AMBITION: An Audio Survey

For my Ambition piece, I chose to do an audio, @Vox-pop@ style clip about how JFS helps people realise their ambitions. Here’s the Link:

https://soundcloud.com/user99925944/ambitions

AMBTION: Travel Writing

Ever since I was five years old I’ve been interested in flags. Flags of Africa, flags of Asia and flags of Europe, I knew them all, and this burning passion has never died down. I would sit on the carpet – atlas in hand – testing my knowledge on capital cities, populations and the national dish, not satisfied until I knew all that I wanted to know. The desire to be knowledgeable about the countries around us (and their lifestyles) has and always will fascinate me.

Intertwining my love for journalism, geography and sport, I decided perhaps I would become a sports journalist, travelling the globe reporting on the latest sports stories. However was this fulfilling enough? Would I get the recognition I deserve? Would I just be ‘another reporter?’ So I revised my opinion and decided what would be much more fulfilling would be writing; the chance to put my feelings and thoughts across with words rather than actions. The saying goes that actions speak louder than words, but sometimes the world around is just too simply unbelievable and truly beautiful that your heart pours out words onto paper.

I’d never known a lot about travel writing. Often I would see my parents reading a travel magazine and look at the pictures, imagining the possibility to visit these spectacular sites throughout the world. I never took note of the words though. But as I grew and became more interested in writing, I started to realise that there is much more beauty in the writing than there is in the pictures, even though the photographs may be great to sit and stare at.

           

And that is how my ambition grew, to be a Michael Palin or Bill Bryson, but bringing my own small twist to the genre of travel writing.

AMBITION: Aspiration

Aspiration

The JFS is an amazing school for inspiring children to have great aspirations. Year sevens come into the school with little or no idea what they want to be when they are older, and they go out having been inspired by passionate teachers, engaging clubs and career counselling.

One of the reasons that the JFS is so good at helping students dream up and fulfil aspirations is the amazing effectiveness of the school and sixth form, both of these categories received the grade “outstanding” in the latest Ofsted report. Also it said in the report that JFS has an “exceptionally strong ethos of inclusive aspiration”. I would just like to note in passing that the school was ranked as outstanding in all other categories.

As I mentioned earlier, there are many extracurricular things that a student can take up. One of these is the Student Journalism programme which students interested in journalism are invited to join. Many people have been given an insight into journalism because of it and it has therefore inspired some to go into some form of journalism. There are other clubs, for example sports clubs, music clubs, a geography club (travel club), a coding club, a debating society... The list goes on. 

Finally, I would like to talk about the tutor base activities that we have been doing. Recently, year nine tutor bases have used a website called Kudos that allows you to complete a survey which recommends certain professions and rates them on how much you would like them based on the survey. The students have then got into groups and chosen a job all of them are interested in. They then made an ideal CV, a job description, and an advert for that job. Groups have presented these to their tutor bases and the best from each tutor base will go forward to an inter-form competition. This will suggest new possibilities of jobs to students that they possibly hadn’t though up before.

AMBITION: 'All of us have Dreams'

Ambition

All of us have dreams,
Some far-fetched it seems.
In this poem I will hum,

My ambition – for years to come.

I’ve always wanted to see the pale white moon,

Not to think it just a cartoon.

To be an astronaut I must be wise.

If I want to win, the Nobel prize.

Why not be a chef, a server or a waiter?

I could even become the next ice skater.

Even though a job in sports, does sounds exciting,

I’d rather take a different path – a career in writing.

Science, Maths and IT – these are my real strengths,

However jobs in these regions require long lengths,
I must work very hard, who knows what I will find…
All I know now though, is to have an open mind.

Ambitions are like fairy-tales, we all hope for the best,

In thirty years’ time, I could be what I never guessed!

The future is like a football, we must let it roll,

I hope at JFS, I will achieve my goal.

AMBITION: JFS Planting the Seed

Ambition

When I got to JFS, there were GCSEs I thought I would never even consider later in my school life. But being part of JFS, has given me a whole new perspective on these subjects. JFS does so much to encourage students to have the determination to follow the path they want. They do not stop at just giving lessons; they give students the opportunity to experience their options by doing activities such as workshops, clubs and trips.

Ambition is one of the hardest things to give to people, especially to students. It means giving them a new idea for the future, which may change their lives. This is the aim of a secondary school, not only to educate students about certain topics but also to inspire students to look at options they might not have considered otherwise. This is easier said than done, and it is something that is quite often not achieved.  JFS, on the other hand, has succeeded and continues to succeed at giving students new ambitions.

There are many people who come to JFS hating a particular subject, and end up taking it for GCSE and sometimes further. The thing that students realise after having been at JFS for a while is that many of the subjects they did not think were  important, are actually very useful for and might make a job that they want to do in the future, easier. Therefore giving ambition does not only give someone new ideas for the future, it helps them understand everything they need to achieve all the needed qualifications.

This is something that happens quite often. In fact, it happened to me. In my first few months at JFS, I thought that I could not do geography; I did not think it was a subject I would enjoy. It turns out that I have now chosen to do it for GCSE because after doing lessons I started to realise that many of the topics discussed related to jobs that I might want to do in the future. Not only this, it was a subject that I thought was very interesting and relevant to the future.

JFS does not only give students new ambitions, it helps them pursue ambitions that they have. Students are given the chance to achieve their full potential. This is something that is very important and I think that JFS given many students ambitions which will benefit them later in their lives.