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.