Year 10: Bodies, Beats, Buildings and Business
Mon 11th July to Wed 13th July 2005
34 year 10 students from Northamptonshire attended the Summer School in July.
Day 1
The students all arrived at University College Northampton at around 2pm, they were either dropped off by family and friends or they came on the minibuses we provided. When they got here, many of the students were a little apprehensive - some had come on their own from their school and did not know anyone. However, we soon got them all talking and making new friends with our ice-breaker activities.
After we had introduced the Summer School the students got into their flat teams and were shown to their new homes (the Halls of Residence flats) for the next couple of days! They were taken on a campus tour and given a chance to meet their new flat mates and their Guru. All students then had to meet back at the lecture room to do a higher education quiz to find out how much they knew about it! After the quiz all students and Gurus were given an hour to get into their flat groups to design a flat team poster - including team name!
We all gathered together at around 6pm for a BBQ and time for everyone to chill out in front of a DVD.in preparation for Circus Skills! Everyone had a go at Circus Skills, whether it was juggling, walking on stilts, balancing feathers or getting the hang of the Diablo! At 10pm it was time for us all to return to our flats and to go to bed (not everyone slept very much though!).
Day 2
On Tuesday all the students had to undertake a day of project work in a subject they had chosen before they got here. The subjects were all ones that could be studied in higher education: Heritage Management, Marketing, Occupational Therapy and Music for Film.
In Heritage Management, the students looked at the job of the National Trust and spent the afternoon at an archaeological dig.
In the Marketing subject session students looked at the brand Coco-Cola and the impact that product names have.
The Occupational Therapy group looked at what an Occupational Therapist does and tested UCN facilities as if they were disabled.
Finally, the Music for Film group had a section of a vampire film which they had to put a sound track too. This included writing their own music and using their own instruments to do this.
Whilst doing their project work, students had to pay attention and take notes like they would if they were at University. After the subject sessions had finished students were given time to work on a group presentation which they had to present on the final day to the whole Summer School group.
After working so hard, the students all had 'chill-out time', during which we had games of rounders and badminton. At 5pm it was time for the students to 'Get Creative'! This meant that in their flat teams, each student had to make a party prop, for the Beach Party that night at the Students Union.
At 7pm the party started - with many of the Gurus getting into the beach party mood with the arm-bands and lilo's! We had cocktails such as Summer School slush, Stinky Pete's punch and Grimey Guru - all created by our very own Tom Cruise, Guru Adam!! We also had our own pacific ocean, a giant paddling pool which started a huge water fight between some of the Gurus and students! This did result in many people having to change half way through the night as they were so wet.
During the evening prizes were given for the limbo competition and model balloon competitions, as well as the best prop prize! The pros were all excellent and the quality of the props varied enormously - and included a BBQ, a cruise ship, a donkey and a mermaid! Guru Yaz's team won with the BBQ - though Guru Naj's team came a very close second! The party ended with the Macarena and a conga outside the Students Union!
Day 3
Students had to tidy and empty their flats - including doing any washing up! They then spent the morning finalising their presentations. After lunch, the presentations took place in the lecture rooms. All of the presentations were excellent and the students were obviously enthusiastic about the subjects they had been studying. However, there was one huge disappointment because we were unable to show the Music for Film projects, due to a problem with the IT equipment. All the Gurus and students were very disappointed but the Music students were able to give us some information about what they had done. The music Gurus also gave a short description of what the students had done and told us all about the hard work they had put into their project work.
After the presentations, one of the tutors, David Huckvale, judged the flat team posters and picked a winner! He then wore his gown and mortar board to present all students with their certificates at the Summer School Graduation Ceremony. All the students deserved the certificates as they had all worked very hard and had all gained confidence from the Summer School experience.
Finally, the students had time to sign each others t-shirts before collecting their belongings and going home.
The Summer School was brilliant - the time went so quickly because there was so much packed into such a small space of time! All of the Gurus and students were brilliant as there was a consistent positive 'can do' attitude, and we all helped each other to have a good time.
