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Fulston Manor School

Fulston Manor School A Fulston Manor Academies Trust School

University Life Brought To FMS!

On Tuesday 10th January, 47 Year 9 students took part in sessions with student ambassadors from the University of Kent.  Our young people found out about what life is like at university by listening to the diverse experiences of the ambassadors and taking part in activities. Ambassadors included an international student from Nigeria on a 2-year placement at Kent, a student who has just spent a year studying in California and students studying wildlife conservation and media studies. They told the audience about enjoying a variety of activities such as music and football.  A highlight was that one of the ambassadors was Fulston’s own Owen Craycraft, who left Fulston last year and is now really throwing himself into university life, living on campus and studying Computer Science. It was fabulous to see him back at Fulston, although he said he found it strange being back in the role of ‘teacher’ rather than ‘student’, particularly when one of the students was his sister!  He was a credit to the school speaking with passion and enthusiasm about his first year at university.

Year 9's found out about the wide range of clubs available to students at university.  They learned that if there was a club that they wanted that didn’t exist they would be supported to set one up and then spent time deciding what their ideal club would be – which resulted in various suggestions including air soft, laido and even a chair club! 

Students were also then told how life at university is more flexible than school with students having to decide themselves how to organise their life around the lectures they had. Year 9's had a go at organising a timetable, deciding what they would do and when, with some finding the idea quite liberating and exciting, with others finding it terrifying! 

All students gained immensely from the sessions with comments being made such as “I found the session useful as I found out more about university”, “I found the session fun as I got to take part in different activities” and with many learning a lot “I didn’t realise what a huge range of societies there were”. 

Thanks were given to both the university team for making the sessions so useful and enjoyable and to the year 9s for throwing themselves in and asking so many great questions.