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.