Year 11 LJMU visit and team building day
Year 11 trip to Liverpool John Moores University
On the 1st October year 11 took a trip to John Moores University. Throughout the day we were to learn about university and what it involves. First we were given a talk on some of the various courses that were available. Amazingly there are over 50000 courses that you’re able to study in universities across the U.k. We were given information about John Moores University and how the blocks of the university are spread out across the town. We were told about websites that you could get information about what to do in the future and about what courses would suit you. Two students on a placement at John Moores University told us about student life and how much work it involved. It was at this point that most people realised that a student life isn’t just about drinking and partying. We were then split into groups and using a prospectus we had to find out what entry requirements and courses were needed to get certain jobs. We found out that for some courses higher grades are needed at A-level.
After this we had lunch and looked around the resources area and the student union. The resources area included a library and I.C.T area as well as rooms you could rent for practicing making speeches. It included areas for quiet study as some of the other areas were too loud. The computers are used for completing essays and assignments. John Moores had several of these resources areas across Liverpool as parts of the university were in different areas of the city.
After this we visited the student union which is the area where students can come to meet up with each other. There were bars for the evening as well as an eating area where you come to get lunch. There were spare computers where students could come to do work because near exam time the resource centre would be very full. There were also lots of activities you get involved in such as sports teams. Also there were lists of part time jobs.
We also visited the student accommodation block. Most of the first year students stayed in these blocks so they could meet new people and find who they wanted to share a flat or a house with in the second year. The larger rooms cost £89 a week which is quite expensive. Most people liked the idea of staying in student accommodation.
Everybody got something out of the day and many people gained ideas about what courses they wanted to study in the future.
Year 11 team building day
The day after the trip to John Moores University we took part in a team building day. A number of activities were put together so that we could practise being part of a team.
First we were split into our forms we had to arrange ourselves into height order and then into how old we are. Then we had to try and make letters and numbers out of people. At the start this involved quite a lot of screaming and shouting because everyone thought they were right, but eventually we started to listen to each other and were able to do the activity more quickly.
We were then split into 4 groups. Each group went to a different activity and throughout the day we swapped. To start with my group had to try and lift each other through a web of string that was attached to two trees. This took a while because everyone was trying to just climb through, but kept touching the string. Eventually after many people had been dropped on the ground we finally got everyone through. The idea of this activity was to get people to trust each other and help each other. There also needed to be a leader to help guide people through.
We did the second activity with some of the six form. We had to practise speaking publicly. We were given a topic that we had to talk about for 30 seconds. The idea was to increase our confidence while speaking in front of people. We then had to find a partner and they had to describe a shape to you and you had to draw it. This was done to develop our communication skills.
The third activity started off by having to catch and throw balls and communicate with each other. We had to shout out the name of the person we were throwing the ball to. We then had to split into two teams and stand with each foot on a different wooden ski. We had to hold onto string and walk with the skis. One person was shouting out which foot to lift first and the other people in the group followed. I seemed to be doing the exact opposite of what everyone else was doing to start with, but eventually I got the hang of it. We then had to do the same activity in larger groups which made it more difficult because we had to communicate more
The last activity meant we had to get across tyres using planks of wood. This involved a lot of teamwork as some people were blind folded. We had to think about the easiest way to lay the planks of wood. We had to communicate with each other and help each other across.
On behalf of year 11 I want to thank all the staff who helped arrange the John Moores university trip and the team building day. I am sure everyone learnt a lot and had lots of fun.
By Jade Grimwood
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