Able Bursary University of Essex Trip

Mr Keenan
June 28, 2016

The awards evening was an opportunity to celebrate outstanding achievement publicly and with pride. Head teachers, teachers, governors, local dignitaries and representatives of Essex County council celebrated the hard earned success of our children.

The day started with the students meeting in a real working lecture theatre, and having an University information session, where they could ask questions and go through the finer details of student life and expectations. Students asked perceptive and interesting questions, and listened carefully to the presentation.

They were then straight into a great learning activity, run by a PHD student of Film and Literature. Students were given the task of creating their own ideas for films based on the seven ‘types’ of stories which all film plots are based around, with the best idea receiving an award. The Lecturer was so impressed that she couldn’t separate the ideas, so all the students received a prize for their efforts!

After that session, the students were given a full tour of the campus by passionate University student ambassadors. The tour took in the beautiful campus grounds, library and lecture theatres, student accommodation and amenities and even a tour of the gym! Our students were very impressed and asked lots of practical questions about University life during this session. The Ambassadors emphasised the importance of studying but also, the rewards of volunteering to support the student community. As a result, our pupils were given brilliant examples of how bright and talented people are not just motivated by results alone but focus on the development of the ‘person’ as well. This message is a familiar one to our pupils, given the nature of Cornelius Vermuyden’s focus on developing well rounded people as well as earning the best results.

The final session of the day was English Literature, again run by a PHD student, but this time, of Literature and Drama. It was an extremely challenging session, which was one used for First Year University students. The theme of the session was ‘Origin and Transformation’. Our pupils had to listen and take notes whilst the lecturer discussed Homer’s classic tale, ‘The Odyssey’. Placed into six different groups, our students were then asked to read, analyse and then present their findings on different translations and adaptations of ‘The Odyssey’. At first, it was clear that the students found the task tough; however, through resilience, patience and teamwork, all groups contributed incredible interpretations, evaluations and presentations of these extremely challenging texts. The Lecturer told me afterwards that she was so impressed with the responses given the students’ age. As an English teacher, I was very proud of the way the students engaged with the text and it confirmed that if we set the bar very high, our pupils will always reach it!

So overall, a great experience for the pupils, who said they now felt really motivated to get to University. My thanks to Miss Flippance and Mr Head for supporting the trip and once again, my thanks to the pupils for their hard work, dedication and behaviour on the trip.