Chemistry Taster at Nottingham Uni

Posting by Hilary Woodward, Curriculum leader for Chemistry

The Sixth Form College, Solihull has an excellent relationship with the University of Nottingham and for several years, our A level Chemistry students have been benefitting from that association.

Last week, this year’s Chemistry students got a taste of undergraduate Chemistry at this prestigious university, as they enjoyed an afternoon of talks and demonstrations.

The School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham hosted series of informative talks and chemical demonstrations. This included a session entitled “The Periodic Table of Videos” presented by Professor Martyn Poliakoff, a talk on how to become a chemist by Professor Chris Hayes, a presentation on nanoscience by Professor Neil Champness and a talk entitled “Exciting Chemistry!” by Dr. Jon McMaster and Dr. Darren Wal.

This was just a taster of what studying Chemistry at degree level is all about. Our A level Chemistry students are also being offered the chance to complete a project in association with the University of Nottingham. A full-day master class will take place on 4^th April 2012. This will involve practical exercises involving redox chemistry and quantifying the vitamin C content of food sources. Students will be introduced to advanced techniques such as infra red spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance.

The students who elect to complete this project will be required to follow up the work covered at Nottingham through further research on the investigation and the techniques used. Their findings will be recorded in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, which will be presented to an audience of academics at Nottingham University followed by visit to the University Open Day on 29^th June 2012.

This trip to Nottingham was an excellent opportunity for our A level Chemistry students to get a taste of what continuing their Chemistry studies after College would be like. They learnt that Chemistry at degree level is complex, but also a lot of fun.

We thank the University of Nottingham’s School of Chemistry for their time in hosting us. It was informative and enjoyable and many of the students are now looking at following it up by completing the project they have set.

BT Calls in on College

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Career Academy Manager

It’s been another busy week for the Business Career Academy students. Following the second year students trip to London, the new first year students have welcomed a visitor into College in the shape of BT Project Manager Tracie Padro.

The visit from BT was for a rather grandly titled “guru lecture”, which is a part of the Career Academy programme, a national initiative that raises the employability of young people. Lectures such as this one, form an important part of the programme, with mentoring, external visits and paid internships also forming part of the experience for students.

Tracie began the afternoon lecture by explaining how her first job at BT (updating the phonebook) has lead to a life-long career with BT. She has not actually worked for any other firm, although she has done secondments and placements in the Customer Relations and Finance departments, amongst others.

Tracie explained to the students the benefits of working with a large business like BT, which spends a lot of time investing in its staff. Tracie is lucky enough to work from home so went through the different ways in which she conducts meetings as her ‘team’ is often scattered around the UK and meeting up can be quite difficult.

Tracie explained the skills that she has developed over the years and the students were amazed to learn that she has in the past worked with teams of up to 20-30 people and never met some members of the team because they lived so far away. She explained that having the right skills to communicate with people is essential to any professional person.

This kind of first-hand knowledge is invaluable to the students who will have to put such skills to the test in the summer when they complete 6-week internships at a variety of businesses.

We are so grateful to Tracie for taking time out to deliver this guru lecture. She works very closely with the College and is part of the mentoring programme and sits on the Local Advisory Board too. She was a part of the programme last year when we first launched our Business Career Academy and has continued to be a stalwart supporter this year.

Career Academy Visit to Westminster

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Career Academy Manager and Business teacher

Perseverance was the name of the game with the Business Career Academy last week. We had organised a trip to London to visit the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, but the fates seemed to be conspiring against us!

First, we had to contend with not one, but two broken down trains. The third train did get us to London, but not without some problems with the brakes! You might think it would have been better to turn round and go home, but not the Business Career Academy.

This was a trip for the Year 13 students and, now into their second year of the Career Academy, they are veterans of these sorts of trips.

The Career Academy is a national programme that raises the employability of young people. Visits such as this one, form an important part of the programme, with mentoring, guru lectures and paid internships also making up the experience for students.

This visit saw the students take in the sights of Big Ben, Westminster Cathedral and the London Eye, but primarily we were there for a tour of the Houses of Parliament.

During this tour, the students were told about how an Act of Parliament goes through the House of Lords and the House of Commons before it is passed as law. The guide also explained how the MPs address each other when they are sitting in Parliament and gave the students an insight into the aspect of theatre involved, such as when MPs shout ‘order’ when Parliament is sitting.

The tour included information about how the Queen officially opens Parliament each year and the different customs that have been set many years ago and which are still followed today. The students were also given a short history lesson about how past kings and queens have tried to change the way Parliament is run.

It was an eventful day, but enjoyable too. Getting to London proved to be quite an ordeal, but we managed it and it was worth it, because the visit gave the students a really valuable insight into the workings of government. This is important because legislation affects every aspect of business and seeing Britain’s seat of power for themselves will have helped them to understand that.

Tax doesn’t have to be taxing!

Posting by Ruth Sharp, Business Career Academy Co-ordinator

The latest intake of students into the Business Career Academy are still finding their feet, but there’s nothing like throwing them into the deep end, including a recent visit to an accountancy firm.

First they went through a nerve-wracking selection process with representatives from Lloyds TSB, then they met their ‘Partners in Business’ or mentors (from local businesses), and then it was a trip to London for Career Academies ‘Capital Experience’. The latest business experience has been a visit to Birmingham-based accountancy form Grant Thornton.

Maria O’Donnell, who is also a mentor to one of the students, hosted the students at their Edmund Street offices last week. She gave the students a talk and a tour of the business.

The presentation centred around the different aspects of accounting that Grant Thornton deal with, from large corporations to individuals such as footballers and from tax management and audits to buying and selling businesses.

The different routes for getting a job at Grant Thornton were explained, which was useful to the students – many of whom harbour ambitions to pursue careers in accountancy. The school leaver route was explained to the students, as well as the post-graduate route into employment. This included a lot of detail on the study required for accountancy, but also the rewards of working at Grant Thornton.

Maria also spoke to the students about possible career progression within Grant Thornton and this was quite motivational for our Business Career Academy students, particularly given their career plans.

Grant Thornton have been a great supporter of the College Career Academy programme since it was launched in 2010 and this visit was just one more example of that support.

As well as more visits like this, this new group of students can look forward to guru lectures from key business representatives, mentoring meetings and eventually 6-week paid internships. The first cohort of Business Career Academy students did all this last year and have been a help and inspiration to this new group of students.