Today, I woke up feeling a bit nervous about presenting, but I was looking forward to it being over! We started out the day by taking the bus to Joseph Chamberlain College, which is a college that takes minoritized, disadvantaged kids aged 16-19, and helps them learn English language and prepare them to take their GCSEs so that the students can get a good job. Joseph Chamberlain College is the ONLY college in Birmingham that has received an outstanding rating by Ofsted.
One of the first things I noticed when we walked in was the amount of security, aka safeguarding, in the school. First of all, there is only one entrance through which people can enter and exit. There were noticeable guards everywhere, and even when we were checking in as visitors, they made us take a photo of ourselves and wear a red lanyard. You could tell how important security is for the college and how they want to ensure that the students are safe, while also making sure that students don’t get distracted from anything that might be going on in their outside life. This reminds me of my high school after our false hard lockdown. I remember the district making the rule that we would have to wear these red student lanyards with our school IDs in them, so that the staff around the building would know who was in the building at all times. Even if we were to leave during lunch, our IDs would have to be scanned, as well as when coming back inside the school. I thought it was interesting how my high school and Chamberlain College were similar in this specific aspect. Going along with the safeguarding, if any of us needed to use the restroom, Joe, the assistant principal, would have to walk us to the specific restroom and would not let us walk to it ourselves. This again ensures security as the supervisor/guard knows where the visitor is going.
The next thing we did was sit in an actual English class. The teacher jumped straight into the material and assigned the students some reading at the beginning of class. I really noticed how small the class sizes were, and the teacher was noticeably going around to everyone and asking if they needed any help or guidance with the questions. The students were preparing for their exam on Friday, so the professor was really keen to mention key points and ideas to help them get the highest marks on the exams. The positive feedback the students were receiving seemed really valuable and helped the students improve on what to add.
After our college visit was done, we had a little bit of free time to spend at the botanical gardens. They were so beautiful and were a great way to relax before our presentations!
By the time presentations came around, we were all a little antsy and nervous to present in front of people we did not know. We just had to think about how the audience wants us to do well. When our group went, as soon as we started, I felt a sudden calmness and felt more comfortable. We tried our very hardest, and everyone else did such an amazing job as well! Everyone had such great insight into what affected different groups’ access to healthcare and education. It feels like such a relief to have those presentations over with!
