Liverpool Hope University led a fascinating series of webinars on Friday, attended by selected Y12 students and the Liverpool College careers team. Talks included how to write effective and eye catching personal statements for university.
Mrs Doran
Every pupil from both Year 11 and Year 13 were given the opportunity to attend a virtual workshop on Applying for Apprenticeship this week. The workshop was aimed at students both curious about Apprenticeships or who are intending to apply imminently. Led by Ms Jan Aggar from Amazing Apprenticeships, the initial talk provided high quality information about Apprenticeship in a practical and engaging way, including a discussion of both the benefits and difficulties within the current economic climate. Pupils were guided through on-line resources and useful websites. Ms Aggar then made time to give bespoke one-to-one advice for every participating pupil with regards opportunities within their personal career aspirations and has pledged to continue this one to one guidance for the pupils who attended this extremely valuable workshop.
Mrs Doran
All Year 12 students interested in applying for Oxford or Cambridge University next year were given a wonderful opportunity to receive some expert support via the wonders of video conferencing last week. After watching a bespoke video on how to use the lock down as an opportunity to enhance their applications, students were asked to submit questions to Ms Jacqui Dearden, Oxford University's School Liaison Officer. Through a video conferencing App, Ms Dearden subsequently answered all of the questions presented and gave extremely valuable advice to all the students who participated in the interactive talk. We would like to thanks Jacqui sincerely, particularly as since the live talk, she has continued to support interested students directly via email on a one-to-one basis. Her valuable input will undoubtedly encourage some of our most able students to fulfil their life long academic dreams.
Mrs Doran
Liverpool University’s Department of Science and Engineering delivered a superb talk for Year 9 this week when Dr Ian Sandall led a fascinating video conference lecture.
Dr Sandall first introduced pupils to the innovations currently being developed in Liverpool by Engineers and Scientists – from image recognition and tracking, robotics to drone technology to deliver medical supplies. Dr Sandall then explained his own current research in antimicrobial resistance which can be used for surface and air decontamination. He explained how this technology used antimicrobial resistance to make controlled plasma bolts to decontaminate surfaces and decontaminate wounds to promote healing. Throughout the Coronavirus crisis, Liverpool University has been working directly with Liverpool hospitals to see if this technology can be used to decontaminated PPE one use items to allow then to be safely reused during the world wide shortage. He is also developing a new handheld optoelectronic camera which would allow for diagnostic testing of blood sampling to create a handheld and portable piece of equipment which would revolutionise blood testing in the UK.
Our sincere thanks to Dr Sandall for this fascinating insight into the world of Science and Engineering.
Mrs Doran
Year 11 and Y12 students interested in Science were given an incredible opportunity this week when they participated in a video conference call with Dr Matthew Downham, Associate Director of AstraZeneca, a company specialising in the worldwide development and distribution of flu vaccines globally.
Matthew works directly with the WHO and Chris Whitty, whom many of you will now be very familiar. After a fascinating talk about research and development in bio pharmaceuticals, Matthew also explained the current development to develop treatments and vaccines for the current coronavirus pandemic. The students were able to ask direct questions for this worldwide expert to answer, about his career, WHO, how vaccines work, and much complex topics like passive and active immune responses, which was extremely beneficial for their understanding of this highly relevant topic. Our thanks to Dr Downham for giving up his valuable time so generously. It was fascinating!
Mrs Doran
Congratulations to Oliver N (Y3) who has been using his exercise time in lockdown to run a marathon over a week for North West Cancer Research.
Oliver said: "I wanted to help this charity because our choir sang at a cancer research concert and they have come into school to tell us about sun safety. I know the charity are losing money because of the coronavirus so I wanted to help. It was hard to do every day but I kept going and am really pleased with what I have raised".
Oliver has raised an incredible £630 so far.
Liverpool College pupils were involved in a superb opportunity on Friday when they were invited to take part in a live assembly organised by STEAM Schools –conducted through video conferencing and broadcast to the world LIVE! The assembly celebrated Science, Technology, Engineering, Enterprise and Maths.
Archie, a Y6 pupil, explained how he had been inspired by a live interview with HADO Sports (a company that combines augmented reality technology with a competitive sport) to re-engineer a virtual reality headset for people to wear whilst playing sports. Archie won a STEAM schools award for his superb design, winning an Amazon gift card and certificate in Engineering.
Hugh, Amelia and Emily were also interviewed live by the CEO of STEAM schools, explaining how they have been inspired by STEAM school live interviews with big names in Tech such as Pokemon Go, Fortnite and Instagram, learning about topics last term such as how augmented reality, free roam TV, motion tracking, immersive technologies and how Instagram filters are created.
After pupils watch the interviews with these pioneers, they are then asked to participate in a series of individual challenges to develop their own skills. Emily (Y5) created a poster explaining how Pokemon Go uses Augmented Reality Technology and designed her own gaming idea which combined Pokemon Go with Ultra Leap’s - Leap Motion technology to use hand tracking to enhance a virtual reality experience. This project was sent to Pokemon Go!
Mrs Doran
