Children's Radio

Yesterday, Candleby Lane School in Cotgrave welcomed Capital FM radio presenters, Dino and Pete to their school to check out their very own recording studio!

The radio club are part of Children's University and couldn't wait to show Dino, Pete and their producer, Brains, their radio presenting skills.

The visit began with a Q&A with Dino, Pete and Brains where the children were able to ask all their questions about what it's like to be a radio presenter!

The Secret To Making A Difference...

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Did you know that Walt Disney died before Disney World in Florida opened?

A reporter interviewed his brother, Roy, when the park opened and said to Roy

"It was unfortunate that Walt did not live to see Disney World built."

As quick as a flash, his brother replied with

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Now, the secret of making a difference is there is no secret but using your imagination is a great place to start.

Walt was able to create a mental image in his head about what Disney World would look like...

...and we're sure that when you read the story about Walt Disney, you were able to create a mental image in your head!

Every Student Can Learn...

It's the time of year where the Students in Classrooms Mentors, Associates and Ambassadors are training ready to go into local schools to support students in their studies.

Although they will be going into schools to help students learn and grow, it is a massive learning curve for them too and they are not without their worries...

    Starting something new can be very daunting. Meeting new people, in a new environment and doing something you've never done before is a big thing!

      

     Offering support throughout is something Students in Classrooms prides themselves on. There is  also support in place from the 'dedicated school coordinator' who is available to help students or Mentors and Associates whilst they are in the classroom.

Saturday Art & Design Club – Learning from the professionals!

One of the highlights for the young people who attend the National Saturday Art & Design Club  is the opportunity to participate in a masterclass with a professional artist or designer. This year, we were delighted when the Sorrell Foundation announced that Zack Mclaughlin from Paper & Wood would be leading a workshop for the next generation of creative talent at NTU.   You only have to look at his work to understand why we were so pleased; his awe inspiring birds are breathtakingly real.

Work by Zack Mclaughlin, a kingfisher and a barn owl

Zack Mclaughlin is a London based illustrator who is inspired by nature and creates these beautiful birds out of paper and wood (hence the company name!).  His impressive work has been featured across the globe in window displays for fashion brands such as Ralph Lauren, Paris and Anthropologie.

It takes Zack more than 70 hours to create some of his birds, this includes the time to painstakingly cut more than a thousand paper feathers by hand with a pair of scissors, before taking great care to paint all the realistic details on to each one. His Instagram account shows the breadth of his very detailed work.

Commission work for Ralph Lauren

Before the practical workshop began, Zack kindly gave a brief talk to the Saturday Art & Design Club about his portfolio and his experience of being an illustrator.  As a freelancer, Zack’s work has evolved from illustrating children’s books to creating the bird sculptures.  The inspiration for this change of direction came from experimenting when he created a model of an owl that appeared in one of his children’s books.  Since then he has created numerous sculptures that have caught the media’s attention.

Zack’s talk highlighted that working for yourself in the arts involves resilience and a lot of creative thinking to spot opportunities.  Currently Paper & Wood sells the birds as artworks to private and commercial buyers, runs workshops on wire model making and showcases Zack’s portfolio of illustrations.  As a freelancer, Zack not only has to create artwork but also promote himself widely to his potential customers on social media as well as doing all the admin to keep the business running.  This insightful talk highlighted to Saturday Art & Design Club that being a working artist requires a lot of hard work and determination but its worth it if you love what you do.

Saturday Art & Design Club hard at work during the masterclass

To gain a greater understanding of Zack’s work, Saturday Art & Design Club participants had the opportunity to create their own birds out of wire.  Each of our budding artists were asked to bring along a selection of images to the workshop of their favourite bird.  The participants were then asked to deconstruct the shapes of their chosen bird and use these simplified shapes to create a 3D wire sculpture.  The results were fantastic!  Everyone’s bird was a different shape or size.  We’re looking forward to showcasing them at the Saturday Art & Design Club exhibitions next month.

·         National Saturday Art & Design Club exhibition, Somerset House, London is open to the public 22 June  to 26 June.

·         Nottingham Trent University, Bonington building is open to the public 27 June to 1 July.

Some of the bird sculptures created by Saturday Art & Design Club

Saturday Art & Design Club had a great time on Saturday and we like to say a HUGE thank you to Zack for taking the time to come and visit us. 

For more information about Saturday Art & Design Club at NTU, please contact Sarah Barkley: sarah.barkley@ntu.ac.uk.

Pathways to Law launch

On the 4^th of November 2015 I attended the launch for our new group of pathways to law students. This was very exciting as it was the first time we got to see the possible new barristers and lawyers of the future. With me was a small group of past Pathways to Law students to help tell new students why it was the right ‘pathway’ to their future.

Food & Coffee

The event kicked off with food coffee an information folder and a little chatting amongst the previous pathways and new cohort of students.

Welcoming

Welcoming the new students was our pathways team to introduce themselves and the journey that the students will be going on for the next two years. Covering the different events and the reason for attending Pathways to Law.

The Pathways team however could only explain so much as academics, therefore this was shortly followed by current university students studying law who attended Pathways to Law last year. Explaining their experiences from the journey and how it both helped them and their progression into studying law.

Icebreakers & Information on University

From here on families and students involved in Pathways to Law were divided and while parents went to a higher education finance talk. Students took part in active icebreakers to create a talking point for students and help them get to know each other.

Talk & Questions

After all the excitement and information the night drew to a close with a little talk about what’s to come for the students and finally answering any questions still held. 

Do you know what you’re doing after school finishes?

Future Proofing

I attended one of our departments Future Proofing sessions to have a look into what advice we give to Pre-16 students about Post-16 options.

What is it?

– Future Proofing is basically what it says on the tin, the event is focused showing students to research areas relevant to their future to discover what qualification they may need to access them.

–This ranges from jobs, apprenticeships and higher education. Every different type of job or Higher Education has different entry requirements. This means after working out what you want to do the session would suggest how to get there.

How does it work?

The session was broken down into :

Meet greet & Eat

– The year 11 pupils and their families ate together with, and chatted to, our Student Ambassadors

What do you know?

–  The point of this part was it gave pupils an opportunity to ask any questions they had about student life in an informal setting receiving ‘real’ responses from ‘real’ students.

Chat & Research

– This I felt this was the most important part of the whole evening where Student Ambassadors moved around and chatted with the families and students about specific university questions.

– For those individuals who have not yet decided on a future career or pathway, there was a personality quiz to complete. Once complete this suggested areas compatible with the pupils answers in terms of careers to research.

Catch up & Questions

  – Finally pupils and families were asked to consider and state their next steps. For some the session had raised more questions than answers and they stated further research was needed. Others however had very specific ideas about the grades and pathways they needed to pursue. Finally at the end any questions that weren't answered at the start or throughout were quickly answered for peace of mind.

Conclusion

Future Proofing was a relaxed way of allowing for two specific things to happen. First it lets students understand what they may want to do in the future and the pathways to access those things. Secondly, undertaking this research allows them to make informed decisions about what they both can, and want, to do. Therefore it can be said the session ‘Future Proofed’ their Post – 16 choices.

Students in Classrooms

NTU Students in Classrooms – gain practical experience with our rewarding opportunities to work in local schools and colleges

Want to get involved in a rewarding scheme but  can't drop that part time job?

If this applies to you why not think about applying for one of our Students in Classrooms schemes!

NTU Students in Classrooms offer a range of opportunities to work with young people in local schools, colleges and here at the University.

There are three schemes:

Students in Classrooms Associates

Associates work alongside classroom teachers in:

•    Primary schools
•  Secondary schools
•   Colleges

The aim of the Associates scheme is to provide positive role models and help to raise aspirations and attainment. Associates work with groups of learners, or on a one to one basis supporting pupils with things such as literacy activities or reading.

Associates may also get the opportunity to assist with some non-teaching aspects such as planning and preparation of lessons.

Students in Classrooms Mentors

Mentors work on a one-to-one basis with students between the ages of 13 - 17 providing advice and guidance on:

• Routes into higher education
• Revision & exam technique
• Planning & self-management skills
• Motivation, self-confidence and much more.

The scheme has an overall aim to help to increase attainment levels and raise aspirations towards higher education. This is a good way to engage personally with students and know you're providing a service that may change lives.

Student Ambassadors

Nottingham Trent University delivers a wide range of activities and events working in schools and colleges, as well as engaging parents, carers and members of the general public.

Ambassadors get involved with:

• Raising awareness of post 16 opportunities and NTU
• Supporting our outreach team with classroom activities out in schools and colleges
• Helping at events such as University Open days & subject taster days

Overall, being a Student Ambassador involves spreading information and acting as a positive role model for the University. Students in Classrooms are looking for enthusiastic students who are proactive and will be fully committed to the scheme they apply for.

To find out more about each scheme, the commitment involved and the rates of pay, please visit: www.ntu.ac.uk/studentsinclassrooms

Please note that interested students must attend an awareness raising meeting to be eligible to apply. The meetings will be taking place across all three NTU campuses at the start of the next term, dates are available on the Students in Classrooms website.

If you have any questions, please contact studentsinclassrooms@ntu.ac.uk.

My work experience at Nottingham Trent University

My name is Zahra Mahmood and I am 15 years old. I am a British Pakistani and attend Bluecoat Academy. I am in year 10 going into year 11.  The GCSE’s I am studying are English Language, English Literature, Double Science (Core and Additional), Maths, Religious Studies, Geography, German and Information Technology. I am a very active person, I am always playing sports or taking part in activities at school. I play for a cricket team called Notts and Arnold Cricket Club and once played for the Under 13’s Nottinghamshire County Girls Cricket Team! 

NTU Arkwright Building

I was quite nervous on the first day of work experience at Nottingham Trent University.This was a new experience for me, I had never had a job before this. I was to work in the Schools, Colleges and Community Outreach department. My supervisors were Laura Hope and Siba Munsanje,  they gave me a timetable for the 3 days and vaguely described what I was going to do. Most of my time was spent with Siba, she showed me around the university and helped me complete my tasks. 

My first job was to attended a Pathways to Law workshop. It showcased the different types of jobs students could expect to do with a degree in law. It was quite interesting and new to me.  I learnt that particular areas in law are in decline, which was surprising as I assumed more students would be interested in those particular areas. After the workshop, I took my lunch break and met up with my friends. They were on work experience too so it was nice to compare notes. 

Just after lunch, Siba took me on a campus tour around the university, I had the opportunity to see what it offered to students. Siba then explained what her job was, she mentioned the department was looking for someone to replace her for next year because she was going back to studying at university for her final year. She showed me how to manage the different social media platforms used by the department. LinkedIn and Pinterest, in particular, were new to me. Perhaps I'll use them more often when I attend university in the future.

Year 9 campus visit

I wasn't nervous on the second day of work experience because I knew who I was working with and what I was doing. Siba taught me about SWOT analysis, which is analysing a business by knowing its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is used a lot when studying business at university, which is interesting to me because I may decide to take business when I get to university. We used SWOT to analyse the department's Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages in order to see how we could improve them. 

Later in the day, I helped out with a year 9 campus visit. I was in charge of the department's Instagram and Twitter pages.  My responsibilities included tweeting the school that was visiting and taking photos of the activities they were doing. I escorted them on the campus tour, afterwards each group did a presentation about their SAM’s (Student Ambassador Mentors). The year 9’s were interesting to help because I was older than them and they listened to me. At the end of the visit, I  went back to the office and edited a blog about budgeting. I did not know much about budgeting so I did some research on it. As editor, I made it easier to read by structuring it better, added a few pictures and made it more engaging.

On day three of my work experience, I learnt about an online learning space called NOW for current NTU students. Almost everything at university is online and if you miss a lecture from your module, you can access it from that website. Lecturers tend to put resources on there. This is completely different to how work is at school, everything is on paper and the only time you work on a computer is during IT or Computing lessons. 

I helped out on a year 12 campus visit. My responsibilities were to take pictures of the students and post them on Twitter and Instagram, to respond to online comments from the students and monitor the entries to our online competition. The year 12’s did different workshops compared to the year 9’s, they learnt how to write CV’s and did mock interviews. I noticed the year 12’s were more serious about Higher Education compared to the year 9’s, they worked independently during the activities. 

I then went back to the office to start working on this post!  I felt like this work experience was a good experience for me and was something that I might think about doing in the future as my job. It taught me useful things that could be of use while I'm still at school. I'm more confident with meeting new people and I got a chance to put my knowledge of social media into practise. Naturally, my generation grew up with social media around us so it was great to use this for my job.  I plan to complete my A-levels and get a job in my free time to gain experience of being in work environment. My goal is to go to university and see where it takes me from there! 

Please note: The work experience was from 24/06/2014 to 26/06/2014.

Author: Zahra Mahmood 
Editor: Siba Munsanje

What Can I do with Art and Design?

"The open door policy of the teaching staff is great. If I’ve ever had a question about a lecture, or can’t find some of the recommended reading, tutors have always been very quick to respond to my emails.

Similarly, for feedback on assignments it was really easy to make an appointment and have a chat which I’ve found really useful.”

Rhianon Brooks, BA (Hons) Criminology 

VLOG: Why Did You Decide to Come to University Later in Life?

When it comes to higher education, age is really just a number. Its a fact that more than 1 out of every 10 students at Nottingham Trent University is a mature student. Our latest Vlog explores some of the reasons why our mature students decided to come to university later in life. Whatever the reason, going to university as a mature student can be a highly rewarding experience!