Johnathan Wells, 1st Class,  BA (Hons) Automotive Design, Huddersfield

Johnathan Baty, 2:1, BA (Hons) Social Science, Durham

 BM

Education: Birmingham University - BSc (Hons) Mathematics, PGCE, MPhil Philosophy of Mathematics Education

Interests: Currently studying part time for a Phd in Maths at Birmingham University. Enjoy running, going to the gym. Love watching WWE wrestling, favourite all time wrestler is The Rock, current favourite is Jeff Hardy.

Memorable event @ AGS: Going to see the Harlem Globetrotters with the sixth form basketball team.

Pearls of wisdom: Keep an open mind, make the most of the opportunities available to you.

LJD

Education: Loads

Interests: Running, eating, cycling, eating, swimming, eating, anything new, eating.

Memorable trip@ AGS: ‘08 Ski Trip (being by far the best card player)

Gems of advice: Your future is in your hands

Report 1

MP

Deputy Head of Sixth form

Department: Science / Biology

Education: A level Biology, Chemistry, Geography. MA (Oxon) Biological Sciences

Interests: Walking, exploring, swimming, gardening, outdoor pursuits, reading

Memorable trip/events @ AGS: Namibia 2002, 2004, 2006. Honduras 2005, 2007. Biology field trips every year. Duke of Edinburgh.

Pearls of advice: Keep positive. You cansucceed if you really want to. The world is your oyster.

GRW

Assistant Head of Sixth form - i/c Careers

Department: Languages

Education: A levels in French, History, English Literature. Grades a state secret. Studied French at Manchester University with two years teaching in France after my degree.

Interests: Rowing when I’m motivated. Reading novels - modern and classical, politics, biography, history, religion. Cinema - modern and oldies, Theatre. I love classical music especially on full volume in the car. Walking, travelling, good food.

Memorable trip/events @ AGS:  All French exchanges have been great.

Advice: Plan to work earlier than you will. Organise you folders early on. Seize the day - Carpe Diem. Get involved with extra curricular activities - you will make friends, it will look good on your UCAS form and enrich your lives.

KVU

Assistant Head of Sixth form

Department: Physical Education

Education: A level Maths, Chemistry, Geography at Northampton High School. BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science at Birmingham University

Interests: Netball, eating too much chocolate, meeting up with friends, reading biographies

Memorable trip/events @ AGS: Leaving the hand-brake off my car and seeing it roll back into the sports hall wall! Switzerland 2008 Ski Trip - particularly the comedy value of Mr Manvell.

Quote: “Somedays you’re the bug, somedays the windscreen”

JR

Assistant Head of Sixth form

Department: Physical Education

Education: A level English, Media Studies, Physical Education at Richard Huish College, Taunton. BA (Hons) Sport and Recreation Development at Leeds Metropolitan University. PGCE Physical Education at University of Exeter

Interests: Surfing, snowboarding, rugby, volleyball, martial arts, playing guitar, live music.

Interesting fact: I have a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and was British Student Champion in 2004.

Memorable trips @ AGS: Hawaii 2009, Chicago 2007 . Snowboarding in Kitzbuhel and Prato Nevoso. Newquay.

Pearls of wisdom: Don’t underestimate the difficulty of A-levels, take the opportunities you have - particularly at university.

IY

Head of Sixth Form

Department: Business Studies / Economics

Interests: Cheese, travelling to dangerous countries, football, cricket, running, swimming, skiing, snowboarding, micro-liting, skydiving, Russian literature, films involving Clint Eastwood, wearing medieval clothes, flower arranging.

Religion: Cricket

Phobias: Dough, heights

Memorable trips / experiences @ AGS: Business studies trips to Prague, Berlin, Barcelona, Thailand, Rome, Florence, Paris, Seville, Lisbon. Expeditions to Russia, Mongolia, China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Coventry. Surfing in Newquay x 5.  Skiing all over the place.

Gems of advice: Don’t consume blue things. Do it today. Believe

Written by Kim and Shannon, with thanks to Sophie Keevill.

Saturday – Day 1

We departed from Alcester Grammar School at the ungodly hour of 8-o-clock ready for a day of travelling and lots of queuing. We later arrived in Switzerland, excited about the snow. There was no snow. When we finally got to the hotel, everyone was feeling pretty worn out. It looked impressive from the outside but, sadly, the inside didn’t quite live up to expectations. Rooms were allocated and once everyone was settled in it was time for the evening meal, which turned out to be “some form of fried potato with unidentifiable meat” (quote unquote).

Things soon looked up though – everyone was taken to get their skis and boots fitted. Yay!

Sunday – Day 2

Finally everyone got a chance to get out onto the slopes. Once we left the hotel, we made our way to Mannlichen where we were quickly split up into numbered groups depending on our ability. Nevertheless, everything was flexible and most of the groups had changed by the end of the day. There were quite a few accidents, as expected, with lots of us being thrown down red slopes on the first day and accordingly losing various parts of our equipment/anatomy. Skis were lost and bottoms were bruised, but, like true AGS students, we battled on. This was always helped by the fact that we knew we had a good, hearty meal ahead of us…

Monday – Day 3

The next day we went on to Scheidegg, where Ellie skied straight into a tree. Johnny also somehow managed to fall asleep on the infamous black run, the most dangerous piste of all, during a slalom course.

In the evening the group went bowling, which provided a nice break from the slopes. This was a chance for everyone from Year 11 to 13 to interact and relax after a hard day.

Tuesday – Day 4

The group returned to Scheidegg to try their luck on some more red and black runs. The day was quite uneventful, but everyone was prepared to challenge themselves and we were all excited about getting out on the slopes (and the town) again.

Wednesday – Day 5

This was probably the best day of the week, with a hectic skiing schedule. We were tightly packed into the Grindelwald Cable Cars, although a few particular members of the group went too far and had to wait for the rest to catch up with them. After a packed lunch involving bruised apples and squished sandwiches, courtesy of the hotel, our group moved on to the famed Revolving Restaurant. Then we did the ‘James Bond’ run, where we finished off the day with an intense exercise. This involved lying in the snow with our various aches and pains and summoning up enough energy to create what we felt was a stunning display of snow angels.

Thursday – Day 6

We were back up the Grindelwald red and black runs, where a certain unnamed member of Group 4 had to be rescued by a small child of six after attempting a daring and ultimately embarrassing display of skill. Everyone had a go at the Lauberhorne Olympic Downhill and Slalom – two very difficult but rewarding pistes.

Friday – Day 7

On our final day at the resort everyone was absolutely exhausted, so we started off with a few nice, easy runs. After this we returned to Mannlichen and finished off by skiing down some beautiful red runs – our last opportunity to impress the instructors and our friends with the skills we had learnt during the week in our assessment. Depending on our success, we were then graded on the quality and technique of our skiing, the majority of us surprised by how far we had come.

By the end of the trip, everyone seemed pretty sad to be leaving; nevertheless there was still a distinct sense of solidarity and camaraderie amongst the group. The whole group had an amazing time in Switzerland and we made many new friendships, as well as renewing old ones. We had to cross many mountains, in more ways than one – but it was worth it.  

When you sign up for open days, you should get a booklet with a list of talks and information. Make sure that you plan ahead and decide which ones you want to attend.
So you’re finally there, lost, confused and needing to be in a million places at once. Here’s what you need to do:
1.Decide whether or not you like the location of the university. Do you want to live in the city or on a campus? Does the city have a good social life and lots of interesting places to go?
2.Having a social life is important, but so is the quality of the university and its learning facilities. How good are the libraries? Do you have Internet access? Go to talks and find out about the subjects you want to take.
3.Accommodation. Are you guaranteed a place in your first year? You should try your best to visit student housing, as some sections will be open and available to view. There may be several different kinds, so make sure to check the prices and facilities on offer in each one. Do you want to live in a catered or self-catering residence? Make sure there is a communal area in the building: it’s important that there is somewhere you can make friends and socialise.
4.Transport. How far is it from the university to the city (if viewing a campus university)? Are there regular buses, and what are the prices like?
5.Before you go, make sure you know what you want to take, and have questions prepared about the subjects and the university. There will be students around on the day; they’re very useful sources of information about the university, both on the social life and quality of learning.
Remember: You could be spending three years or more at this university. Can you see yourself there in a year’s time?

By Hannah Catterall

Decision time!

First thing to do is to think about what you like doing the most, and what you’re good at. These things don’t necessarily go together. It’s important to remember that whatever you choose you need to be able to get the marks to back it up: your goal has to be reasonable. For example, if you’re getting a D in History but a B in English Lit, and want to take History at university, will it be possible to pull your marks up?

When you’ve decided on a subject, you need to use the reference books in the library to narrow it down to roughly ten universities. Don’t aim for entrance grades that you can’t meet, and choose at least one that has fairly low/reasonable entrance grades so that if you mess up in your exams, you’ll still have somewhere to go. Order prospectuses off the Internet, and narrow it down again to five or seven universities that you want to visit.

Personal Statement

Personal statements are very important. Sometimes, apart from predicted and achieved grades, they’re your only method of proving yourself to a university. Keep it positive, well-written and well-spelled. Mentions of reading around the subject are important, and don’t try to fake it. 

You’ll get a lot of help when writing your personal statement, you can ask your subject teachers, form tutors and the sixth form office, but here’s some information to help you out:

Plan it thoroughly in advance. Divide it into four parts; the opening paragraph, academic skills and examples, extra-curricular activities and the closing paragraph. It should be aimed to show your good points, not your bad points: don’t mention anything negative. It should show what you have learned from your subjects and other activities, and how this makes you suitable to study at the universities that you have chosen.

UCAS Forms

Your tutors will teach you how to fill in the forms, but you need to be prepared. Make sure you have all of your GCSE and AS exam certificates. You will need all your unit numbers and titles for each subject, AS and A2, so you’ll need to talk to your teachers about these. Doing this in advance will save a lot of time and panic.

You will also need to know your predicted grades, although you don’t have to enter them on the form. If you don’t know them, you won’t know which universities to aim for. If you’re predicted three Bs, applying to Oxbridge is pretty hopeless and probably a waste of an option. Teachers won’t always keep you informed about these, so you need to take the initiative and keep track of them. If you feel that the grade you have been predicted is unfair, you can also bargain to change them (successfully or unsuccessfully). Every time you do this you need to inform the sixth form office.

First Contact

After sending your personal statement, it can take several weeks before they can contact you. If a university offers you a place, it may also ask you to attend interviews or go to another open day. These open days actually function as interviews in themselves, so before you go to either of these events you need to talk to the sixth form office, who will advise you on how to respond to questions and what to watch out for. Practice interviews are also available. After this, you need to narrow down your universities to two; a first choice and a second choice. One way to do this is to look at the specifics of the course and decide which ones you are most interested in, as well as the actual university; in the end, you’ll be at the university for three years or more, so it’s important that you like the place and the course.

Good luck!

by Hannah Catterall