Carpentry and Joinery Taster at NULC

If you would like to book a taster session or arrange a bespoke tour of the College for your school please contact Gareth Hughes or Tara Wallbanks on schools@nulc.ac.uk or 01782 254347.

Bricklaying taster at NULC

If you would like to book a taster session or arrange a bespoke tour of the College for your school please contact Gareth Hughes or Tara Wallbanks on schools@nulc.ac.uk or 01782 254347.

Maths JAM 2013: The hidden code

On Thursday 4 July 2013, Maths JAM will return to Newcastle-under-Lyme College.

The successful maths based tournament for local high schools is designed to challenge the brightest maths pupils in the area. Each school selects its top two students from Year 7 up to Year 10 with the aim of becoming the Maths JAM champions. Pupils have to compete against each other from other schools of a similar ability.

Maths lecturer and Maths JAM creator Andy Snape designs the quiz questions and believes that activities like this are important for young maths fans. Andy commented: "I love maths and always have done but we never did anything like this when I was at school, this is great event that schools support which is fantastic."

The event includes year group rounds, individual rounds and a final school team round which will decide which school are Maths JAM champions.

New for this year, is the innovative Code Breaker Challenge where cryptic clues are hidden in amongst Newcastle-under-Lyme College’s official website [Click here for Code Breaker Challenge]
 

Pupils will receive weekly clues from Andy via their maths teacher with the answer being unveiled on the July event.

To take part in Maths JAM 2013 simply ask your Maths teacher to contact Newcastle-under-Lyme College School Liaison Team Gareth Hughes or Tara Wallbanks at schools@nulc.ac.uk

Childcare and Nail Art all in one day

On Tuesday 14 May, 15 Year 11 pupils making their final decisions on college courses before they sit their GCSE exams participated in a taster at Newcastle-under-Lyme College.

The pupils were from Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy in Blurton.  Hair, Beauty and Childcare were the order of the day with Nail Art demonstrations being very popular amongst the students especially Laurianne Allen who got to have her nails done (pictured) Laurianne commented: “I enjoyed the experience of learning more about the subjects.” 

As part of the taster day, pupils were given an in depth talk on the Colleges Childcare courses and had the opportunity to speak to current students about their own experiences on the course and where they see their career careers progressing.  The pupils also got to see current students work including a discussion about the importance of play amongst young toddlers and how this simple action can play a huge part in their development.

The Childcare taster enabled the pupils to experience what life would be like for a child minder, early years teaching assistant and what courses they would need to take in order to gain employment in that industry.

If you would like to book a taster session or arrange a bespoke tour of the College for your school please contact Gareth Hughes or Tara Wallbanks on schools@nulc.ac.uk or 01782 254347.

Creative gardening for budding young florists

On Wednesday 8 May, 44 enthusiastic young Year 7 pupils from Cooperative Academy of Stoke-on-Trent took part in a series of tasters including Landscape Gardening, Sport Psychology and Floristry.

Pupils who were involved in the Floristry taster were given the task of creating a beautiful Topiary tree arrangement which they were able to take home for a lucky family member. The session was run in the College’s own Transform Flowers shop.

Caitlin Booth from the COOP Academy commented: "It was very good when we got to do Floristry. I would come and do it again."

The students also got the chance to work alongside current NULC students Teresa Sinaguglia and Katie Barker.

 Another taster running for the very first time was the College’s Landscape Gardening department who got the pupil’s to block pave a footpath and potting their own little seedlings to take away and hopefully grow into a lovely plant.

 










Engineering and Product Design teacher Martin Ebbsworth from the Cooperative Academy commented: "All students got involved, the staff were very enthusiastic and the students all came away with something."

The final taster was run by NULC Sport lecturers who presented a detailed taster on Sport Psychology and understanding why certain sports require different personalities, this was the first time that these students had experienced such a session and they really enjoyed it.  Nathan Davies commented: "I enjoyed this visit because I learned more about sport."

From the Lab to the workshop

On Thursday 21 March 2013, 150 Year 10 students from Sir Thomas Boughey High School participated in a taster day at Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC).

 
The aim of the visit was to give the students an idea of what college is all about and were given the choice of up to 10 different subject tasters to choose from.

Taster sessions in Sport, Psychology & Sociology, Science & Forensics, Child Development, Animation, Graphic Design, Photography, Carpentry, Painting & Decorating and Bricklaying.

The tasters ran by NULC lecturers give an insight into that particular subject and encouraged the students to look at possible careers in that area.

The skilled trades were well represented with pupils learning how to dip different coloured paint to create their own piece of work in the Painting & Decorating session.

Child Development students experienced ‘Nappy changing with a difference’ which changed some student’s opinions about how to change a nappy. Chocolate and Marmite were used as an appropriate substitute to the real thing!
 
Lara Dale who was lucky enough to participate in the Child Development workshop commented ‘I enjoyed learning how to change your baby and actually doing instead of just learning it’.

Students who chose the Science & Forensics were shown how to create their own ‘Disease’ with the use of bacteria, all safely monitored by NULC lecturer Lucy Chadwick and half a dozen petri dishes!

Megan Johnson who participated in the Science workshop commented ‘I enjoyed learning about different diseases on the Ipad and using finger dust in the forensics activity’.

NULC School Liaison has a new recruit

Newcastle-under-Lyme College has welcomed a new member of staff to its Schools Liaison team.

Tara Wallbanks, who has worked for the college for the last eight years since leaving school, has stepped into the role as Schools Liaison Officer to work alongside Team Coordinator Gareth Hughes.

Tara has a wealth of experience working with young people in both the admissions and exams teams across the college.

Tara said: “I’m looking forward to meeting young people across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire and helping them with their careers choices.  It can be daunting trying to decide what to do after school but I’m here to provide and support and guidance.”

The former St Peters Academy student was surprised to find out that on her first day she was asked to attend a Parents Evening, ironically at her old school!

School Liaison is quite different to what she has done previously and is she is very excited to be working directly with prospective students within Stoke on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme schools.

Tara is a lively, friendly and approachable person who understands the importance of liaison work and her enthusiasm for helping young learners with their career choices is something that she has been interested in for a long time.

For an informal chat about how the Newcastle-under-Lyme College Schools Liaison Team can help your school with taster sessions and visits contact Tara on 01782 254381 or email schools@nulc.ac.uk.