Recent graduates from the University of Newcastle led a visit to enable Year 8 students to find out more about going to University.

The graduates did a presentation about Student Life and ran a workshop called Universi-Tree. The presentation covered all aspects of student life from the reality of student finances to the wide range of societies on offer. During the workshop the students thought about the range of qualifications needed for a wide range of careers. Students found out more about the importance of their choices within education from GCSE to A-Level and then Degree and beyond.

All students had a tour of the campus in small groups by a current Newcastle University student. This was a great opportunity to ask questions and find out more about the significance of the statues in the Plaza and see the Hatton Gallery, Library, Students Union and a wide variety of sports facilities. The tour included several Schools within the University and links to the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) and Great North Museum were made.

In the afternoon sessions, students took part in another two activities. The first activity was Student Suitcase where the children had to estimate the cost of items that they will need for living independently. They had to come up with a monthly student budget to cover all essential items and some desirables. There were some tough decisions to be made about the priority of their desirable items and what they thought that they would be able to sacrifice if needed. In the second activity the children worked in groups to come up with a campaign to attract members to a new society. Some great ideas for new societies and some clever ways of attracting new members were presented to the rest of the group.

Thank you to Mrs Connolly and Mrs Cartledge for giving up their time to support this visit.