Northumberland Park School Students at CONEL's Taster Afternoon
The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London held a Taster Afternoon on Thursday 2 February, for over 100 year 8 students from Northumberland Park Community School. The students had the opportunity to sign up to taster sessions in Hair and Beauty, Engineering, Media and Games Design, Health and Social Care, Construction and Music Technology.
Jackie Chapman, Director of Employability & Employer Engagement and Vocational Skills (pictured) opened up the event explaining the different career options the College offers, from a wide variety of courses to gaining work experience whilst earning a qualification with an apprenticeship. Jackie states: “Year 8 is a key time to be considering career options and the different pathways into careers, including A levels, Btecs, Apprenticeships and University. Our aim today was to provide the students with a better understanding of their choices by actually having a go at a range of vocational areas with a focus on gaining employment in those fields.”
The Year 8 students enjoyed gaining an insight into College life by selecting two one hour workshops. Year 8 Tutor, Mr Burke from Northumberland Park Community School said: “The students had a great day out of school. It was good to get them out of their comfort zone and they gained a good understanding and experience of the different subjects.”
In the Hairdressing workshop the students used mannequin heads to create hairstyles, and experiment with curling irons and straighteners to create their own hair up dos. Northumberland Park School, Year 8 student, Helen Callmak said: “I tried different ways to plait and curl hair, I liked trying new styles. This was my first time using curling tongs. I think I could be a good Hairdresser.”
During the Gaming workshop, the students had the opportunity to use Maya, a modelling and animation software for professional game makers. The students were amazed by seeing animations and drafts of games created by current level 4 Animation and Games Design students. Ferhan Ahmed, Year 8 Northumberland Park student said: “I learnt about 2D modelling and actually created a house by the end of class.”
At the Media workshop the students used their creativity skills with Adobe Premier Pro to edit videos by adding and altering clips and audio. Whilst the Music Technology workshop involved creating a drum pattern using Logic Pro and experimenting with different instruments to create a composition. Northumberland Park student, Damien Marvin said: “I have used Logic before at school. I enjoyed learning more about creating beats.”
Northumberland Park Students during a music workshop (left) and media workshop (right)
The practical Construction workshop entailed carving a wood block and joining pieces together to create an object of the student’s choice. Year 8 student, Kailab Semere said: “This was my favourite workshop. I had fun working with the wood in the Construction class. I got to take away the pen case I made”. Other workshops were Engineering where the students worked on a wired switchboard changing lights depending on their wiring and a Health and Social Care workshop where students learnt about sound based techniques for learning and development and worked in groups to make their own songs using instruments.
The College welcomes requests from schools for taster workshops. The taster workshops are a great way for secondary school students to try the courses CONEL offers. Our staff tailor specific practical skills-based sessions in a range of vocational specialisms.
For more information on our Taster Workshops please visit our website here