At Coulsdon Sixth Form College, we pride ourselves on having great relationships with local employers to help inspire the next generation of workers through workshops, talks and even work experience.
This term, our Public Services students have been mentored by some of the most prestige professionals in their field, both on-site and virtually. We have welcomed The Met Police Volunteer Cadets, Prison Offender Manager at Highdown Prison – Liane Davis, The Army Rifles Regiment, and former student and Director of Methodology at Alicante Football Club and Director at ACFC Academy, Phil Phillipou.
Met Police Volunteer Cadets – Monday 24-Tuesday 25 April
The Met Police cadets came to the College to deliver some unit content and even carry out some assessments on our Level 2 and 3 Public Services students.
Day 1 – Students were put into small groups for a professional discussion on the values and ethos of the police and other public services. This lead on to a discussion about the skills and qualities required to be successful in the public services.
Students were then put through their paces in a mock interview with the Officers which simulated a section of a real interview for selection in the police force which focused on what they learnt during the day.
Day 2 – Students were asked to take part in a series of leadership command tasks to test their leadership and teamwork skills. This included activities such as tower building, blind obstacle course and various observation tasks.
In the afternoon, students discussed the fitness requirements of different roles in the police. They were all required to participate in the multi stage fitness test to see if they could meet all the requirements of the fitness selection stage. The majority of students successfully reached the minimum of 5.4 requirement for a regular Police Officer. A couple of students even reached the 10.2 requirement to be in the Armed Response team.
Liane Davis – Teams Talk
Liane inspired students by talking about her journey into the prison service taking her through many other careers such as teaching, graphic design and working in a supermarket. She highlighted the importance of building skills in a range of different jobs and roles which are transferrable to different careers.
Liane told the students about the values and skills of a Prison Offender Manager and got students to complete a range of activities to test their skills for the job.
Army Rifles Regiment – Tuesday 4 May
The Army Rifles based in Woolwich came on site to give a talk to students about the various career options in the army and even ran some leadership and fitness activities with them.
The session started with a presentation explaining the different regiments and their job roles and requirements including some exciting videos of different weapons in action. Students took a particular interest in the snipers until they were informed about the training involving sitting in a field for 3 weeks and living out of a bag!
Next, students completed a leadership challenge involving stacking a set of tires in number order which was a lot harder than it sounds. Students had to communicate effectively and work as a team to complete the task in 12 minutes which they just managed thanks to a couple of students taking charge and giving orders to the rest of the class in true army style.
The soldiers were impressed with our student’s commitment and effort on the day and they are excited to return next year to work with our new cohort.
Phil Phillipou – Thursday 6 May (Teams talk)
Phil left Coulsdon College in 2007 after completing courses in Sport and Leisure and Tourism. He started his coaching journey by volunteering at Crystal Palace FC and various other local clubs building experience. Phil continued to gain experience for many years including trips to the USA and Australia working his way through the coaching qualification levels 3.
Phil went on to complete a Degree in Football Methodology at the University of Madrid and this lead on to an opportunity working with Alicante FC in Spain and becoming the Director of a football academy.
Phil gave a Teams talk to our Level 3 Sport students, giving advice on how to get into sports coaching and the skills and qualities required to be successful.
