On Friday 24 November, key speakers Violet Gibson, Mei Mason Li and Craig Alison came to deliver a psychology talk from Solent University Southampton. Students were presented with an interactive presentation of how our cognitive perspective impacts individuals’ resilience and ability to overcome stress. Students were able to observe physiological changes in volunteers and given key techniques to help counter their stress response.

Students were very engaged asking questions about the body’s physiological response and were able to link their understanding to key areas already studied on the course, such as cognitive behavioural therapy and classical conditioning.

Students were able to gain further understanding of the role psychology has in numerous fields such as education, clinical and occupational psychology. The talk has inspired many to now consider a career in Psychology. Thank you to Solent University for this inspirational session.

Thank you very much to Rob Harris who came and spoke to criminology, law and sociology students this week about his role as a magistrate. He was very informative, telling us how the courts work, what punishment and other sentencing powers one has, how one trains to become a magistrate, providing us with local, regional and national figures and personal anecdotes.

Criminology students have to study the role of the lay person in the criminal justice system in depth, so to have Rob speak to the students about this really lifted it out from the book and brought it all to life! Rob definitely inspired some students to look into this vital and fascinating voluntary position in society.

On Wednesday 16 November, Charlie Panayi visited year 12 Criminology students to deliver a talk and answer questions on developing and running a campaign for change. As this is something students are asked to do for one of their main assessments, this was a fantastic opportunity to gain knowledge and advice from somebody with real life experience of undertaking the task.

Charlie outlined the purpose of Zoe’s Law, a campaign that he along with other family and friends of Zoe Panayi launched to call for a change in law to make the testing of moles that have been removed compulsory.
The students were mature and engaged during the talk – asking questions around funding and methods of campaigning. Feedback from them has been overwhelmingly positive and they have very much appreciated the real life experience being discussed with them. Thank you very much to Charlie for giving his time to support our students’ understanding of this topic.

For more details about the “Zoe’s Law” campaign and to sign the petition, please follow this link: https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-make-it-zoe-s-law-ensure-all-moles-tags-removed-are-tested-by-law-for-melanoma-cancer
or visit the facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/zoepanayilaw/?locale=en_GB

A level geology students at The Island VI Form have recently completed a week long residential, 350 miles north of the Isle of Wight, investigating the geology of the Lake District.

On their first day, with an igneous rocks focus, the students and geology Teachers, Simon Lloyd and Vix Lowthion, went out suited and booted in all the waterproofs to focus on the Borrowdale Volcanic group. First to Derwentwater and the jointed dolerite outcrop at Castle Head, then to the green volcanic slates of Honister Slate Mine (including hot chocolate and souvenirs) and finally the immense andesitic 2,000 ton Bowder stone.

As the week went on, wellies were essential – students walked through the rain and through swollen streams up to the granite intrusion at Sinen Gill and identified andalusite slates, coralite and sillimanite minerals and finally the high grade hornfels.

Day four and five saw a focus on sedimentary rocks and geochronology. They visited Cowraik Quarry Nature Reserve and completed some field sketches, micro studies and measurements of the dips and strikes of the Permian sanddunes there. They then travelled to the A6 Shap road cutting with 8 limb folds of slates and greywacke right next to the traffic. More sketches and dips and strikes. It was cold in Shap!

On the final morning – finally with blue skies and sunshine – they went to Schoolhouse Quarry to investigate the geochronology of events recorded in the rocks. They discovered folding, faulting and even a sill intruding through the beds.

This was a wonderful trip for the students and was well supported by Pippa from the Field Studies Council at Blencathra. Thank you to the staff accompanying the trip for their excellent organisation and for enabling this hands-on experience for the students. Next stop – mock exams!