Class of 1980
BA CDT with Physics
Country: UK
Nationality: British
IF YOU STUDIED YOUR UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMME AT YORK ST JOHN UNIVERSITY OR FOUNDER COLLEGES, DID YOU GO ON TO POSTGRADAUTE STUDY?
Yes, somewhere else.
WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN THIS PHOTO AS YOUR YSJ SNAPSHOT?
So for my time at St Johns – in front of the hose reel. Taken on a later visit. 1981? It just comes up times, events and friends.
Passport type – as it says.
Post college achievements – 3 children.
I now helm dragon boats. I did a bit of rowing at college in my first year. Lived way out in Y2 and stopped. Stopped for best part of 25 years+. They my wife started going to Paddlers for Life Windermere and I got more and more involved.
WHY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND YSJ TO SOMEONE?
Yes. I came to St Johns because I didn’t want to get lost in a large Uni. I didn’t.
What do I miss most – on tap friends! But after 4 years I was ready to move on. At 21 18 year olds seemed very young.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE YORK ST JOHN UNIVERSITY OR FOUNDER COLLEGES?
Back in the day schools told 6th formers to apply to a teacher training college ‘in case you mess up your A levels. I did initially apply following that directive but as the year wore on I decided that I wanted to go there for positive reasons not as a fall back. The set up, modular courses, York, the more intimate nature of the (then) college appealed. THB the interviews and visits to large UNIs had put me off slightly and made me think.
WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING SINCE COMPLETING YOUR STUDIES?
After leaving I moved to Manchester and started a job as an industrial/architectural model maker. In a workshop all day. Not bad pay as a 21 year old.
However government cuts (a lot of the work was defence, nuclear, museums – all government funded) meant that I lost my job.
No similar work anywhere so I applied to do a PGCE at De La Salle in Middleton Manchester. Got my old job back but stuck with the PGCE.
Moved to Chorley where my wife had just got a job.
Taught DT for 34 years in a couple of schools.
Retired!
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE YOUR SPECIFIC COURSE?
Initially I applied to teach, to be a Physics teacher.
Before I started I dropped the teaching part – to keep future options more open. Opted for Maths as my subsidiary subject.
I picked up a CDT course as a free standing choice.
Swapped and made CDT my main with physics as a subsidiary and dropped maths and designated the maths I’d done as a free standing course.
The modular courses worked well for me!
WHAT WERE THE BEST FEATURES OF YOUR COURSE?
CDT – making things, learning new skills, free rein of the, then, new CDT block. Lowther Street had just closed down.
HOW DID STUDYING AT YSJ HELP IN YOUR CAREER SEARCH/SUCCESS/CURRENT ROLE?
Not quite sure where I’d have ended up if I’d gone to UMIST, Salford Uni, Sheffield Uni etc. Possibly a bit lost, I’d not have has the possibility of chopping and changing course.
WHAT ONE PIECE OF ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A CURRENT STUDENT, OR ONE ABOUT TO GRADUATE?
Use course flexibility to your advantage, have a flexible approach to your life and work. Don’t allow yourself to be too defined by your job/position.