| Paul Griffiths |
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Job Title: Schools’ Officer Based at: University of Wales Newport  Your Role As a Schools’ Officer on the First Campus project my job is to work with school pupils at Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 to provide events and activities that will raise their aspirations and motivations for studying in Higher Education. This is done though a variety of delivery methods including workshops, taster sessions, after schools clubs, lessons and visits. I am involved in all aspects of organising the events from booking rooms, schools and tutors to the running of the events on the day. Also, as a qualified teacher of Sport, Physical Activity and Health I am able to facilitate and deliver sessions related to this area of the curriculum myself. As a widening access project we work with 4 main target groups: pupils from Communities First areas, BME pupils, pupils with disabilities, and pupils learning through the medium of Welsh. All events and activities are geared to these target groups and our objective is to increase participation in higher education by these groups. Example of a typical event/ typical day at work: There is no typical day, which makes this job so enjoyable! One day I may be running an event where I will meet the schools, coordinate the student ambassadors working on the event, and be involved in the general running of the day. Another day I may be in meetings with academic staff and school teachers to discuss the best way to run an event to give the pupils maximum benefit. I could then spend a day delivering sports lessons for local schools as part of their BTEC National qualification, or going out to schools with students from various degree disciplines to run workshops that create interest in certain subject areas. Key tasks: My current role is to work with schools in the Gwent area, and on occasion with pupils across South East Wales with our First Campus partner institutions, to develop interest and motivation for continuing into Higher Education. Favourite part of your job: Going out to schools and working with pupils on new and exciting subjects that may not traditionally be part of their curriculum. Recently I have been going out to schools with two fashion students to introduce Year 8 pupils to Fashion Design. It has been really satisfying seeing the pupils enthused about a new subject and then finding out that they had been working on fashion designs out of school time and asking for homework. You Your Background I originally studied for a degree in Geography and Computing in Kingston University. Having scraped through with a rather unremarkable grade I returned to Newport and worked for a number of years in various roles. I decided to get back into sports and fitness and enjoyed it so much that I decided I wanted to extend my knowledge further and so enrolled on a Sports Studies degree course at the University of Wales Newport. Second time around I was far more motivated studying subjects I really enjoyed and was pleased to receive a 1st Class honours degree. I then went on to complete a PGCE in Post 16 Education and did my teaching practice at Coleg Gwent and here at the University of Wales Newport. While on teaching placement I did a bit of teaching with local schools for the First Campus project and became interested in the type of work that was being done, and applied for the Schools Officer role when the position was advertised. I am currently completing a part-time MSc in Physical Activity & Health at UWIC which is a subject of personal interest to me, and I hope to transfer the knowledge gained to First Campus events in this subject area. Other interests: I am interested in anything sport related! I am a former rugby and football player at local and university level, and now like to keep fit by going to the gym, running, mountain biking, playing tennis, and playing golf (badly!). I am also an active member of an amateur investment club! |
