Well, well, well, day 3 of the universities visit 2024 began slightly overcast but it was quite the opposite to the weather we had the day before. Once again, a prompt breakfast call at 7:30am and some bleary eyes made their way over to Edge Hill HUB for a much needed refuel before we headed out. Caitlyn, Tom and the team once again being on hand to help out with any issues. We departed promptly at 8:45am after grabbing our lunch bags.
This is the longest day of the visit and we quickly head to the motorway towards Yorkshire; a music quiz took place to ease us into the journey with Tom Clague and Charlie Salmon taking the top spot with 26 out of 30 – quite impressive really!
We arrived at Huddersfield University at exactly 10:30am, which was our scheduled time. We were greeted by Kai and his team who moved us into one of the lecture theatres. We had a talk on “why enter the world of HE?” and “why choose Huddersfield as your HE destination?”. The talk proved to be extremely informative and our students took time to question Kai and the Student Ambassadors about why they should study at their university and why they chose Huddersfield in the first place; all answers proving to be interesting and factual. We headed out for the tour of the campus, which has had a significant amount of money invested into its many buildings and facilities. It was another brilliant start to the day and we thank Kai for taking time to speak with us.
We then set off to Leeds, firstly stopping at Leeds Beckett University. There are two campuses at Leeds Beckett and this year, they hosted us at their Headingley Campus which is renown for its world class sports facilities and equipment (used by both the Leeds United football team and also Leeds Rhinos rugby league squad!). We were met by our good friend Ian Freedman and his team of ambassadors, where we headed straight out onto a tour of the lovely green campus. Students had the opportunity to see first hand the sporting facilities, including the 60m running track at the top of one of the buildings (the Carnegie Building) and the state of the art health screening room. This followed by Ian presenting to the students about “why choose Leeds Beckett?” and “how to write an effective personal statement”. It was a superb visit once again and we thank Ian and his team for hosting us again this year.
After short journey up the road, we made our way to the University of Leeds to be greeted by Katia and her team. We moved to one of the lecture theatres near to the wonderful library, whereby we heard from Kasia about the “options beyond A Level”, “how the University of Leeds compares to other universities” and “the UCAS process and entry requirements”. It was a great presentation and our students asked a wide range of questions which gave them food for thought. The Student Ambassadors then fielded a number of questions from our students, regarding courses, university life and societies. We headed out for the tour of the campus and on-site accommodation. It was a pleasure to speak to the current students and also explore the campus in more detail – we thank Katia and the team for once again allowing us to visit.
As mentioned previously, this is the longest day of the week and we had some pressing matters to attend to – something regarding an England semi-final? We politely asked our two coach drivers (Darren and Steve) to get us back via the quickest route (safely!) so that we could have our evening meal, which was a BBQ provided by Edge Hill, so that we could retire to one of the lecture theatres to push England onto the final. Darren and Steve did just that, we arrived back precisely on time and we ‘ran’ to the BBQ. Unfortunately, the wet weather forced us all indoors, but once happily fed, the majority of us went to watch the match, whilst the rest (non-footballing fans) went to complete the quiz with Ms McIntosh and Mrs Needle.
I have to say that our students are a credit to all their parents/guardians who have allowed them over for the week and they are certainly one of the best groups we’ve brought away, so, this is a massive thank you from all the staff who have given their time up to help support this week.
Sheffield tomorrow – exciting times ahead…
Mr S
