On Friday 12th January, students from our year 10 Ambitions programme went to a taster day at the University of Nottingham. The aim of the day was to look at the differences between studying at the academy and studying at university. We want all of our students to set high aspirations, and this visit was designed to show them what could be on offer if they do well at the academy and choose to move on to higher education.
During the visit, students had a choice of academic subject sessions to attend including English, maths, history, psychology, civil engineering and medicine.
In the English session, students discussed the texts they were studying for GCSE and then were introduced to more obscure plays and texts such as ‘Breath’ by Samuel Beckett, ‘Croft’ by Stevie Smith and the Proteus episode from Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’, each of which provided much food for thought.
Students who attended the psychology session looked at aggression and psychopathy, questioning what types of people are more aggressive and discussed the reasons for this – it was a challenging and fascinating insight.
In the afternoon, students learned about how to find the right type of university course for them and about the differences between an academy day and a day at university. Our students then discovered that university life is not just about studying – it is also about learning about the world and the sort of person they wish to become.
All of our students represented the academy superbly, with staff members Mrs Hill and Miss Neale supporting the visit.
