On Monday we had a Photography taster lesson with Miss White. In this, we were shown a presentation on different angles that photographs can be taken from and considered how photos can be used to tell a story in either an easy or complicated way. Then we were split into Houses and were told to take a series of seven or eight photos that tell a story using a prop that we had been given, which we had to use as the main feature to all of our photos. As an example, Somerville, were given a Barbie so we decided that we would focus on how girls and women are put under pressure and feel the need to be thin and pretty like Barbies are. We started off by taking a photo of Franny holding the Barbie and looking at it and then we moved on to me starting to put on makeup, dress in long silky dresses and finally she had a breakdown over the pressure. We were given an hour to take the photos.
On Tuesday, once we made our own breakfast, we had a chat with the Head Girl team about life in Sixth Form. It made everyone realise what an important and big jump there is from GCSE to A Level. We then headed out on our much-anticipated trip, which was raft building and team games that everyone enjoyed thoroughly. The water was really cold, but thanks to the sun we warmed up quickly! That afternoon we were visited by a Careers Advisor from ISCO giving us an insight and advise on which A Levels to take for different types of careers. Once this was over, two people from each House went to Tesco’s with Dr Harden and Mr Moore to buy our food for cooking dinner in our Houses. Each house was given £50 to spend. On Tuesday night, Austen and De Valois cooked dinner and then Somerville and Seacole on Wednesday night. This was a great experience as we had never done this as a group before.
On Wednesday morning we had taster lessons of A Level subjects which are not available at GCSE. These were Graphic Design, Politics, History of Art, Leiths and Psychology. These lessons were really useful, as everyone now understands what the subjects are and if we would like to take them up. Our favourite lesson was Politics because we worked together on what is needed when a revolution takes place, like what happened in Egypt in 2013. We also took a survey (Fast Tomato) on Wednesday giving advice on possible careers. In the afternoon we had time to complete our projects and really embrace 6th Form life. We also had a visit from an ice cream van, as it was a very hot day – much appreciated!
On Thursday morning we did our Young Enterprise projects. We were split into five groups and our task was to decide on what shoes we could design and sell and hopefully make a big profit. This gave the Business Studies students an opportunity to show off their knowledge. In the end the Marketing prize was given to Franny’s group who designed ‘Spekersneakers’. The Business prize was given to Ella’s group who designed shoes that cool people down, and the overall prize was given to the group who had the idea of designing your own shoe online. Later on, our parents arrived to watch our presentations and video diaries of the week. We ended the week with a BBQ outside the bungalows attended by staff and parents. It was then time to move out of the bungalow which will be greatly missed. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Harden and all other staff for organising this amazing week.
Ella and Franny, Form IV Pupils