Trentham pupils train with ex-Stoke City F.C star

On Tuesday 30 of June, 12 pupils got the opportunity to receive a football coaching session from ex-Stoke City F.C captain Andy Griffin as part of a project to raise aspirations and motivate them to succeed in the classroom.

The project was run by Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) and Assistant Principal at Trentham High School Laurence Morris who put the whole of the Year 10 boys into groups with a simple challenge- improve their grades, attitude and the winning group would receive a suitable reward.

One of the many rewards on offer was a coaching session at NULC by Andy Griffin and the colleges’ Football Coordinator Dave Beswick. Both Dave and Andy coach the colleges’ first team squads during term time and were on hand to offer individual advice to any pupils seeking a career in the game.

The session was designed to give the pupils a realistic idea of how a Premier League club trains with Andy drawing on his experience of playing at the highest level with both Stoke City and Newcastle United. The pupils were given one to one coaching during the session and were made to feel like professional footballers. There were drills based on shooting, passing and how to beat your marker in any part of the game.

The pupils thoroughly enjoyed the session, enthusiastically taking on board what the coaches were telling them and were keen to learn and put into practice what they had be taught.

The project was designed to raise the aspirations of the year group and started with a Q&A session with Dave and Andy in school where pupils were given the opportunity to ask Andy about his career and discuss with him the importance of a good education and how vital it is to have a strong mentality in whatever career you set your sights on.

The success of the project was down to the pupils achieving better grades in the classroom and taking responsibility for their own careers by understanding whatever you do in life, it is ultimately down to you.

If you or your school are interested in receiving a training session with both Andy Griffin and Dave Beswick as part of a project at your school, please get in touch with either Gareth or Tara in the Schools Liaison Team on 01782 254347 or e-mail schools@nulc.ac.uk

Expert craftsmanship in stunning new construction project

Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) hosted its annual construction project on Tuesday 30 June and Wednesday 1 of July with 20 pupils attending from a variety of different schools across Staffordshire.

There were four schools that participated in the project, sending five of their most skilled and practical students to compete to become Construction Champions 2015. Pupils from St Peters Academy, Biddulph High School, The Co-operative Academy of Stoke on-Trent and Thistley Hough Academy all attended the event.

The project was to design and produce a bespoke piece of garden furniture to be displayed in their own school grounds. Prior to the ‘build days’ the pupils were invited in to college to do all the necessary calculations and design work. An important skill of any job in the trades is to have a level ability in both Maths and English, when pricing jobs up or ordering materials, these are vital skills.

Once the pupils had designed their piece of furniture, worked out lengths of materials required and calculated real costings for the ‘job’ our lecturers discussed what this would be like in the workplace and how they would use these skills to a real brief.

The pupils worked in the college’s state of the art professional workshops and were required to wear industry standard steel toe capped boots and overalls to comply with health and safety regulations, so important in today’s industry.

They learned bricklaying techniques with the block paving element to the garden piece by the bricklaying lecturers and NULC students helping out. They were able to work with our carpentry and joinery lecturers to mould the wood into the shape they wanted.

The design of the garden piece was decorated using paint techniques which our painting and decorating lecturers assisted the pupils with. Some schools decided to add some plaster castings to their work and this was also done in our workshops.

A difficult section of the build was the lighting, the pupils had to wire two lights to each piece and were shown by our electrical installation lecturers how this is done. The students did all the important cutting of the wire before our lecturers connected the circuits.

Each piece was of outstanding quality and the schools were immensely proud of their achievements but an overall winner had to be decided, after serious discussions amongst the lecturers it was decided that The Co-operative Academy of Stoke on-Trent were to be crowned Construction Champions 2015!

Project organiser and Joinery lecturer Chris Johnstone was thrilled with the quality of this year’s pupils commenting ‘The enthusiasm of this year’s pupils was fantastic, their quality of work was college standard even though these pupils are only in Year 10, they should be very proud of themselves’.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Construction project, contact Gareth or Tara on 01782 254347 or e-mail schools@nulc.ac.uk

Thomas Boughey Year 10 Day at NULC

On Tuesday 16^th June the whole of Year 10 from Sir Thomas Boughey High School joined NULC to experience college life. The pupils were given a choice of a number of subjects to experience including; Construction, Hair & Beauty, Social Media Apprenticeship, Music, Performing Arts, Fitness Instructing, LEGO Robotics and various A Levels.

Pupils were encouraged to explore their imagination in the art room, by painting whilst music echoed loudly in the workshop. The paintings were then passed on for their neighbours to add their creativity, to eventually create beautiful, inspiring pieces of group art work.

The Psychologists amongst the group were treated to a session using the brand new LEGO Education Emoti kits to create how they think prisons should be designed.  The pupils designed the prisons very differently with some choosing punishment and others choosing rehabilitation as the main aim of the prison… the jury’s still out!

Utilising our Brand New LEGO Education Innovation Studio, the pupils built and programmed robots in pairs, to compete to manoeuvre their robot around a circuit without crashing. Jack, Year 10, commented; “This lesson has really improved my knowledge of programming and computer skills.”

Thomas Boughey High School has a number of talented stylists & beauticians who enjoyed experiencing the commercial salons to create different hair styles and experiment with different nail designs.

Sporting pupils chose to experience our new Fitness Instructing course by learning how to use the fitness testing equipment and taking part in a Personal Training session, ran by current NULC students.

In Biology they got a surprise when they were handed a box of wood lice. Future Biologist Ben, Year 10, said; “I found the exercises very interesting, interactive and enjoyable.” The pupils enjoyed studying how the wood lice react differently to various living conditions that they created.

All were impressed by the excellent facilities in our brand new Performing Arts Centre. Pupils made the most of the state-of-the-art professional recording studio where they performed and recorded a song that they were able to take with them- just like professional artists. Megan, Year 10, really enjoyed being in the studio; “The NULC students that helped were great, the session was very productive and I enjoyed using the awesome equipment in the Performing Arts Centre. I have had an amazing experience.”

In Law the pupils took on different acting roles in the court room and learnt all about court proceedings and most importantly how to argue their case!

The Health & Social care pupils discussed real-life experiences that can affect people of all ages in many different ways. Subjects covered included, Katie Piper’s story and how one incident can change people for the rest of their lives- sometimes for the better!

Overall the Sir Thomas Boughey High School pupils had a great experience of College life with most pupils getting their first experiences of certain subjects. We look forward to meeting the new Year 10 pupils next year for a fun-filled day at Newcastle-under-Lyme College.

Students record their tracks in state of the art music studio

On Thursday 15 July, 12 Year 10 Music pupils from Thistley Hough Academy were able to record their coursework piece in Newcastle-under-Lyme College’s (NULC) brand new £5.5 million Performing Arts Centre.

The pupils have to submit practical evidence of their singing or playing to the exam board and through a new link set up by Thistley Hough Academy and NULC Schools Liaison Team, they had the opportunity to do this in the college’s new recording studios.

Prior to the visit the students rehearsed their song so when they arrived they could go straight into the recording studio and get a perfect quality recording of their song. Some students opted to bring in their guitars but the college’s well stocked music store was available for students to use.

Assisting with the recording was Music Performance lecturers Paul Hill and Jon Emson who were on hand to show the pupils how the studio worked and what editing software is available in the new centre. Both Jon and Paul manned the sound decks as the Thistley Hough pupils performed in the individual sound booths.

The set list was an eclectic mix of very old classics like Every day by Slade to recent hits like  Long Distance by Bruno Mars and Too little, Too late by Jo Jo.

The students thoroughly enjoyed their day at NULC and appreciated the opportunity to record their coursework in the new recording studios.

Daisy Jay Lovell commented ‘I really enjoyed this experience as it showed us new technology and showed what the college had to offer’.

For Lucy Hemmings the visit was just what she is hoping to do to in the future, she beamed ‘Today felt like a dream to me because this is all I wanted to do’.

If you would like to enquire about experiencing a taster session in the new Performing Arts Centre, please contact the NULC School Liaison Team schools@nulc.ac.uk or call 01782 254347 and speak to Gareth or Tara.

NULC supports KMF Young Engineer of the Year final!

This year Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) proudly sponsored Madeley High School’s ‘Team Geekki’ at the annual KMF Young Engineer of the Year (YEOTY) which was held at Britannia Stadium on June 18.

There were over 24 schools which took part and each school involved received a 3D printer to assist with making their gadget which the pupils had to design, pitch and print to the judging panel.

Team Geekki used their 3D printer to create a gadget that would locate missing keys and presented this to the judges on 12 March in a Dragon’s Den style pitch. The judges commented that they delivered a “great pitch” and had “excellent presenters” who were “very confident” and the team were awarded 100% in three of the judging categories.

This is the second year that NULC have supported the KMF event and in addition to sponsoring Madeley High School, NULC hosted a “Magic of Marketing” Event which included marketing and pitching skills for all of the pupils in January in preparation for the pitching event.

Event Organiser and Schools Relationship Manager Lucy Hancock at NULC, said: “As a sponsor we are very proud to be associated with and support the KMF YEOTY as we believe it is a very unique and pioneering competition which greatly benefits local school pupils.”

This year, Intro Personnel Director Stuart Nicholson was instrumental in providing business mentoring to the pupils at Madeley High School working alongside NULC to support the school teams.

Stuart commented: “The skills that the pupils have learned as part of the process puts them in excellent stead when they come to find employment.” To find out more about Intro Personnel please click here: www.intropersonnel.co.uk

Jason Bradbury from The Gadget Show attended the final round and provided an inspirational talk to all finalists and also presented the awards, a short video of the day can be watched here: http://bit.ly/1GpOhgZ

Madeley High School test their fitness levels in new taster session!

On Tuesday 19 May, 14 excited Year 10 pupils from Madeley High School took part in a Fitness Instructing taster session at Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC).

The visit was designed to give pupils a realistic idea of what the fitness industry is all about and what potential careers are available. Information was given to the group about NULC’s new fitness courses and the relevant entry requirements to gain a place.

The taster day was ran by NULC lecturer in Health, Exercise and Fitness Reza Gholamali who organised different activities for the pupils. The first activity was a fitness testing session where students were able to use specialist equipment to record their individual fitness levels.

Madeley High School P.E teacher Mr Edwards was very pleased by the fitness testing session, commented: "The Hi-tech equipment used was very useful to the pupils who haven’t seen or used them before."

The second part of the day included a talk from NULC Gordon Banks Sports Centre Duty Manager James Mountjoy, who was previously a professional fitness instructor on cruise ships. James talked to the pupils about what type of fitness programmes he provided for his clients on-board and what the typical daily schedule would include.

James then talked to the pupils about the realities of being a fitness instructor and what it is like working with different clients and their specific lifestyle needs for example: he would often start his day at 6:00am as many clients wanted to fit their exercise in very early in the morning.

James Adamson said: “I liked hearing about the daily schedule of a fitness instructor and what type of career opportunities would be available.”

Academy of Sport Manager Trevor Humphreys was on hand to talk to the pupils about the sporting opportunities at NULC, and which sporting teams we have such as netball, football, golf, basketball and more.

The final activity of the day was a practical fitness class which was organised by NULC BTEC Level 3 Sport & Exercise Science student Molly Line. Molly ran a circuit training session as part of her course that the students really enjoyed. This was a great opportunity for both Molly and the pupils to work together in the class as it gave Molly a chance to orchestrate her own fitness class and gain practical experience.
Tyler Beaver was very impressed with the practical session ran by Molly, he commented: "The variety of different exercises working on all the muscles made it challenging and fun."

There will be more Fitness Instruction tasters at NULC, if you are interested in finding out more, please contact either Gareth or Tara on 01782 254347 or e-mail schools@nulc.ac.uk

Maths May-hem!

On Friday 1 May excited pupils from Excel Academy, Biddulph High School, Clayton Hall Business & Language College, Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy and Madeley High School joined NULC for Maths May-hem challenges!

Maths May-hem was planned by a group of trainee teachers from Staffordshire University, who are currently studying for their Post Graduate Certificate in Education (Mathematics). The PGCE students designed a range of fun but challenging activities to enhance the pupil’s knowledge and interest in maths. Pupils were split into groups and the activities were put in different rooms. Each group then worked in competition to gain a maximum of 50 points per room.

The various activities included a ‘Problem Solving Room’, where pupils had to test their spatial awareness skills using coloured cubes to construct objects in a certain order. The ‘Statistics and Probability Room’ took pupils to a day at the races. Whilst there were no over-sized hats required, pupils were asked to use their maths knowledge to work out the different horse’s probabilities of winning.

The Year 9 and 10 pupils were surprised by how much fun the ‘Algebra Room’ was in which they took part in a fast-paced relay race that challenged their ideas and also taught them when certain equations may not be needed. The ‘Standard Challenge & Super Challenge Room’ was described by one pupil as: “fun and energetic!”. They were given the choice to stick at a standard challenge or gamble for a super challenge to gain more points.

All of the challenges were varied to strengthen pupils overall knowledge on maths. Abigail Hancock, a Year 10 pupil from Excel Academy, said: “There was a variety of fun puzzles and problems to solve in each session. It has been very interesting and I really enjoyed the competition.”

Everyone then gathered into the auditorium to a final maths based treasure hunt. The groups worked in competition and were given instructions to start on a certain problem. Once the team had solved the problem, the answer would then be a clue to find the next problem! Rebecca Massey, a pupil from Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy, enjoyed the afternoon: “It has been both challenging and fun, overall I’ve had a fantastic day.”

The winning teams, who came in joint first place, were Madeley High School and Clayton Hall Business and Language College. The schools look forward to retaining their title at next year’s event!

Ineke Drijfhout, a Year 10 pupil from Madeley High School, summed up her day; “The day was fun and enjoyable and the staff were all really nice, helpful and encouraging.”

If you would like to book a taster session, or be involved in our next school challenge, please contact Gareth & Tara on 01782 254 347 or email schools@nulc.ac.uk