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King’s Ely Junior pupil secures place with National Youth Girls’ Choir

Talented King’s Ely Junior pupil Sophia Garrard is singing with the National Youth Girls’ Choir this summer.

Sophia, 11, auditioned for the prestigious choir in October last year and was successful in securing a place on its summer programme, which is taking place at St Hild and St Bede College at Durham University.

The highlight of the programme for Sophia and the other girls will be singing in the ‘March With Us’ concert being held at Beamish Open Air Museum on August 18th to mark the centenary of Women’s Suffrage.

Sophia, who lives with her family in Ely, is a member of the Chamber Choir at King’s Ely Junior, and will be joining the wonderful Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir in September. She was also a member of Cambridge University’s St Catherine’s College Girls’ Choir this year.

Read more at: https://www.kingsely.org/kings-ely-junior-pupil-secures-place-with-national-youth-girls-choir/

A "Google-it" mentality is leaving sixth-formers unprepared for higher education, a survey of university admissions officers has found.

Around half (49 per cent) of admissions officers said they do not believe that students arrive at university "sufficiently prepared” for higher education, according to a study conducted by ACS International Schools.

A series of interviews with officers at 81 different universities revealed that just 37 per cent  felt school leavers are prepared for university, and the remainder were not sure or did not respond.

Admissions officers were asked what impacts of students’ ability to thrive at university, and what has the biggest impact on their ability to successfully complete the first year of study.

The majority said that student were “unable to remember facts” and had a “a ‘Google-it’ mentality”. Almost 90 per cent said that students were unable to think and learn independently, and a similar proportion said that students are unable to manage their own time or workloads.

Chris Ramsey, headmaster of  Whitgift School and co-chair of the HMC university committee, has previously said that helping students make the transition from school to higher education is key.  

“Universities do need to understand that the first term is the toughest and most risky part of a university career, when everything is changing at once and the drop out rate is highest,” he said.

Read more at: http://snip.ly/usdrut/#https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2018/07/31/google-it-mentality-leaves-school-leavers-unprepared-university/