Assessment Centre

As the number of students interested in applying for Level 4 and Level 6 Apprenticeships grows, we decided to host an assessment centre day, which would replicate the apprenticeship application process many of our students will have to go through next year.

This started earlier in July with students filling out an online application form, which led to an official invitation. Students were also given some pre-reading materials, which would prepare them for the group task they would have to complete on the day.

On Friday, 12 July, students lined up outside our luminous Sixth Form Centre to sit verbal and quantitative reasoning tests under time constraints, allowing them to demonstrate their ability to work well under pressure. They were then split into groups, where they spent time discussing three different businesses, deliberating and finally presenting their recommendations to the rest of the class. This not only allowed them to develop their oracy skills, it also provided them with an opportunity to showcase their team-working and problem solving skills, whilst exposing them to the high-pressure environment of assessment centres.

At the end of the day, recommendations were given by tutors regarding who could progress to the next step and eight students were shortlisted for interviews, which took place the following week. The eight students involved got to experience yet another real-life scenario, as they were interviewed in a conference room by a panel of teachers. All eight students’ performances were impressive and it was extremely hard to select only two winners, but that is the nature of apprenticeships. We hope it offered valuable insight into how competitive it truly is and how resilient candidates must be.

Well done to Alisha, Abdur-Raheem, Dino, Diya, Aakarshit, Arsalan, Naima and Rayhan for coping incredibly well with the pressure of the process!

Sports Day

The afternoon of 12 July continued with our very own Sports Day. As our students were very keen on including football and the usual array of athletics activities, they organised a football tournament on the Thursday to allow for a big final to take place on the Friday. The football final was preceded by 100m and 800m runs as well as a mixed team 400m Relay and Tug of War heats. The atmosphere was competitive but supportive, with classmates and tutors cheering from the side lines. Even the teachers got involved by kicking off the event with a teacher/student sack race! Everyone ended the day in high spirits and feeling rejuvenated by the sense of community and solidarity displayed by students throughout the day.

Thank you to the tutors for encouraging participation, students for showing true sportsmanship and Sandeep Webra for organising and coordinating the football tournament.