Live Assembly Broadcast!

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

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NWG&T Masterclasses

Every day this week, pupils from Liverpool College have been involved in a superb programme of masterclasses in English and Maths, organised by North West Gifted and Talented, specifically targeted at high attaining students from Y2-Y6. In lockdown, it is imperative that our most able students continue to be stretched and challenged. Targeted one year group at a time, these video conference workshops allow academic students to meet other able students from schools across the North West, to work on tasks aimed to stimulate their intellect and develop their learning.

Below is a report from Katherine H (Y5) about the masterclasses:

I really enjoyed the virtual session this week. There were lots of incredibly interesting word problems. It was challenging, and that was the best part about it. We got to understand how word problems work, and how to use our ideas and imagination properly to solve them. I’m sure each time we do it it’ll get better and better. I love it so far. Some of the word problems I didn’t get at first, but thanks to the host’s help, I understood everything. It’s a really helpful masterclass and I’m glad that I was chosen to take part. It’s already helping my creative writing skills, and making my imagination grow stronger! I can’t wait for my next session! I’m very thankful to the Aileen Hoare, the host of the meeting.

Mrs Doran

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Supporting the NHS

Mr Cartwright has been busy in the DT workshop over the Easter holiday producing PPE equipment for the NHS.

Supported by resources from the University of Liverpool, Mr Cartwright and his team of family members produced 400 visors which have now been distributed to Broadgreen hospital and North Liverpool PCT.

The products are already being used by the medical team from Broadgreen. 

The school has also donated its supply of safety goggles to the NHS.

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Y10 Talk: Immunology and Biomedicine

Year 10 Wilton Scholars were incredibly lucky to participate in a video conference talk about biomedicine and immunology this week. The talk was led by Dr Julio Furlong-Silva, who works at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Julio specialises in ImmunoParasitology - in ‘lay-man’s terms’, how the human body’s immune systems affect lymphatic pathology. Dr Furlong-Silva first explained his current work and placed this in context of the current race to find a vaccine for the Coronavirus. Using his expertise, he explained the main issues surrounding the Coronavirus pandemic and allowed pupils to benefit even further from his expertise by opening up a question and answer session. Many pupils expressed how useful they found the opportunity in addressing some of their current misconceptions and clarifying important information about the virus.

Julio’s current research is developing non-invasive sensor technologies as a replacement for current invasive blood sampling techniques, which could become very useful in the context of mass drug administration programmes. We would like to wish him well with this project.

Mrs Doran

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Prep School Weekly Challenges

Mrs Doran has been setting a daily challenge for Prep School pupils. These challenges have covered a range of subjects and are designed to keep everyone fit, healthy, happy and learning! Pupils have been encouraged to share pictures of themselves doing the challenges with each other - to prevent pupils feeling isolated and to encourage participation and a sense of fun. Pupils have also been emailing Mrs Doran photographs, PowerPoint and videos of their completed challenges and Mrs Doran is adding these to the weekly Prep Newsletter.

Some of this week’s challenges:

Bake Off!

Liverpool College pupils participated in a ‘bake off’ this week when they were invited to take part in a cookery challenge. Pupils were asked to either assist in the making of a family meal – or for older students -to make something independently. Mrs Doran was inundated with pictures of all the delicious creations. As this event was so popular, this event will be relaunched again next term so over the holidays, why not practice at home making a favourite family meal ready for Round 2 of the Prep School Bake Off!

Architecture Challenge

Pupils were challenged this week to combine their mathematical and drawing skills to create a scale drawing of a room inside their house. Well done to everyone who sent in photographs of their elevation plans. If you haven’t already done so, why don’t you try to draw a ‘top’ view plan of a room in your house, maybe you could add a key or use a ruler to make sure the scale is correct.

Three Little Pigs Maths Challenge

Prep pupils were set a superb mathematical challenge this week which required them to use skills in problem solving, estimation, multiplication, rounding and even algebra. The task – look outside your house and work out a way to calculate how many bricks were used to build it. The students sent in some quite remarkable calculations – many being asked to re-evaluate their working to make sure they took into account all the external walls. Thank you to everyone who sent in their working – and for all those willing to revise their original calculations.

Poetry Champion

Well done to Seb in Year 4 for sending in, not one, but two pieces of writing this week. As well as a poem, Seb also emailed in a superb video of him reading his own performance poem. If anyone else would like to send in a video to Mrs Doran of you reading your own composition, follow the step by step instructions available in this week’s Challenge of the day - ‘Create your own Video!’ Have fun!

Mrs Doran

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Year 11 Mock Interviews

Liverpool College made history this week when we conducted Year 11 Mock Interviews for the first time via video conferencing. Eight employers worked over two full days to interview eighteen Year 11 pupils. Where pupils expressed a specific career interest, these pupils were matched to a professional working within this sector, which included Law, Medicine, Engineering, Accountancy, Science, Economics and Business.

The day before the interviews, the pupils participated in an online Interview Preparation Workshop, which was led by Catherine McNeill. Catherine specialises in apprenticeship recruitment and her advice to students with regards interview technique and preparation was superb. Each pupil’s interview lasted approximately 30 minutes and included one-on-one individualised feedback.

Thank you to all of the volunteer professionals who gave up their extremely valuable time this week to give the pupils such a unique and beneficial experience.

Mrs Doran

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