Around 70 of our Year 12s attended the university’s Christmas Conference - and the experience has inspired some to change their minds and they will now be applying to go to university.

The day was so successful that the College will be making this visit an annual event.

The students listened to a talk about choosing a university and course and attended a talk about student finance. They were also given a campus tour in small groups with a student ambassador in each group - they even got to see a typical example of student accommodation.

In the afternoon, the students sat in on two special festive-themed lectures, ‘Christmas? Humbug! Was Scrooge right?’ with Associate Professor John Bull, and ‘The Ghost of the Christmas Gift’ with Dr Brian Campbell.

Finally, there was a Q&A session with a student ambassador.

The students were accompanied by Miss Trezona and Mr Tinkler. Miss Trezona said: “It was a fantastic day. One of the students who said that university wasn’t for them has now changed their mind. After today, they said they were inspired and will now be applying.

“The experience of attending a lecture and seeing the campus, and the opportunity to talk to the student ambassadors was invaluable. The ambassadors told them about the best part and the worst part of life at university, and our students learnt about the societies and clubs which really enrich their time at university.

“The student finance talk was particularly helpful as it reassured our students that it is an investment in their future.”

Mr Tinkler added: “It was rewarding to hear the feedback from the students, and we are going to take the whole of Year 12 in future, to hopefully inspire them.”