A Level student selected for England Rugby Squad

Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) student David Meakin has been selected for the England Rugby Squad.

After being put through his paces and going through a series of trials David, a scrum half or centre has been selected over hundreds of students throughout the country to attend the England training camp from Friday 16 to Sunday 18 December.

David, studies A Levels in Maths, Chemistry, Physical Education, Physics and is a dedicated member of the college's Rugby Academy.  Speaking of his success David said: "I was shocked to find out that I had been selected as the trials were really hard and the standard was really high."

Trevor Humphreys, the Academy of Sport Manager speaks very highly of David saying: "He's an extremely committed young individual who is realising his talent in rugby. It's further evidence that the support of the College is allowing students to reach their sporting potential."

Staff & students club together to raise money for Children in Need

Staff and students from NULC Sixth Form Centre raised an amazing £762.75 for Children in Need.  Staff and students organised a range of activities throughout the day.

• Creative Arts with Mike Kelly raised £425.  Staff raised money by selling cards and jewellery and creative students drew cartoons, facepainted and wore spots.

• History and Law aka The Winter Knights with Lisa Browne raised £177. 75   For two weeks they gave all groups a list of unacceptable behaviour based on Victorian factory rules and fined them for any breaches.  On Children in Need the staff and students dressed as heroes and collected money in the classrooms.  The students also paid £1 to guess who Chris McQuillan would be dressed as.

• Psychology and Sociology aka the Socialites and Tomatoes with Adele Richards and Jon Stanfield raised £160 from the CD/DVD and book sale.

The money raised will be added to the total raised a cross College for Children in Need.

NULC student shortlisted in Young Poet Laureate competition

Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) student Bethanie Hardie has been shortlisted in Stoke-on-Trent Libraries' Young Poet Laureate competition 2011-12.

Bethanie, aged 16 from Burslem studies A Levels at NULC’s 6th Form Centre on Knutton Lane.  She fought of strong competition from young poets across the City to make it to the final five, Bethanie along with the other shortlisted entrants has been invited to perform her poem to an audience at City Central Library in Hanley on Saturday 22 October 2011.

The competition was launched by Stoke-on-Trent Libraries and open to all 11 - 19 year olds in Stoke-on-Trent.  Entrants had to submit four poems, one of which to be about Stoke-on-Trent.  The winner will be awarded with a prize of £100.

Everyone at NULC would like to wish Bethanie the best of luck in the competition this weekend.

Creative students shine in A Level success

Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) is celebrating exceptional success in its A Level results for creative subjects.

Art and Design, Art Textiles, Film Studies, Graphic Design and Photography all achieved 100% pass rate.

Pictured: Gemma Hawkins A* in Graphic Design

Creative subjects achieving exceptional success include Film Studies where 70% of students achieved grades A* - B.  In Graphic Design 78% of students achieved A*- B grades and Media Studies where 71% of students achieved grades A* - B.

The A Level success was also mirrored in the AS Level results where Film Studies received the most A – B grades across all Sixth Form subjects.  A total of 70% of students studying Film Studies achieved grades A - B.

Student Elizabeth Nemeth achieved 2 A* and 2 A grades, with A* in Film Studies and A in Media Studies.  Elizabeth who is going on to study Film at Warwick University said “The College staff are brilliant and have always been available when you need them.  I would thoroughly recommend NULC, the courses here are brilliant and the staff are so generous and supportive.”

Pictured: Elizabeth Nemeth A*A*AA

To find out more about the A Level success at NULC visit www.nulc.ac.uk/results.

NULC celebrates record A* results

Students at Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) are celebrating their A Level results today.

Students have achieved 130 A* and A grades across a range of subjects including Business Studies, Biology and Psychology, an increase on last year’s results.

Three subjects in particular achieved exceptional success this year; Maths/Further Maths, Law and Physics. In Maths just under 60% of students achieved A*-B grades, in Law 56% of students achieved A*-B grades and in Physics 58% achieved A*-B grades.
 

Pictured: A* Maths students

Commenting on this year’s achievements, Karen Dobson, Principal at NULC, said: “We’re absolutely delighted by the achievements of all the students, and very proud of all the staff who have worked hard to provide the high standard of teaching, learning and support that helps our students to achieve such high levels of success.”

100 per cent pass rates have been achieved in 19 A Level subjects including Accounting, Law, Physics, Critical Thinking, Economics, Geography, English Language and Literature, Art and Design and Photography.

The A Level success mirrors the high levels of achievement on the College’s vocational courses, where pass rates place the College amongst the best Further Education colleges in the country. 106 students achieved a triple distinction on the College’s advanced vocational courses - equivalent to three As at A Level and attracting the same number of UCAS points.

Pictured: A Level students

The College will be publishing a selection of student success stories and photographs from A Level results day on its website www.nulc.ac.uk/results from 18 August 2011.

Follow the live action from A Level results day on Twitter using #NULCResults

NULC need your ideas

Would you like to get involved with the design of the new NULC 2012-2013 full-time prospectus?  Would you like to see your ideas to come to life?  We need your help to find out what worked and what didn’t, what you liked and what you didn’t!  As we start to research design and content for the new prospectus we would love to hear your views, because you are the people that matter.

If you haven’t already had a look at the current NULC full-time prospectus then take a look by clicking this link and then downloading the ‘Full-time prospectus 11-12’... http://www.nulc.ac.uk/pages/global/downloads.aspx

Then once you've had a flick through it, simply follow the link below and fill in the survey to share your views with us...http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LGN3YNP

NULC do 'something funny for money'

If there's one thing that NULC staff and students like to do its ‘something funny for money’ in aid of Comic Relief.  NULC was a hub of activity on Friday 18 March with fancy dress, bake sales, waxing and the most talked about event of the day, the NULC FlashMob.

Dance Lecturer Faye Matthews rounded up her troupes which included students, staff and even a member of the senior management team.  Then headed to the new Sainsbury’s store in Newcastle-under-Lyme, where they wowed the crowds and are now rapidly becoming an online phenomenon.

Other activities taking place throughout the day included a fancy dress competition which resulted in a monkey and pirates roaming the corridors!  A yummy bake sale organised by Early Years students, Fun Run by Sports Performance and Excellence students, leg waxing in the Transform Salon.  As well as various fund raising efforts by Learner Services, Starbucks staff and the Students’ Union.

The money is still being counted but so far NULC have managed to raise over £500.00, which is a fantastic amount.  Thank you to everyone who took part and did ‘something funny for money’.

To see all the photos and videos from the day visit our Facebook gallery at www.facebook.com/NewcastleULymeCol and give us a ‘Like’.

New courses launched at NULC

Due to popular demand, Newcastle-under-Lyme College (NULC) have launched a new range of exciting courses in the Sixth Form Centre.  The new courses will start in September 2011 and demand is high, with limited places so get your applications in as soon as possible.

New Sixth Form Centre courses include:

AS/A Level Drama Theatre Studies

AS/A Level Music Technology

AS/A Level Product Design

AS/ A Level Spanish

BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Applies Science (Forensics)

Keep checking the blog for updates or to find out more about new courses and other new courses simply log onto our website www.nulc.ac.uk/newcourses. 

Sixth form students define NULC

As part of an Apprentice-style challenge (forming part of Entrepreneurship Week), students from the College’s Sixth Form Centre were invited to define the key messages that they thought represented the College based on their own experiences.

Among the key strengths identified by the students were the College’s brand new facilities and its “friendly, caring, supportive staff.” One student said he “liked the independence” and another said “the teachers are nice, friendly and very welcoming when you come to the College.”