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On Thursday 4 June we took an excited group of 27 students from Year 9 to South Bank University for a Higher Education Visit Day. We arrived at the University greeted by four enthusiastic student ambassadors who guided us to our lecture room for the day.

It all kicked off with some ice breaker games to get the girls warmed up. This involved students moving around the room to agree or disagree to various statements about university. Some examples included  ‘I think University is more about studying than social life’, ‘I believe I’m too young to be thinking about my future now’ and ‘London is the best city in the world to live in and I want to remain here after school’. Collectively we discussed both sides of the argument with the opinions from both the pupils and the four student ambassadors.

Insight into university life

For the first hour there was a presentation called ‘A Guide to Student life and Student Finance’ which gave them a true insight into what University would be like. Valuable advice was given on how to apply for university, how to manage your money and what the academic and social life opportunities are like. The ambassadors then gave their own ‘Journeys to University’ describing their educational pathways from GCSEs to now. It was reassuring to know that some of the students were still unsure of their future but all reiterated how important it is to study a subject you are interested in and passionate about.

After a short break our students were split into siv groups and were given a ‘Visualisation’ task, where they cut out pictures and text from newspapers and magazines to create a student’s educational journey. Each group did a presentation to the class about their student and chosen career path. The winning group won a bar of chocolate each for their fantastic presentation about the pathway for a student to study Games Design at South Bank University.

After a free delicious lunch in the university canteen amongst all the university students, we then headed on a tour around the Southwark South Bank campus. Our ambassadors gave us a fantastic insight into the student facilities such as the library, lecture and seminar rooms, the Student Union and bar, the student services helpdesk, student accommodation halls and the Health and Social Care area with trainee dummies and mannequins for students studying nursing. To test how much they were listening, we completed a University hunt which quizzed their knowledge of the facilities around South Bank.

What students said

The experience was such a fantastic day and it gave the students an idea about whether University is for them or not. Student feedback from the day was encouraging:

“I always presumed I would do an apprenticeship after school but after this day it’s opened up my options about going to University.” - Amber Samuels

“I thought today was really fun and interesting.” - Shani Scafe

“I’m excited about the idea of going to University now and I know what I want to study because it’s what I’m interested in” - Kendra Silva Espin

“I enjoyed seeing South Bank University especially since it used to be a Polytechnic University. I’m eager to achieve well in my GCSE’s so that I can go onto to study Journalism or Politics.” - Khadijah Majid

Victoria Hearle, House Co-ordinator