The visit to CERN lasted a whole day and there were many things to see. In the morning we visited their two exhibits; one details the history of CERN and the milestones in its history; the other had lots of ‘hands on’ experiences and explained the major discoveries in particle and nuclear physics and the experiments that these pioneering physicists undertook.

After a satisfying lunch in the famous CERN restaurant, our tour guide took us to a control room of one of the detectors, located 100m below ground on the LHC (Large Hadron Collider), containing many computer stations.  It is manned 24 hours a day when experiments are running with constant analysis of the data being collected. We then visited the magnetic testing station. In total the LHC has over 1600 superconducting magnets, each over 20m long and operating at -270C – 100m below the ground. These magnets are a massive engineering triumph that had never been completed on this scale before.

The trip was concluded with dinner in a traditional Swiss restaurant, where the students tucked into snails and then two types of fondue – cheese and ‘fondue bourguignon’. Some students were not sure if they would enjoy this type of food but everyone really enjoyed it and were all very full by the end of the evening. 

It is a shame that such a successful and enjoyable trip was marred by snow in the UK, resulting in flight delays.

After a thrilling lecture on the secrets of successful share trading, our Students were able to hone their moneymaking techniques in a simulated share dealing room. They were all greatly impressed by the University’s banking facilities, such as double screen computers, digital news flashes and up-to-the second share pricing screens, which are generously sponsored by the main International Investment Banks.

Economics Student, Yasir, effectively applied his knowledge of two-way market pricing to the trading platform and confidently made £137,000 in less than half an hour. That achievement very nearly took away the breath of the University Staff present.

After the visit, two AS Economics Students had been so enthralled by the afternoon experience, they expressed their interest in applying for the BSc Investment Banking Course at Reading University next year.

There are currently 130 students who have said that they will be able to attend, dating back to 1966 so please try to come if you can.

He commented, ‘I am delighted to be back and to  find that the friendly, informal atmosphere is very much  in evidence, as is  the commitment to nurturing individual talent.’

Lord Moyne met Student Leaders who shared their experiences at the College and discussed their future plans.  During his visit, Lord Moyne recounted many lively stories of the early days  of Padworth College.   The Principal, Linde Melhuish, said, ‘It was a delight to meet Lord Moyne and we look forward to welcoming  him back next year to celebrate our 50^th anniversary.’

Man of the Match – Ahmed  

These results mean that many of our students have achieved their first choice of university including places for Medicine at East Anglia, Management at Manchester and Finance & Investment Banking at Reading.  The University Access (Foundation in Business) students have also been successful in gaining places at Royal Holloway, Aston and Cardiff.

The Year 11 students achieved good results in the GCSE level examinations – 69% of all entries achieved A* – C grades and 49% achieved A* – B grades.  The overall pass rate was 97%.

Principal, Linde Melhuish said, “We are delighted with this year’s results and we are very proud of all of our students and their achievements.  My thanks to all of our dedicated teaching staff who work very closely with our students to achieve their individual academic goals and I believe that the results are testimony to their hard work.” 

The A Team won the competition by 1 point which turned out to be the equivalent of 1 second on the Up & Under Ball Pass Station. After the Presentation Ceremony, staff and students enjoyed a BBQ.