Continuing our theme of Excellence.....

CAMBRIDGE VISIT 

Philip Howell 

University Senior Lecturer and Fellow of Emmanuel College Philip Howell visited Gibraltar this week to give advice to 6th form students on applying to Universities in the UK. 

As well as a general lecture on the UCAS procedure Phil also gave workshops on applying to Oxbridge and on the importance of a good interview. 

Kusuma is always trying to encourage our young people to strive to be as good as they can be and we hope with visits such as these from Lecturers from Cambridge that it will give students the tools to be accepted into the University of their choice. 

A week of Excellence

CELEBRATION OF EXCELLENCE 

Trustee Joey Garcia and Chief of Operations Dominique Searle 

This week we have been celebrating Excellence with students past and present and members of the community who have received funding to pursue training.  

We were extremely pleased to celebrate the success of Daya Dewfall a recipient of a Professional Development award, who achieved the degree of Master of Science with Merit in Allergy . It was fantastic to see how people were progressing in their studies and the impact the course had been to them and to the community.

Excellence Scholarships are given out annually to students who are decided to be deserving of such a unique award. It is not only based upon academic merit but is dependent on them applying to a eligible University and demonstrates a commitment to self development and a desire to contribute to the Gibraltar community.

As well as the Kusuma Excellence Scholarships, The Kusuma Trust also provide financial support to those in the community who would like to strive to be better at what they are already participating in, this could be people working in  a specific industry which requires further training or as part of a community group who would like to further their knowledge in a particular area.

To find out more please go to the Kusuma Trust website  

Guests at Excellence reception held at Isolas 

British Sign Language in Gibraltar

BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE IN GIBRALTAR 

Congratulations to all those students who passed their British Sign Language (BSL) Level 2 Certificates. First supported by Gibraltar in October 2011 the group have gone on to produce 54 BSL level 1 standard certificate holders and 10 of these have gone on to pass their Level 2 certificates. 

The Gibraltar hearing Impaired and Tinnitus Association (GHITA) strive to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by people with hearing impairments in day-to day living and to promote and encourage the use of British Sign Language in Gibraltar. Previous to October 2011 there had been no BSL taught on the Rock, with Kusuma's participation the GHITA have been able to organise classes and promote the use of sign language in the hope that we will give our community of hearing impaired the independence and the opportunity to be included into the community. 

BSL students with teacher Colin Thomson

The Kusuma Trust Gibraltar are happy to announce that they will continue to support the GHITA with their BSL initiatives for 2014 where they will be continuing with BSL Level 1 classes. For more information please go to the GHITA website http://ghita.gotdns.org/contact_ghita.html

EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIPS OPEN 1st MAY 2013

If you are a top student applying to a prestigious university you maybe able to apply for one of our Excellence Scholarships.

To find out more about our scholarships and if you are eligible go to the Kusuma Trust website : Excellence 

Applications open from the 1st May until the 31st May 2013.
We will not accept any applications that come in after 5pm 31st May 2013. 

Excellence Awarded

To coincide with this years Gibraltar Careers Fair organised by the Department of Education, Kusuma Trust Gibraltar sponsored three university representatives and a representative from Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) to come and speak to sixth formers from Bayside and Westside Schools.

 Minister Gilbert Licudi, centr, with UK speakers and representatives of the Kusuma Trust .

The Excellence talks are in their fourth year with representatives from the top UK universities.  Imperial University, The University of Oxford and The University of St Andrews were this years participating universities. They delivered a series of talks aimed at encouraging students to aim for excellence and to help them understand the application process of higher education in the UK.

VSO was a  welcomed addition to the talks, promoting volunteering and giving information to students on GAP year opportunities. Susie representative for VSO also discussed the current scheme available for 18-25 year olds from Gibraltar called ICS which is fully funded by the Kusuma Trust.

Sarah Dallas-Ross from St Andrews lecture was particular insightful into the educational system in Scotland which differs slightly from the rest of the UK. This was the first time St Andrews has had a representative come to Gibraltar.

Albert Isola trustee of the Kusuma Trust also gave a short talk explaining the Excellence Scholarships on offer to students,  in order to  "help students achieve excellence" the trust offers the opportunity for students to compete for a number of discretionary scholarships to encourage young people to study medicine, technology and business related subjects at top universities.

This drive for excellence was highlighted at the talks when Kusuma gave an award to Sophia Lombard, a Westside student who scored the highest information Computer Technology mark in the whole of Europe.

Sophia Lombard presented with her prize by Trustee Albert Isola from the Kusuma Trust

Sophia was presented by Albert Isola with a Galaxy Note as a token of acknowledgement for her success.

Applications for the next academic year 2013/14 will commence on May 1st 2013.
For more information on volunteering with VSO -ICS or the Excellence Scholarships go to the Kusuma Trust website www.kusumatrust.gi 

Real World War II Enigma Machine in Gibraltar

Cambridge Mathematics Outreach Programme 

The Cambridge Maths Outreach team for the second year running will be conducting a series of workshops in Bayside and Westside School which will involve students tackling problem solving in situations where mathematics can be applied. 

One of the most popular parts of the outreach programme  is THE ENIGMA PROJECT where the team do a presentation of the history and mathematics of codes and code breaking including a demonstration of a genuine World War II enigma machine. Later the students are able to become code breakers themselves being thrust into the exotic world of Cryptography. 

Presenter James Grimes with the authentic Enigma machine

The team will also be delivering three other workshops designed to help students apply mathematical thinking and communication processes in a range of situations.

Our young students are not the only ones who will have their analytical and mathematical skills put to the test 2013 will also see the introduction of a session dedicated to Westside and Bayside teachers to get their mathematical inspirational and problem solving into over drive. We hope that they will find it as inspiring as their students. 

Science Road Show

The Science outreach team from the British Science Museum have been performing a series of experiments throughout the week aimed at encouraging the learning of Science based subjects. A week worth of shows have been organised for all First year primary students and year 8 and 9 Secondary School children,. The shows have been an incredible hit with Children and teachers alike.

The trust hopes that with events such as Science Week and its equally popular Maths Road show they will excite children in science and math subjects, and perhaps to even inspire them to consider it as a career, all of the shows are based on the curriculum so it is also another way to support the fantastic jobs that the teachers are already doing in schools but making it more interactive and accessible .

We are only two days into the shows so keep up with the blog as we will be posting even more on the crazy experiments that the outreach team will be doing in Gibraltar......