Award winning college come to Waterside for a university experience day

A local college closed a year that saw them win an award for preparing their students for employability success with a visit to their nearest university to experience campus life.

Kingsthorpe College students – who are part of the University of Northampton’s National Collaborative Outreach Programme (NCOP) – visited the Waterside this week to look around and take part in workshops about higher education and possible future careers.

NCOP is an England-wide programme aimed at students who come from backgrounds that might not, traditionally, consider going into higher education or academia to consider taking those career pathways.

The day kicked-off with a tour of the University, led by Student Ambassadors. Later, the students took part in a series workshops that were designed to develop their thinking, reasoning and problem-solving skills:

• A ‘speed-dating’ networking session with local employers – the session was designed to test the students’ skills at delving into future career options, asking questions to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and the Army about their working day and the challenges they face
• ‘Selling snow to the Eskimo’ – Dr Deborah Patton, Schools Coordinator for NCOP at the University led this session in which the students were given an item to market and sell with an unlimited budget and unlimited style, designed to test their creativity
• Career Card Challenge – this session, using the Top Trumps card game, helped the students get talking about careers, how to get to those careers and the choices ahead of them.

Earlier this month, Kingsthorpe scooped the trophy for ‘Career Aspiration’ at the Northamptonshire Education Awards for their work supporting their students toward the career of their choice.

Samiul Ahmod a pupil from Kingsthorpe College, said of their day at the University: “I really enjoyed the day and it really made me think about the different opportunities available to me as I enter my final GCSE year.”

Scott Wade Deputy Headteacher from Kingsthorpe College, added: “This was a fantastic end to an incredible year where we have really driven the Careers and Enterprise agenda forward at Kingsthorpe College. We would like to thank all the staff, parents and students involved, but a particular mention needs to go to Christine Webster from the University of Northampton who has had an incredibly positive impact on our students.”

Find out more about the Schools Engagement team’s work on the University’s website.