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Monday, 30 September 2013

Considering studying for a degree in the US?



On Thursday 26th September, the Siena society was treated to a highly informative talk about entry to US colleges and universities by Jon Harris-Gibbons of Go Campus.
In answering the question ‘Why go to study in the USA?’  it was clear that at the start of their degrees  the Americans favour breadth over specialization. With the exception of Law and Medical students every one spends their first two years at university studying for a liberal arts degree (which combines a mixture of core (eg English and Maths) and elective subjects. Only after these two years does a student ‘major’ in a single subject.
Mr Harris-Gibbons was of the opinion that UK employers value the breadth of experience that studying abroad gives to a potential employee; that a US degree would ‘catch the eye’ of a recruiter. (I suppose the same could be said for Dutch, Australian and Czech degrees…)
What was interesting is that it could actually be cheaper to study in the US than the UK! Mr Harris-Gibbons explained that in an attempt to overcome a self-confessed insularity within their intake, private US universities were keen to recruit foreign students. And to encourage a steady stream of enriching Europeans they offer scholarships which could reduce the annual bill from £20,000 to a more manageable £7,500.
Clearly one of the big questions facing any students wanting to study in the US is ‘which college/university should I apply to and how do I apply?’ There is an equivalent to the UCAS process called the Common App but unfortunately only 10% of the 4000 colleges in the USA use it! To apply elsewhere an applicant must approach each university separately. There isn’t even a ranking system to aid the process, so clearly careful research is needed. As regards the famous east coast Ivy League universities, Mr Harris-Gibbons offered a word of caution: ‘I studied Foreign Languages at St John’s College Oxford; I would never have a stood a chance of getting into Harvard’. Whilst the Ivy League do offer bursaries, they have no need to offer scholarships, so any applicant has to be absolutely outstanding.
Faced with the daunting prospect of applying to hundreds of US colleges or universities (colleges offer undergraduate courses only, universities are more research based) a UK A level student could do worse than seek the assistance of a company like Go Campus. For a fee ($3,500) Go Campus will do the applying for you, sending out your application to about 100 colleges or universities. From those Jon reckoned you should get about 10 scholarship offers, from which you could select two: one preferred and the other insurance. He advised doing this in the Autumn term of Year 13 after a student had sat her SATs (tests in Literacy and Maths), aiming to get a score of 1000+. He strongly advised getting specialist tutoring for these SATs and recommended the Fulbright Commission for contacts of possible tutors.
Many of the St Catherine’s girls signed up to receive his newsletters; it will be interesting to see how many go on to further their education ‘over the pond’.

Thursday, 15 August 2013

Class of 2013 come in for their A level results!

Many of our Year 13 girls had been up all night in  anticipation of getting their A level results today. At 8 o'clock this morning the wait was finally over and we are delighted: every student has got either her first or second choice; none of them has had to go through the dreaded process of clearing!






A breakdown of the results are as follows:                                                                
A*-A: 33.3%
A*-B: 53.3%
A*-C: 86.7%
A*-D: 100%

Courses they shall be reading at university include Law, Biomedical Sciences, Primary Education, Art Foundation and International Business. Many congratulations to them all; we wish them all the very best for their future studies.

Thursday, 4 July 2013

Sixth Form lead the life of bon viveurs in Paris



I had been to France before but I had never been to Paris. It was a very new experience for me. Paris was definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. The view from the Trocadero was one of the most breathtakingly stunning moments not just for me but for everybody. The shocked gasp that we all gave in sync told it all.
We left on Monday morning an early start for all of us arriving in school for 6:00am. The journey on the Eurostar was smooth and we arrived in no time. The search for the hotel was funny because we went in the completely wrong direction to where it was but luckily we corrected ourselves and checked into the Vintage Hostel, which was only a 5 minute walk from the Gare du Nord.
After putting our luggage away we started the sightseeing. The first sight we visited was the Louvre. This had to be one of my favourite moments. There were so many movies that I associated with this Art Gallery making it even more spectacular for me. After touring round the Louvre, visiting the famed Mona Lisa, we made our way to Notre Dame, making sure to taste a few crepes and macaroons along the way.
The second day was the one that possibly we had all been waiting for. The Eiffel Tower and shopping! We walked down to the Eiffel Tower after taking group photos in front of it. We then went on a boat trip taking in all the monuments. Then came the moment we had all been waiting for McDonalds and shopping on the Champs Elysee! After shopping on this street I believe no other street, Oxford Street nor can 5th Avenue compare. I could not have felt more glamorous.
I must say the food in Paris is exquisite satisfying all taste buds. The restaurants and café’s we ate at were dear and perfect, and on the last day we made sure to stuff as many crepe’s into our mouths as possible! But that is not all. We walked to the Sacre Coeur which you could either walk or take the lift to get up to the top. The inside of it was definitely beautiful and I gave myself something to remember it by buying a ring from the gift shop. Montmartre was a quaint little town where we could buy souvenirs for the family and little gifts for ourselves.
I appreciate the school’s effort to give us a cultural experience such as this and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I encourage other girls to take this opportunity if they have the chance to. It opens your eyes into a new part of the world.
D’Nelle Shambler (Year 12)

Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Sixth Form visit Design Museum



On 27th June, Year 12 girls took a trip to the Design Museum in London as part of their post-AS Activities Week.  After a gentle stroll along the Thames, passing HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge and the Shard, we were able to look at cutting edge design from around the world.  For example, the entries in the ‘Designs of the Year 2013’ competition included a ketchup bottle with a non-stick coating to make pouring easier (we have squeezy containers now anyway!), to the Olympic Cauldron, to adjustable prescription glasses for poor countries.
Even odder was the ‘UK Micro Kingdoms’ exhibition, where the UK is divided into four, and presumably you live in the region that most suits your lifestyle.  So, if you want all the power you could ever use free, then you would have to live on a train that is constantly on the move.  It has to keep moving because it has an on-board nuclear power station and most people do not want to live near one for long.
The main strength of the Design Museum, I think, is that it asks you to think about everyday life in an unusual way and that it asks you to look again at objects that are so familiar to us that we do not necessarily appreciate the excellence of their design.  One such example might be the UK system of road signage, to which a corner of the museum was dedicated.  The problem is that they will all become museum pieces once we are all been transported in self-driving vehicles, which know their way around.
L Casey (Sixth Form tutor)

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

St Catherine's Art, Graphics and Photography students present their End -of-Year Show

Jade presenting her Art AS work entitled Covert and Obscured












Jade with her Graphic Design AS project entitled Sanctuary











Georgie presenting her Photography exam entitled Mystery and Imagination










Georgie with her final photography exam piece: Covert and Obscured











Part of Lauren's A level Art final exam.
Lauren is hoping to go to Central St Martin's next year to begin her Art Foundation degree.

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Neuromyths in the classroom

There was a very interesting programme on Radio 4 recently on how brain facts aned fiction may be getting muddled in the classroom. You can listen to it through BBC i-player. Just search for 'neuromyths in the classroom'.

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

The Maasai- a very different way of living....


Our first Siena society talk of the term saw King’s College Geography post-graduate Briony Turner give a fascinating account of the time she has spent living and working with the Maasai tribe on the Tanzania/Kenya border in Africa.
Her particular area of research concerns the effect of agricultural expansion on the livelihood of the Maasai and how it affects these people who lead a semi-nomadic lifestyle. To help her gain a deeper understanding she went to visit them in person. A self-taken video on the day she left ‘civilisation’ in the town of Arusha before heading out to meet the Maasai showed us how much trepidation she was feeling: how many of us have met a group of tribal warriors on their turf and on their terms, without the comfort-blanket of western-based ideals to look after us if it all goes wrong?!
In the event we got the impression that Briony had nothing to fear, apart from the disgusting cup of ‘tea’ she was obliged to drink on arrival as part of the welcoming ceremony, overseen by the chief. Most of her tales described the stark differences in culture: the typical marital age for a Maasai is between 15 and 18 with young girls growing up simply copying their mothers, walking for miles just to collect water for their families. The young boys in contrast grow up tending their herds of cattle before being trained up as warriors between the ages of 16 and 30. We got the impression that when he gets to a certain age, the average Maasai male simply spends his days drinking mead (a honey-based alcoholic drink).
It was quite apparent that ceremony, tradition and rites of passage play an integral part in this people’s way of life, with rigid rules concerning the sacrifice of the precious cows and whether men can eat meat in sight of a woman (he can’t!) It was also clear that Briony forged a profound appreciation and love for these people and it was a privilege to hear her account first hand.
For another opportunity to see this lecture please click on this link.