Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Ice cream challenge tops off pupils’ stay at Leeds Beckett
The residential formed part of Leeds Beckett’s Tomorrow’s Professionals, a programme which encourages Year 12 pupils to explore the opportunities of higher education and the facilities and support available at Leeds Beckett.
Activities included interactive and engaging workshops delivered by each of the University’s Faculties, at both City and Headingley Campus, spanning the areas of Sport, Education, Business and Law, Health and Arts.
As part of the residential, former The Apprentice star, Claire Young, who was the runner-up on the BBC One show in 2008, led an enterprise session with the pupils – the Yummy Yorkshire Ice Cream Challenge. Working in 16 groups of 10, the pupils were tasked with creating a range of new flavours and packaging, for the Yummy Yorkshire Farm, to appeal to young people aged 13-18. Each team then presented their new brand name, slogan, logo and advertisement before a winner was chosen.
Habiba Akhtar, a pupil at Carlton Bolling College in Bradford, said: “The residential has been really informative. I picked Law as my strand and it’s been a great insight into the subject and helped me to see what I want to do in the future. The highlight was going to Leeds crown court and getting to see a real life case with a judge and jury.”
Jacob Smith from Shipley College commented: “Before this, I never knew what living on my own would be like and how in lectures you take notes and then input them into your own work. I thought you did your work in the lectures and then finished it in the library. It’s been a big transformation for me and it’s taught me how to cope and manage my work. I was confused before about what course to do and now I’ve learnt what I need to do to get into each course that I’m interested in and now I will do some more research before I decide.”
Ash Richardson, a final year PE student at Leeds Beckett and Student Ambassador working with the pupils throughout the week, said: “I’ve been leading groups and watching over them, managing their behaviour, which has been great in preparing me to go into teaching. My group all sport-orientated which is ideal: I’ve been giving them my experience of university and sport and acting as a role model. I did my A Levels just like them three years ago.”
Denum Vann, a final year Law student also working as a Student Ambassador, added: “I never got to take part in anything like this so it’s been nice to see the pupils get a taster of what student life is like. It’s the closest thing they’ll get to experiencing university until they become students themselves. Being a student ambassador has been a great experience which has allowed me to meet new people – we all get very comfortable in our lives and this has allowed me to talk to kids of all different ages and stages in their lives as well as helping my communication skills to develop further.”
Staying in the University’s halls of residence at Kirkstall Brewery, the students engaged in fun activities in the evening including a Students’ Union quiz and music night and a trip to the Everyman Cinema.
This year’s Tomorrow’s Professionals programme launched in December 2014 with Leeds Beckett Hospitality graduate, Brooke Mah, giving a talk about her experiences of higher education. Students took part in a series of short workshops, subjects including work experience; university life skills; and motivation and staying on track. Around 140 pupils attended the day held at the University’s Headingley Campus.
Following on from the launch, in February, the pupils, who come from Brooksbank School, Carlton Bolling College, John Smeaton Academy, Rodillian Academy, Ralph Thoresby High School, Shipley College, St John Fisher Catholic High School, Notre Dame and Roundhay School, spent a day at the University, experiencing lectures and workshops on the specific subject area that they are interested in; and in June they attended a university open day.
Future opportunities will be available for students to gain support from Leeds Beckett on their UCAS applications.