Finance students at the University of Wolverhampton have been given top employment tips from a leading recruitment firm.

Kelly Brown, Executive Business Manager at Reed Accountancy in Wolverhampton, visited the University to present a talk titled ‘would you employ you?’

The visit was part of the University of Wolverhampton Business School’s focus on preparing students for the world of work.

Kelly offered tips to Finance and Accounting students to help them become more employable and give themselves a better chance of competing for graduate level jobs.

She also discussed the importance of relevant work experience and what the recruitment market looks like for new graduates.

Kelly said: “We were talking about the importance of experience when engaging with recruitment agencies, and that could be within a gap year or sandwich year to give students a bit more knowledge about the career they are hoping to go into and to gain some more soft skills along the way.”

Kelly’s top tips:

• Tailor your CV to the position and the company you want to work for
• Have a very good personal statement which talks about you as an individual and your transferable skills
• Practice and prepare for interview questions – and have some questions to ask as well.

They came up with their own character scenario, went into hair and make-up then Sutton Coldfield College students gave the performance of their lives while taking part in a training exercise for West Midlands Fire Service.

The 15 performing arts (acting) students took on roles in a search and rescue situation, interacting with fire officers from local stations earlier this month.

They even looked the part as media make-up artists from University College Birmingham made them look as though they had been surrounded by smoke and had suffered injuries and burns.

“This was an exciting and challenging performance opportunity for the students,” said Lorraine Foggin, Department Manager at the college.  “The scene was a gas explosion in a building basement and they had to communicate with the officers responding to the scene as they would do in a real life situation.

“They were all incredibly professional, despite being in a daunting environment that was dark, full of smoke and noise.  It’s proved to the students that no matter what the situation, the show can and must still go on!”

75 officers from stations across Birmingham, Coventry and the black country took part in the exercise in central Birmingham.

Staff and pupils at Sacred Heart Primary School in Tipton will bid their headteacher a very fond farewell when she retires at the end of this term.

Melanie Gee has taught her entire career in schools in Sandwell since gaining her teaching degree in 1984 - a total of 34 years.

Her career began at Old Park Primary School in Wednesbury before Melanie moved to Wednesbury Oak Primary then to Hateley Heath Infant School in 1997. Following a merge of Hateley Heath infant and junior schools, Melanie was promoted to the Deputy Head post.

In January 2009, Melanie was appointed as acting headteacher at Sacred Heart Primary School initially for one term. In September 2009, Melanie was given the permanent headteacher role at Sacred Heart - then the smallest school in Sandwell with less than 100 pupils.

Sacred Heart Primary School moved into their brand new state-of-the-art building in 2017 and the school now has more than 335 pupils - more than three times as many compared to when Melanie first took over.

Melanie Gee said: "As I reach the end of my teaching career, I would like to say that I have always been very proud to say that I work in Sandwell, and it has been a privilege to have served the children and families of Sandwell for 34 years."

Councillor Simon Hackett, cabinet member for children's services thanked Melanie Gee on a recent visit to Sacred Heart Primary School. He said: "Throughout her career Melanie will have taught thousands of children in Sandwell. I want to thank Melanie for her hard work and dedication to schools in Sandwell."

Last week, schools across Kings Heath, battled it out to be crowned the best young mathematical brains in the region as part of the National Young Mathematicians’ Awards.  The competition, organised by tuition provider, Explore Learning and NRICH at the University of Cambridge, is aimed at school children across the UK with the aim of inspiring the next generation of mathematical minds!

For the first time ever, there were two elements of the competition – one aimed at primary schools and one at secondary schools.

8 took part with Colmore Primary School being victorious in the primary school category.  And for the secondary school category, Tiffany Bouyer-Howell, Zosia Webster, Sarah Badenhurst and Kirsten Rhodes James from Kings Edward VI Camp Hill School for girls fought off tough competition from a fantastic challenge from maths whizzes at the other schools.

All schools had competed in a previous round to make it to the semi-final.

Charlotte Gater, Head of Curriculum at Explore Learning says: “This year’s competition was the biggest yet with over 1200 schools taking part so the regional winners have done incredibly well to be crowned their local champions!  We saw an amazing array of maths skills on display where youngsters worked as a team, excelled in logical thinking and, most importantly, had fun while learning!  A massive well done to all those who took part.”

The 10 teams who have made it to the Grand Final is at the University of Cambridge on 9th January will be revealed later in December.  Here they will compete in one last competition to be named the National Young Mathematicians of the Year by University Challenge legend, TV presenter and author, Bobby Seagull who is Explore Learning’s National Young Mathematicians’ Awards Ambassador for 2018.

Bobby Seagull says: “I’m really pleased to be the ambassador for this year’s National Young Mathematicians’ Awards. Maths is in my blood and I’m thrilled to be able to inspire the next generation who might one day study at the University of Cambridge themselves – and perhaps appear on University Challenge! Maths is such an integral part of our everyday lives and having competitions like this really encourages children to see the importance of it and excitement that it can bring. I can’t wait to celebrate the children’s success with them.”

Not only will this year’s winners be crowed the best young mathematicians in the country, the two winning teams and eight runners up will receive prizes from Meccano, Letts Revision, i-Top and Sum Fun.