New and returning students have enjoyed ice-breaker sessions, team-building activities, days out and welcomed guest speakers to mark the beginning of a new academic year at West Nottinghamshire College.
Loud Speaker's Calvin Eden (left) with UPS student Gabriel Greaves.
To kick-off the first full week back to college every student was given the opportunity to attend motivational sessions and confidence building sessions led by outside company Loud Speaker. These high-energy workshops provided students with the tools to enable them to speak professionally and offer new confidence for the new term.
Workshop facilitators Jonathan Campbell and Calvin Eden brought real-world scenarios and engaging exercises to groups to boost their forthcoming learning journeys with inspirational examples from their own lives.
Loud Speaker's Jonathan Campbell during one of the motivational workshops.
Head of welfare, intervention and wellbeing Geoff Vincent said: “The sessions from Loud Speaker were absolutely brilliant! To see how well our students interacted not only with the guests, but with fellow students, was truly inspirational.
“Starting a new academic year for both returning and new students can be very daunting and filled with anxiety. Loud Speaker staff worked incredibly well with students to raise their self-believe, to encourage them to speak about themselves and focus on understanding that they all have a part to play at the college and in the wider world.
“It’s been a pleasure to host Loud Speaker at the college and witness them nurturing our students’ aspirations and showing them how to work well together to achieve their best in the months ahead.”
Throughout the week curriculum areas filled their timetables with a broad range of activities for students to immerse themselves in to further help them to settle into college life with their peers.
Animal care students enjoyed trips out to White Post Farm and Matlock Farm Park and T Level students ventured to Nottingham for a day in Wollaton Park where they enjoyed nature-themed scavenger hunt and a photography competition. Old-fashioned team-building games such as duck-duck-goose were also played to help the students reacquaint themselves with each other.
Nature photography was one of the activities enjoyed by animal care students at Wollaton Park.
Back at the animal care unit students took part in the ‘Five Welfare Olympics’. Students practically implemented meeting the animal welfare needs legislation with fun, sports day-like activities.
These included guiding a blindfolded peer round an agility course, a spoon race transporting water, a timed sweeping event and animal behaviour charades. Students and staff worked well together to accomplish each of the prize challenges.
Health and social care students welcomed guest speakers from the sector to share their knowledge and expertise as well as help students to understand the pathways to follow to enjoy rewarding careers.
Guest speakers included Robert Huskinson from Opendoor1, a Sutton-in-Ashfield-based community group which supports people with dementia and Liz Norton from Church Farm Care Home in Cotgrave.
Students learnt about the busy lives which paramedics lead thanks to East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) team members Jack Lockley and Mark Pepper, while Chloe Holmes and Ashton Hopley from Caremark Home Care and Live In Care discussed their own roles and highlighted the range of tasks that carers attend to in the local community.
East Midlands Ambulance Service's Mark Pepper (left) and Mark Lockley (right) spoke to health and social care students about their roles.
This was all part of the curriculum’s ‘Meet the Expert’ week to help students to understand the potential range of careers and roles available in the health and social care sector.
Ashton Hopley (left) and Chloe Holmes from Caremark Home Care and Live-In Care.
Students also visited Nottingham Trent University’s Mansfield hub to tour the facilities and consider the range of nursing courses available to study after college.
Advanced Extended Diploma in Business students present their best ideas to a Dragon’s Den-style panel. Two winning groups secured £200 each to proceed their business ideas or to simply enjoy the cash prizes.
Dragons included business teachers Liz Harrington and Sarah Taylor who were joined by The Protocol Group’s Gabby Brydges and Affinity Workforce’s Sophy Benjamin. The two-day business ideas workshop was mentored and collaborated by The Protocol Group’s Dean Lloyd, who is the company’s learning and growth development consultant.
A Dragon's Den-style challenge got business students thinking about lucrative ideas.
Energies were running high in the uniformed protective services (UPS) team as students took part in a two-mile run and fitness assessment in nearby Thieves Wood. Back at the college students began honing their planning skills as a team as they prepare fellow UPS students for the annual Remembrance Day parade, which is held at the college’s sports hall.
UPS Level 1 student Gabriel Greaves said: “I found the Loud Speaker workshop sessions really enjoyable and immense fun to take part in. It certainly boosted my confidence being in front of large groups.
“The two-mile run was a fun yet exhausting exercise, and afterwards we played manhunt, where students had to avoid the teachers and make it to a certain location with their group of two or more people. This was a brilliant team-building exercise to start the year off with!”
Uniformed protective services students enjoyed activities in the forest.