A flavour of university life

An insight into university life was given to Sutherland House School students during a Sports Discovery Day at the University of Nottingham.

Seven students aged between 14 years to 18 years took part in the day, which was organised by the university's Sport Outreach team.

Students arrived at the David Ross Sports Village on the university campus in the morning and were greeted by the university outreach team.

They took part in a workshop about university and post 16 options. This included a game based around the TV quiz Pointless, where students had to identify university degree subjects; the more obscure the subject, the better. This was followed by a tour of the sports village led by student ambassadors.

A further workshop focused on student finance, giving students the chance to learn more about loans and how it covered all their tuition fees. They also learnt about about some of the ways students can earn money as well.

Tips and guidance

The workshops were followed by training from members of the Thai boxing team in the Dojo. Students later got the chance to learn frisbee skills with a session lead by members of the Ultimate Frisbee team.

This was followed by brief talks and a question and answer session with university student ambassadors. One of the student ambassadors, Bilaal talked about his experience of being an autistic young man and how he had settled into university life. He shared his top tips including guidance on how to join clubs and societies and how to make a timetable and schedule social time.

When asked about the day Sutherland House student, Cody, who is 14, said: 'I would definitely want to go to a university like this - although I don't know what I would want to study yet.' Alex, who is also 14, added: 'I want to do law at university. I want to come back at look at the other buildings.'

Natalie Braisby, Sports Volunteer Delivery Officer at the University of Nottingham, said: 'It was wonderful to meet Sutherland House students. They are a real credit to school and I was very impressed with their engagement.'