PARLIAMENTARY FIELDTRIP

Posting by Bev Bishop, Marketing Co-ordinator

Everyone loves a good fieldtrip! The summer term kicked off with just such a fieldtrip for A level Politics students this week, as a coach of 38 students and 3 staff (myself included) journeyed to London to visit the Palace of Westminster and the Imperial War Museum.

A surprising good journey saw us arrive in London early. We braved the rain and walked down to Downing Street to catch a glimpse of the street that is home to the Prime Minister. A glimpse is all we did get, because security is tight at this famous address these days, with high gates and police officers guarding the entrance.

The main focus of the trip was another place where you will commonly see the Prime Minster; the Houses of Parliament. Again, security was tight. After going through airport-style security checks we each had our photo taken for a pass we had to wear round our necks for the duration of our visit.

We congregated in Westminster Hall, which is a big stone room, which dates back to 1099!! Monarchs traditionally lie in state in this massive hall when they die, prior to burial. This is an honour occasionally extended to Prime Ministers, as was the case with Winston Churchill. The Hall has also been used for centuries for coronation banquets and trials, including that of Guy Fawkes and King Charles I.

We were met by our guide Cliff in Westminster Hall and our official tour began. We went into the House of Lords and the House of Commons, recognisable from their frequent appearances of television. Our guide explained the rituals and traditions of both houses, including the role the monarchy plays in opening parliament; something that will happen shortly. The history and the architecture was also explained to us and we admired the many paintings, tapestries and statues that adorn this famous building.

The visit was fascinating and seeing it first hand helped bring Parliament to life for the students, for whom this forms part of their A level Politics and Government course.

After lunch, we walked across the river and south to the Imperial War Museum. This is one of London’s many fabulous museums, which offers fantastic exhibits entirely free of charge. We had two hours to take in as much of the museum as we could. Truthfully, two hours is not enough, but we saw what we could.

From a lobby full of tanks, guns and aeroplanes from past conflicts, the museum then expands to exhibits on the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Faulklands War, the Gulf War and the Troubles in Northern Ireland, plus much more. The World War One exhibit even includes a mock-up of a trench that you can walk through, complete with unpleasant but realistic smells piped in.

The highlight of the museum – if you can call it that – is definitely the Holocaust exhibit. This is an immensely hard-hitting and moving exhibit, telling the tale of the persecution of Jews and many other groups by Nazi Germany during World War Two. It includes a model of Auschwitz and many artefacts rescued from this concentration camp, including hundreds of shoes from people who were killed in the gas chambers. There are video screens dotted throughout the exhibit, showing actual footage from the time and survivors talking of their experiences. Many of the videos are very difficult to watch, but act as a fitting tribute to a terrible chapter in history that it is important we do not forget.

This particular exhibit was so fascinating to one student that he missed the scheduled time to meet and a search party had to be sent in to retrieve him! He returned to cheers from the students at the end of an absorbing day.

JOHN LEWIS VISIT FOR CAREER ACADEMY

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Business teacher and Career Academy Manager
Our Year 13 Business Career Academy students visited the John Lewis National Returns Centre this week. The students undertook the visit to see how one of the leading UK's retailers operates the returns aspect of its business.

The students were given a short history of John Lewis, including learning about the firm’s unique style of partnership of all employees, which came about from the son of the original John Lewis called John Sedan Lewis. He became known (and preferred to be called) Sedan Lewis to disassociate himself from his father. The students were fascinated to hear of his management style, for he was reputed to have a temper and was very easily angered!

The students also learnt about the development of a huge new store opening above Birmingham New Street Station and how John Lewis has repositioned themselves in the market and expanded their Waitrose supermarket stores.

The students were given a guided tour round the depot to see what happens when products are returned to the John Lewis, once they are deemed faulty or simply returned when bought online.

The students were also searched as they left the premises by a device that chooses people at random for security checks! This practice is due to the high value of goods that come through John Lewis on a day to day basis

It was a fascinating visit and the students enjoyed it. Thanks go to the staff at John Lewis for giving up their time to host us. Retail is a huge business sector, so it’s really valuable for the students to get a taste of what goes on behind the scenes.

Away from the Business Career Academy, the students’ A level counterparts took part in a sticklebrick activity this week, in which they learnt about non-financial methods of motivation. The task involved job rotation, in which students were divided into groups and given tasks to complete, then swapped over and repeated each others tasks. The students were then set a larger group task to design towers with sticklebricks. This involved teamwork, which the students all preferred, as it meant that they could develop their own ideas, which is often used in business as a way of developing teams.

STUDENTS PITCH BUSINESS PLANS TO LLOYDS TSB

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Business teacher

All last week, Year 13 students on the BTEC Extended Diploma in Business course were doing their business plan presentations.

Standing up and having to make a presentation is daunting at the best of times, but this year three representatives from Lloyds TSB were part of the panels to give students a bank managers opinion of their presentation. Richard Hall, Sharon Warren & Dawn Gilbert from Lloyds TSB are providing their expert financial help on what would happen if our students pitched their ideas to banks for finance.

Each presentation has been different; some even had sample smoothies for their Shakes 2Go business, others had sample menus for their Burger Express business. Each presentation was packed full of interesting ideas.

Other ventures pitched to the panel included plans for a bar, a restaurant, a takeaway, a mobile drink and snacks vendor and a bridal magazine. The idea for the bar was an establishment called The Hang ‘O’ Bar and this presentation included visuals of the uniforms that bar staff would wear. The restaurant business plan was entitled Around in 4 and was for a buffet-style restaurant selling Italian, Chinese, British & Indian cuisine.

Jai Chee kept up the food theme – this business plan was for a Chinese Takeaway, while the final food-related presentation concerned Hot Stop, a mobile hot drinks & snack service provider.

Dugan was the only business plan idea that was not related to catering of some sort and this was the pitch for a bridal magazine aimed at East & West brides.

This project really helped the students to be creative, which is essential for a successful business, but it also showed them all the different things they need to think about when setting up a business. Getting funding to launch a business often means going out and pitching your idea to lenders just as the students did and they learned how important it is to demonstrate that your business plan represents a good investment.

Well done to all the students who took part. There are some photos below and more on the College's Facebook page.

Ricoh Arena Conference for Career Academy

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Business teacher and Career Academy Manager

Our second year Business Career Academy students have been sharing best practice this week with other Career Academies students at the Career Academies Conference at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.

At the moment, the College currently operates a Business Career Academy, but other Career Academies in new subject areas will launch in September. The Career Academy is a national programme that develops the employability skills of young people. The College is working with Career Academies UK to secure workplace networks and experiences for students by linking up with local employers. Visits, guru lectures, business mentoring and paid internships form part of the Career Academy experience for students.

At the Conference, the students kicked off the day by taking part in a BP sponsored Trading Enterprise Game. It was a work-related game, which offered students the opportunity to put enterprise, maths and business skills into action through an exciting simulation of real-life trading. Each group of students had a representative from Yorkshire Bank on their table to help advise them through each round. The students had to buy and sell oil and make decisions on the current market conditions as they arose in each round, by receiving a news bulletin at the start of each round. One of the Sixth Form College’s students, Ryan Fryer was on the winning team called ‘Grease’.

The Conference also saw students given hints and tips on money management, which was especially useful for those students who are considering moving away to university in September.

After lunch, the students played a ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ game, again focusing on general money management. The rest of the afternoon was spent in different workshops, in which the focus was on the different routes to success and the skills deemed essential to get that success. Our students attended workshops entitled ‘University Life’, ‘A career in Accountancy’ and ‘Apprenticeship routes in Price Waterhouse Coopers’.

It was a great day and everyone had fun. This group of students have had a lot of great business experiences through their involvement in our Business Career Academy over the last year and a half, not least their 6-week summer internships. However, it was really useful for them to meet with other students from other Career Academies to see what they have been doing. It was a way of sharing best practice and the involvement of representatives from Yorkshire Bank was really beneficial too.

APPLICATION DEADLINE LOOMING!

Posting by Jennifer Lumb, Admissions Officer

With only about a month left to go we have received over 3,000 applications already for entry in September 2012 and the Admissions Team is busy processing these applications, references and organising interviews for our applicants.

I know it has been a bit frustrating for some students who are still awaiting an interview date, but due to the record number of applications received this year it has taken a bit longer to organise these than anticipated. I would like to reassure these students that they will be hearing from us soon and to keep an eye on their email and/or online account.

So far we have held seven interview events and arranged appointments for over 2,300 students – we are still arranging Interview Events for April and May and so will be in touch as soon as we can if you have not yet heard about your date.

The Interview sessions have been great and it has been wonderful to meet our prospective new students for this coming September. The events are always very busy but have a great atmosphere and all staff enjoy this part of the process as they get to interact with new students and their parents.

If you have not applied yet and are wanting to do so please make sure we receive your application by 30^th March 2012 – the best way to ensure this is to apply online at www.solihullsfc.ac.uk as it is a secure way to apply and we receive it as soon as you submit it rather than hoping the post arrives on time!

If you have already applied or want to do so and have any questions please contact the Admissions Team on 0121 709 7803 or email admissions@solihullsfc.ac.uk and we will be happy to help!

Don’t be put off by the fact that so many people have applied already – there’s still time and as long as you beat the deadline for applications and you look to have the grades needed we will invite you in for interview.

We are looking forward to meeting the rest of our applicants as soon as possible and we wish you all the best of luck in your exams!

A Supreme Capital Experience

Posting by Bev Bishop, Marketing Co-ordinator

                                                           

One of the highlights in my education was always fieldtrips and this week I got the opportunity to join second year Law students on one of their fieldtrips, when I travelled down to London to visit the highest courts in the land.

The coach left College at just after 8.00am and we enjoyed a good journey until we hit the capital. Normal weekday traffic in London is very congested and the final leg of our journey was a snail’s pace through Central London. Our destination was the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand.

Having already visited Birmingham Crown Court, these courts are more what you might expect from a British court room, in that they include more old fashioned architecture. The walls are panelled with dark varnished wood and book cases with old bound law volumes.

Three judges sit in on the cases in these courts, hearing mostly appeals. This means that barristers and lawyers are present, but no jury and often the appeal is conducted without defendants or witnesses being present. The judges and barristers are all dressed in gowns and wigs and address each other with reverence and respect. That’s not to say that there isn’t ever any drama! One group of students sat in on a case in which someone in the public gallery got up and pounded the wall with their fist in anger and frustration when the case was not going their way!

Among the cases being heard on this trip was a complicated case about deportation. This is something that has been much in the news of late, and this particular case involved the Home Office wanting to deport an individual to Somalia. The individual in question is being held in custody while this is resolved and the case has been going on for many months.

In other court rooms, there were appeals for drug and violent crime convictions. These appeals hung on key pieces of evidence and testimony, including whether the accused knew that the package (labelled semolina!) contained drugs or not and whether witness testimony could be trusted.

After lunch, we took a short coach trip to Westminster and visited the Supreme Court, situated opposite the House of Parliament and adjacent to Westminster Abbey. After the inevitable security checks, we took advantage of the exhibition downstairs, which provides information about this newest of legal bodies. The Supreme Court was only set up in 2009 so that the highest court of appeal in the UK would be separate from the UK government. Previously, this was affiliated to the House of Lords.

Amidst the sumptuous surroundings of wood panelled walls and plate glass windows featuring coats of arms, we enjoyed a brief talk on how the Supreme Court works. We were told how the Supreme Court does not hold trials, but instead is where highly qualified barristers argue points of law in appeals, which if granted will then affect and change laws.

It is the final court of appeal in the UK and only cases which are deemed to be in the public interest make it to this court. Panels of Lord Justices sit in on these cases and make the final judgements. Any lawyer can apply to be a Lord Justice (even if they have not previously been a judge) and cases are heard by panels of 5, 7 or in very rare cases 9 Lord Justices.

The work of the Supreme Court is very complex, but we were given some examples of cases heard there which made the work done more easy to understand. This included the case of someone who was trying to make money selling Storm Trooper helmets from Star Wars, who had been sued by Lucas Film who made the films. We were also told of a privacy case involving supermodel Naomi Campbell.

After our talk, we got to sit in on a case being heard, regarding a tobacco company and corporate tax. I think I can speak for most of the staff and students when I say that most of it was far too complicated for us to understand, but the experience did give us all an insight into how the Supreme Court works.

It was a great day out and I think the students will have learnt a lot, not least how the whole appeals system works, which will hopefully really benefit them when they sit their exams. I also got to relive one of my favourite memories from my time in school!

The Great Egg Challenge

Posting by Ranjit Hayer, Business Studies teacher

Here in the Business department we like to make learning as interesting as we can. Often we like to get students to work in groups- it’s fun and developing team working skills is useful too.

This week, our second year Business Studies students took on the Great Egg Challenge! They were placed into small teams and given the challenge of making a parachute for a egg to drop from a 10 foot wall without breaking.

The exercise was aimed at developing the students’ strategic thinking, which is what their final A2 paper is based around, so it had a useful purpose as well as being a laugh.

There was plenty of hilarity as the students set to work and it certainly kick started Business strategy for the students. It was also a good fresh start after their recent examinations.