.

Business students have also been busy this week. The College is entering its second year of the Business Career Academy, which is a scheme which offers students a chance to get real-world business opportunities by way of visits, talks, mentoring and paid internships. Last year’s first cohort of students have thrived on the scheme and they were present as a new intake of students applied to join the scheme. Representatives from Lloyds TSB came into College to help us conduct the selection process and ten students (some of whom are pictured below) have been accepted into the programme.

The College dancers have also had a busy week. They have formed a dance company called Collision and they took part in a dance showcase at the Solihull Arts complex on Thursday evening called Bounce 11. Their performance (pictured above) was called “Time to Waste”, which explored through dance the idea of waiting in its many guises, including the excitement, worry and anticipation that waiting can evoke in people. The piece was choreographed by Dance teacher Jessica Morgan and the students and set to a compilation of music and sound effects.

There is more to come next week and in the following weeks too. On Tuesday next week it’s Autumn Fest, as we celebrate the cultural diversity of the College. Law students will be visiting Birmingham Crown Court on a fieldtrip on Thursday and there will be more student reviews taking place too.

We are also gearing up for some end of term events too – the College Production this year is “Little Shop of Horrors” and it takes place at 7pm on Wednesday 7, Thursday 8 and Friday 9 December, while the Christmas Music Concert is on Wednesday 14 December. Tickets are available for both events by calling 0121 704 2581.

Before all that, tonight the Leisure Studies students are holding a charity event at College called Race Night and there will be more news on how that goes soon.

Now, hopefully you can see what I mean about what a hectic place The Sixth Form College, Solihull is and this is just the tip of the iceberg. An awful lot of great learning has been going on too, with challenging and enjoyable lessons in each of our 43 A level subjects and 8 BTEC Diploma courses too.

Perhaps the only pause this week has come today – 11-11-11, better known as Armistice or Remembrance Day. The College paused for a period of silent reflection at 11.00am today, to mark the moment that the First World War came to and end and to remember those who lost their lives.

Guru Lecture with the LIVE Group

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Business teacher & Career Academy Manager

Second year Career Academy students enjoyed a fascinating guru lecture this week, as they were visited by Theresa Crockett from the LIVE Group.

The LIVE Group is an events management company and Theresa Crockett is an account manager with the firm, based in Westminster. Theresa met the students at the end-of-year event at Arup last July, and on this first visit to the College she was eager to find out how their summer internships had gone. The students used the time to tell her all about their experiences, what they enjoyed and what they learnt about the working full-time.

Theresa then told them all about her work, including how her job works and how the world of events management has changed. She brought some of the latest technology that is used by the LIVE Group with her to show how conferences work. The students had a chance to take part in an interactive discussion in which new technology called a palmlet was used to vote on questions, opinions and to even rate speakers during the time they were talking at conferences.

The students were impressed and amazed at how conferences now worked and how important it is for businesses to closely follow new technology, as it is certainly changing at a fast pace.

Real world experiences like this are a valuable part of the Career Academy venture. The students are in their second year of a BTEC Extended Diploma in Business course and are getting unique opportunities with the Career Academy. This includes not only guru lectures like this, but also visits to businesses, mentoring from real business people and six-week paid internships, which the students have just completed over the summer.

More news on the internships coming soon!

Snakes and Ladders

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Business Studies teacher

My A2 Business Studies students borrowed an idea from A level Law this week by adapting a popular children’s board game to help them with their studies.

Snakes and Ladders was the game and the students split into groups to complete the exercise. They all wrote their own Business Studies-related questions and answers, which focussed on topics like production methods, costings, economies of scale, business objectives and other issues covered in the course. These questions were tested on opposing groups as they shook the dice and played Snakes and Ladders.

It was a really fun way of helping the students to get to grips with the complex subject matter and of course there was more than a little element of chance involved too. The teams were really competitive and more than one roll of the dice saw the teams slipping down the board on a snake!

It was all in good fun, but there’s a hidden agenda too, as it was a good way to get the students to think about their revision without being boring. Fingers crossed it has helped; they now simply need to revise!! Good luck to them!

Applications for September 2012

Posting by Jennifer Lumb, Admissions Officer

It doesn’t seem 5 minutes since we were dealing with applications to join the College in September 2011, but we have now begun the application process for entry in September 2012!

Applications are coming in thick and fast through our website and prospective students are getting quick responses to questions and enquiries from our Admissions department. As always, students are very keen to get their applications in and we are processing them as fast as we can. Do be careful when completing the form that you enter all your details correctly and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ensure you put in all your GCSE/Level 2 subjects and predicted/achieved grades otherwise we cannot process your application until we receive them.

All students who have already applied, will have had an acknowledgement from us and we have requested references from their schools.

Interviewing for provisionally successful students will begin in November for Non-Partner School applicants (i.e. from schools other than Alderbrook, Hall Green, Light Hall, Lode Heath, Lyndon and Yardleys Schools) and we will be informing prospective students about this nearer the time.

This is a very nerve-wracking time for prospective students and we aim to inform them of the initial outcome of their application within 6-8 weeks of receiving it – this also includes interviewing.

Not all prospective students will be invited to interview and we understand that this is disappointing, but stay positive and visit a Connexions advisor to look into your post-16 options carefully.

Don’t forget, we have our Open Day on Saturday 5^th November 2011 – 9:30am until 3:30pm (last entry at 2.30pm), but check our website for more details. It is important that all prospective students come accompanied by a parent or other responsible adult and if this is a problem for you, give us a call in advance on 0121 709 7803 and let us know and we’ll arrange to have someone to show you around instead.

We wish you all the best of luck with your applications and your GCSE’s and look forward to meeting you!

Gold Standard for Duke of Edinburgh Students

Posting by Grigor Wallace, Duke of Edinburgh Co-ordinator at The Sixth Form College, Solihull.

Myself and a small group of volunteers took a group of adventurous students from The Sixth Form College, Solihull up north to the wild open country of the Cheviot Hills in Northumberland recently, as the students undertook their final assessed expedition for their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award.

 

There were 18 students on the trip and I'm delighted to say we were blessed by largely good weather conditions. Although not very warm, it was good walking weather, apart from one day when the visibility was much reduced and there were showers throughout the day. We travelled by coach to the Cheviots, stopping on the way to admire the Angel of the North, an iconic and inspiring structure near Newcastle.

We all camped together on the first night in what were relatively kind conditions - what you would expect from the season. From then on, for the rest of the four-day and three-night trip the students camped in small groups and were self-supported.

Their camp craft skills came into their own in the evenings and daylight hours were spent navigating pre-planned, physically-demanding routes. The navigation was generally excellent and all the students showed exceptional team work and camaraderie. Inevitably there was the odd wrong turn taken, but the students all found their way in the end, and that's the goal.

 

This was an excellent trip, not least because all 18 students passed and achieved their Gold Award, so we congratulate them on their achievement. Perhaps what is most pleasing was their behaviour. The Cheviot Assessor commented on what good groups they were and more than one member of the public commented to me on what polite and friendly students we have.so they all did very well.

 

Thanks go to the volunteer staff: Dave Lewis, Jag Jagdev and John Williams, as well as the two Mountain Leaders Jenny Hall and Louis Hume. Their help was invaluable and without it trips of this kind would not be possible.

Click here to view more photos on our Facebook page.

Biology Fieldtrip to Nettlecombe

Posting by Hina Khan, Year 12 student

Year 12 Biology students at The Sixth Form College, Solihull went to Nettlecombe Court Field Centre in Somerset on 17-20^th June to study Ecology.

The aim of the trip was to analyse different ecosystem and carry out a number of practical investigations. Upon arriving, we went to a rocky shore in a town called Watchet, where we used quadrat sampling along a belt transect to measure the distribution of populations of rocks shore organisms. We came across a variety of different organisms such as several types of seaweeds, sea slaters and quite a few crabs!!!

The next day a river study was conducted in the middle of Exmoor National Park, where the aim was investigating whether named abiotic factors affected the number of invertebrates present. We were able to use our results to complete the statistical test ‘Spearman’s Rank’ to see if the results showed any significance. We were also lucky enough to spot wild red deer and wild horses running openly on the moor.

On the Sunday, we set off to Brauton Borrows in North Devon (which is part of the UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve) to have a look at plant diversity and succession. Using random sampling, the different amount of species that are present were counted, in order to see whether plant diversity increased.

Finally, a bit of terrestrial Ecology was done on grassland before heading back home in the afternoon. Overall, all the students greatly enjoyed the trip and we remained enthusiastic throughout despite the wet weather conditions. The field trip was focused on their curriculum and gave them a good insight into Biology.

Nottingham University Projects

Posting by Trevor Irving, Chemistry teacher and Director of Teaching & Learning

Chemistry students at The Sixth Form College, Solihull are fortunate to benefit from an association with Nottingham University and recently a group of students completed project work at the university.

Back in February, approximately 65 first year A level Chemistry students visited the University. The School of Chemistry presented a series of informative talks and chemical demonstrations. Students enjoyed presentations ranging from cutting edge nanotechnology to Professor Martyn Poliakoff’s Periodic Table of Video’s.

As part of the afternoon, the students attended a separate forum, in which they were introduced to a number of research projects to be carried out at College over the coming months. Under this initiative, those interested would undertake practical investigations at College and present their findings to a panel of lecturers and postgraduates during a return visit to the University in June. To assist with some of the practical aspects of the projects, students were invited to spend a day in the University laboratories in April, where they had the privilege of working with professional standard analytical equipment.

In March, 15 students completed project work set by the University. This was divided into three topic areas: Preparation and analysis of nickel complex ions; synthesis of naturally-occurring dyes; and the kinetics of the reaction between propanone and iodine.

The students attended on a weekly basis after College and worked on predominantly practical activities. They welcomed the chance to carry out full university-type experiments and this made for a good relaxed atmosphere.

In April, these 15 students spent a full day in the undergraduate teaching laboratories at Nottingham University, undertaking practical work relating to their projects. In addition they were treated to a session on mass spectroscopy, in which they were able to witness the analysis of products they had prepared at College.

The students returned to the university to present their projects to an audience of lecturers, post-graduates and one of the parents in June. Each group presented powerpoint presentations on the material they had covered and answered questions on their findings. The university had also printed academic posters based on the work produced by the students.

Following the presentations, the students were given a talk on applying for degree courses in Chemistry and Science and then split into groups to feed back to their university supervisors.

The visit coincided with the Nottingham University Open Day and upon completion of the presentations, students were free to partake in the activities elsewhere on the campus.

The standard of the presentations was particularly high this year and the students were a credit to the College.

German Trainees visit College

Posting by Deborah Smail-Ross, Modern Languages teacher

Learning a modern language at The Sixth Form College, Solihull is much more than just sitting in classrooms. As much as possible, we try to give our students the opportunity to put their language skills to the test, be it through work experience, exchange trips or visits.

In German, we have a long association with a company called Continental-Teves, who are based in Frankfurt. We have been fortunate enough to visit them many times over the years, enabling many students to experience a German business environment and to put their German speaking to the test. We also welcome some of their apprentices every year and that is something we have just had the pleasure of.

The Continental-Teves trainees have just spent 2 weeks in the UK as part of their international apprenticeship programme in the Commercial/Business Training department at the firm. The Continental-Teves plant in Rödelheim, Frankfurt specialises in the production and development of automotive brake systems. Continental-Teves were at the forefront of ABS brake development, and are now developing and producing the highly sophisticated ESP – Electronic Stability Programmes.

The trainees have been doing a Summer School here, in which they worked on various projects with our AS German students. There was a BBQ and quiz on their first day here and a farewell lunch at the end of their trip. During the two weeks, the trainees shadowed our students to their lessons, worked with them on bi-lingual film presentations in German classes and produced bi-lingual Dragons’ Den presentations (the Dragons were Vice Principal Martin Sullivan, Curriculum Leader Martin Smith and Marian Birke from Continental-Teves). They also produced a magazine with our students during free periods.

It was evident that everyone – our students, the trainees themselves and the staff too – all really enjoyed the visit and I think everybody got a lot out of it too.

We’ll visit the company for an afternoon during our German exchange in late November / early December next year. We’ll also be able to catch up with one of our former students, Jack Wilson, who is currently doing his year abroad teaching English to the trainees at the company in Frankfurt.

We’ll keep you updated on our return visit to Germany later in the year!

There are more photos on our Facebook page.

The Full English!

Posting by Ranjit Hayer (Business Studies teacher) and Nick Waring (Curriculum Leader for Media)

It’s great when students from different courses get the opportunity to join forces on mutually beneficial projects. Some of our students have had just such an opportunity this week thanks to an educational media company called “The Full English”.

Students from Media, Business and IT got involved in the project with The Full English, who produce educational resources to help promote English in exciting multi-media ways.

This project is aided by funding from British Telecom and the project is to develop a DVD, teachers' book and website all about Spoken Language - primarily to support this new component of GCSE English, with a little A Level on the side. The final products will be a completely free-of-charge set of resources that will go out to 5,000-6,000 schools and colleges in England and Wales.

The Full English are collaborating with a company called Dialogics, who are expert in video production, and this is where our Media students come in as they have had the opportunity to work with the production company and get real, hands-on experience of the filming process.

The filming is taking on a video diary style, and three pairs of multi-lingual students (from Media, Business and IT) have been the focus of the filming. They have been interviewed regarding their multi-lingual capabilities. In particular, they have been talking about when they use the different languages they speak; for example, they may speak English at College, but Punjabi when at home.

We are really looking forward to seeing the final products and are grateful to The Full English and to Dialogics for involving our students in the creative process. We feel it was a great opportunity for them and they have learned a lot.

Check out more photos on our Facebook page.

Gearing Up for Enrolment!!!

Posting by Jennifer Lumb, Admissions Officer

The applications process is almost over for entry in September 2011. Application submission closed on 31^st March 2011 and in the months since we have been busily finishing interviews and finalising offers as well as preparing for Welcome to College Day.

All in all, the application period has been a great success, 66% of applicants applied online which has allowed us to process and acknowledge the applications much faster as well as arrange interviews sooner. We have arranged over 3,300 interviews and made over 2,300 offers.

Many students came to one of the two Welcome to College Day events at the end of June. These sessions allowed students to get a tour of the College and familiarise themselves with the services and facilities of the College, as well as to enjoy taster sessions in all their subjects. This event was compulsory, so for those that did not turn up, they may find their place is not as secure when we enrol in August.

Over the next few months we will be organising enrolment and sending out appointments and information to all applicants we have offered a place to. It will be a busy time but we are looking forward to meeting all the new students during enrolment and hope that they are looking forward to it as much as we are!

Best of luck to all our potential new students with your results in August, please remember that you can contact us with any concerns you may have when you receive your results or still come to your enrolment appointment for additional advice and guidance.

It’s been a really busy, but a really great year so far and we are looking forward to doing it all again in October!

Mumblings of a political mind

Posting by Jack Tracey, Year 13 Politics student

Why take Politics?

For me, taking politics was an easy choice. From transport to the Treasury, it doesn’t take much to get my political juices flowing. But even if you don’t consider yourself ‘politically motivated’, politics could still be the subject for you! Politics isn’t confined to a nice building in the middle of London and its membership isn’t limited to old men in older suits. Instead, politics is found in the everyday and the ordinary – what you hear in the pub; what you read in the newspaper; what you watch on the TV. Politics surrounds us and affects all our lives!

What do you cover in Politics?

In politics you will cover parties, constitutions, philosophies, elections and compare the British and American systems. But, such is the nature of politics, that no two years, terms or even lessons are ever the same! Politics is dynamic and evolutionary and is certainly not boring or dull!

What can you expect to gain out of Politics?

I don’t think of politics as just a subject, rather a series of opportunities: to candidly express your own interests and beliefs; to truly interact and debate with other students; to reflect upon society and your place in it – opportunities that are rarely apparent in other more rigid classes! In politics, students are encouraged to think critically and independently. But this does not mean we are left to our own devices. It is true that a subject is only as good as its teacher. We are, of course, fortunate at Solihull Sixth Form to have so many wonderful teachers, but this is especially true of the politics department – help is never far away! I can say with all sincerity that during my time at Solihull my tutors have had a profound and lasting impact upon me.

Where can politics take you?

Politics can open so many doors. The communication and critical thinking skills necessary to study politics are highly valued by both employers and universities. Through studying politics, students at Solihull who are going into higher education have chosen a diverse range of courses: from history and economics to law and indeed politics. Famous people who studied politics include Jerry Springer (talk show host), Barrack Obama (44^th President US), Steve Case (founder AOL) and David Cameron (current British PM) – the possibilities are literally endless!

Conclusion

Politics is a broad and diverse church – its scope and membership are universal. Politics is the vehicle that drives society forward, the very basis of our culture and its conventions. Some may belittle politics, but those of us who are engaged in it know it is the arena where people stand tallest – and if on occasions it is a place of low skulduggery, it is more often the place for the pursuit of noble causes.

Career Academy / BTEC Business Round-up

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Business Studies teacher and Career Academy Co-ordinator

Half-term is upon us and I think we could all do with a break. The BTEC Business students – and in particular those that are part of the Career Academy – have had an incredibly term so far.

The Career Academy have visited Solihull MBC, Solihull Police, npower, and Her Majesty’s Revenues & Customs in recent months. This week, they added Arup in the Blythe Valley park in Shirley to their list of destinations.

Arup have hosted several Career Academy events for us and on this occasion, the students were given a presentation by the Commercial Director Mike Evans and a tour by Director David Stevens who has been a keen supporter of Career Academy since the college began the programme.

We learnt how Arup don’t make ‘sales’ in the traditional sense, but instead receive fees as they design buildings for their clients. This ranges from the design for the iconic Bull Ring to a project they are currently working on for the HS2, the high speed link between Birmingham and London. The students also learnt about Arup’s involvement in the designing of some of the Olympic buildings in London for 2012.

The students learnt how the current economic climate has meant that Arup have had to find new projects abroad. For example, the announcement that the Football World Cup that will take place in Brazil in 2018 has meant that Arup have already opened offices there and plan to design buildings in preparation for this.

We thank Mike Evans and David Stevens for giving up their valuable time and we look forward to visiting Arup again in July for our end-of-year celebration event.

Away from the Career Academy, all the students on the BTEC Extended Diploma Business course benefitted from a talk by Philip Lloyd Williams, Director of Governance and Solicitor to the Council this week. He came into College to assist students with their unit on the Law making process.

Philip went through how judges look at case law to cover the gaps that Acts of Parliament leave open, due to some laws being made years ago. He also discussed a famous landmark case that changed the responsibilities businesses have towards their customers, called the Donogue v Stephenson case. This case involved a customer finding a decomposed snail in their ginger beer! He explained how this case developed what we now regularly regard as the ‘duty of care’.

All the students enjoyed this talk and can now begin their last assignment of their BTEC unit in Year 12.

BTEC Business face Dragons Den!

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, BTEC Business teacher

Dragons Den, eat your heart out!!

Last week the current Year 13 students on the BTEC Extended Diploma Business course completed a presentation on their Business Plan ideas to outside businesses.

Representative from npower and McDonalds, as well as the College Principal Paul Ashdown, were present to watch Year 13 students explain their new business ideas, which ranged from adventure holidays to smoothie bars to ice cream parlours.

The students had to come up with viable propositions for new businesses and present their plans as if they were pitching for financial backing, similar to what you see on TV in Dragons Den. The students went through how they decided on their ideas and what market research had been carried out to increase the chances of their business surviving under the current economic conditions.

All the presentations were well planned; some even had props, with mock ups of the proposed stores. The observers posed questions to see how well the students were at answering questions under pressure. Those watching the presentation commented how good the ideas were and commended the students for the detail that they had gone into.

Everyone who attended enjoyed the activity and the students learnt a lot, including skills that will benefit them when they enter the employment market themselves. If any harbour ambitions to start their own businesses in the long term, this experience will have provided a taste of what they can expect when pitching an idea.

Career Academy reflecting on first year

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Business Studies teacher and Career Academy Co-ordinator

We are coming to the end of the first year of the Career Academy, which is a national scheme, which raises the aspirations and develops the employability skills of young people. Career Academies UK has been working with the College to secure workplace networks and experiences for students, linking up with both local and national employers.

We had the third and final Local Advisory Board (LAB) meeting of the year this week and it was an opportunity for all the businesses that have supported the Career Academy  to reflect on how the year has gone.

Some of the Career Academy students were present at the meeting and spoke of some of the visits and guru lectures they had been a part of over the course of the year. They told those at the meeting what they had enjoyed about these experiences and what they had learned.

Sam Wallace, our very first Career Academy student to gain his internship place was at the meeting. He has a six-week paid internship at Coventry Building Society, which be obtained after a rigorous recruitment process. He explained what he had to do on his assessment day, which was just one part of the recruitment process. Sue Burrows, the Branch Manager of Solihull Coventry Building Society, who also sits on our Local Advisory Board, also explained how Sam coped with their live recruitment process.

Other topics that were discussed included how the students have benefited from the programme and the students were able to input themselves about how we could change some things ready for the new Year 12 students coming in September.

We are also looking forward to our Career Academy Celebration event in July. The event takes place on Monday 4 July at Arup’s offices in the Blythe Valley Business Park at 4.30pm. Staff from the College will be joined by the ten students who have formed this inaugural Career Academy. It will be hosted by Solihull MBC Chief Executive Mark Rogers.

At this celebration event, a host of business partners, together with other prospective future partners will join the College to celebrate what has already taken place, as well as looking to forge further business partnerships for next year.