Hayley Ramadhar waited two years to join the Black Country UTC. Here she explains why the move was so important to her stellar ambitions and gives her first impressions of the school.
I first heard about Black Country University Technical College when I had a letter through the door one day informing me of the new school that was opening in my area.
There was an open evening which I attend with my family and I came way thinking what a fantastic school it would be to attend. It was that evening that somebody inspired me to work for my dream job building space technology. Unfortunately, I had already started year 10 so I was too old to join the first intake. But the inspiration I received on that first open evening endured and two years on I enrolled in Year 12 to start my A level studies with the college.
Moving from a mainstream school with over one thousand students to the college with less than half that number was strange at first but I soon adjusted. At my old school, my smallest class was nineteen students. That is now my biggest class and the smaller class sizes mean teachers can help each student more, ensuring that everyone understands their lessons thoroughly.
In much smaller classes, and indeed a smaller school overall, everyone seems to get on much better. We really work as teams and I know this experience will help when we all go out into the working world and have to form professional relationships and get on with people in the work place, even if you don’t want to!
The college provides young people with the opportunity to get an all-round education, preparing them with qualifications and experience to go onto university, take up an apprenticeship or simply enter the world of work with a better understanding of how to apply knowledge and how to behave professionally. Part of this education includes going out to see that world on a regular basis.
Within four weeks of joining the UTC this year I have been out on trips to many different engineering and manufacturing workplaces. These include Jaguar Land Rover and RAF Cosford. There have also been people coming into the school like the Royal Marines who spoke to the Year 10’s and 11’s about the different options for a career with them. All these experiences help us to decide what we want to do in the future. It highlights that engineering isn’t all filing metal in a workshop, that it plays important roles in most industries. Other schools don’t give their students the opportunities to see the real world of work.
“Within four weeks of joining the UTC this year I have been out on trips to many different engineering and manufacturing workplaces,” Hayley Ramadhar, UTC student.
My teachers have worked in the industry before taking up their roles with the college and this is clear in their teaching styles. They link everything to how it is important in real life. Who knew that quadratic equations had anything to do with pistons and fuel in a car engine?
Our teachers are enthusiastic about their jobs and this has a knock on effect with us students. Having teachers with experience in different fields allows the college to offer a wide range of extra curriculum activities from drawing to aeronautical engineering. Each of these unique features allows more students to achieve their dream careers in industry.
Currently, I am working toward A levels in maths and physics and a diploma in engineering level three. These are qualifications that I couldn’t do all together anywhere else. Coming to the UTC was a fantastic decision that I will never regret. Being a pupil at this college is giving me the knowledge and skills to make sure I understand all the steps on the path to achieving my ambitions.
