Yesterday was a day full of vibrancy and grand ideas at Yarnton. With the weekend fast approaching, everyone had a little weekend fever to boost their creativity – and it really showed!

The Summer Architecture Programme spent the morning getting a taste of life as an architect as they worked to produce a design based on a brief. The class rose to the challenge fantastically, creating some really innovative and unique proposals and really proving their mettle as future architects.

Once lessons for the day were finished, our younger cohort were visited by two very engaging guest speakers: Jenny Garrett and Jaimi Wilson.

Jenny talked to the students about their potential to become ‘changemakers’, people who make a difference, no matter how small, in the world. By getting the students discussing changemakers their own age, like Greta Thunberg, Jenny brought some fun interactivity to the talk while also inspiring our students to realise their own incredible potential. One of the students, Sammy, was even nominated by his friends as their own inspirational changemaker, which was wonderful to hear.

Inspiration seemed to be the theme of the day as Jaimi encouraged the students to push the boundaries of what they think they can do. She talked about her experiences overcoming all sorts of fears and obstacles as she fulfilled her quest to cycle around the world and urged the cohort not to let their own fears stand in their way either. It was a message that resonated with every student, regardless of their background, and they all left feeling inspired to pursue their dreams.

For the evening activities, our two cohorts were reunited for homework club, a very close-run table tennis tournament, or a trip to see Don Quixote performed in Oxford’s beautiful covered market. After such a busy day, each was a welcome chance for a more relaxed end to Thursday!