The SU recently held RAG week at the College. A week full of fun events and activities for all to enjoy, all for the benefit of raising money for local charities.

The Raising and Giving week is the perfect opportunity to show your kindness and support as well as participating in some fantastic fundraising events, run by our amazing Student Union!

Monday kicked off with a fantastic basketball game between students and teachers. After the very successful volleyball tournament from Freshers’ week, it was no surprise to see the students and teachers battle it out again in the sports hall. It was bound to be a great matchup!

As a large crowd gathered, the atmosphere was tense as the teachers attacked early on, forcing a foul from the students. The teachers managed to convert just one free-throw but were 1-0 up early on. After the students hit the rim a few times, they got into their stride. A counter-attack from the teachers led to a foul and the opportunity for the lead to be extended only for both free-throws to be missed, the score remaining at 1-0.

However, it wasn’t long before the students made up for their missed opportunities. Two free throws were converted and suddenly the students were in the lead. That lead doubled soon after with a well executed layup. Following some end-to-end action and with the teachers squandering more free-throws, they finally hit back making it 4-3. 

Both No.9 for the students and No.5 for the teachers found their form and hit some impressive three pointers, making the score lines very tense! It was only after a few lay ups and free throws that the student began to run away with the game, despite the teachers’ best efforts.

A resounding win of 21-9 to the students, but both sets of players put up a good effort and created a fantastic event that everyone in the sports hall enjoyed.

Tuesday saw an abundance of activities for everyone at the College to enjoy, from penalty shootouts on the astroturf pitches to jenga, basketball, tin can alley and hoopla in the quad. However, one of the favourites of the day was throwing a wet sponge at Sammy! A week like this wouldn't be complete without the sale of Krispy Kremes donuts, £1 a donut which sold out very quickly. 

On to Wednesday now and, despite the rather miserable weather, there was certainly no shortage of people queuing up for ice creams!

The only queues longer than the ice cream van queues were for the TEA (Training, Employment and Apprenticeship) Fair on Thursday. This was an exciting opportunity for our students to be inspired by varied career pathways and discover what they may want to do after college. Over 1,500 of our students attended and were given an incredible insight into the world of apprenticeships and real world jobs such as working with industry leaders such as British Airways and Royal Navy as well as big organisations like Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. Students thoroughly enjoyed the event and their enthusiasm and eagerness to ask questions impressed the business representatives. 

Last, but not least, Friday’s very popular cake and Valentine Day flower sale took place in the quad. The roses sold out very quickly and needed to be restocked! This time the sun was out and the mood was even brighter thanks to some amazing singing from some of our talented music students.

This concluded another successful RAG Week, that was appreciated and enjoyed by students alike. We all look forward to more weeks like this one in the future, which wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated staff and Student Union. 

Written by Samuel Scrace, Second Year student