Profil von JGLewis

Firstly, it's spelt 'Aquinas'. Secondly, I've been attending for six months now, and I've been enjoying all of it. The staff are all friendly, the lessons are great and very well taught, add to that a plethora of extra curricular stuff like sports, College Magazine, Creative Writing, and even an Anime club.

The only real big problem with the college is 'Ethics', which is both annoying and pointless, and whats worse is it's an enforced part of the curriculum.

Aquinas College, in 2009 surpassed all other local colleges, including the non-state schools, and came out #1 in Stockport. It has close links with several European colleges and regularly partakes in exchanges, currently hosting the Romanian exchange (as of 5/2/09). Several trips are also part of the curriculum, including trips to Rome for Classics, Poland for History and India, for the colleges India project, of which a massive fundraising scheme has been held each year for the past 10 years. Opportunities are also present with talks from several institutions including Journalism talks from the BBC.

The latest Ofsted report described Aquinas as 'an outstanding college'. The adjective 'outstanding' was found to occur 26 times in the finished report. The report praised the friendly and positive environment for students to learn in. It was also touched upon that the use of IT was well applied to keep students engaged. Furthermore:

“Teachers and support staff work very well together to provide outstanding guidance and support. The college’s response to education and social inclusion is outstanding. A broad curriculum meets the needs of students very well. Alternative pathways are available for students not yet ready to study at advanced level and the college works hard to engage students who may otherwise not participate in further education. Extensive enrichment activities and voluntary work enhances students’skills. The Every Child Matters themes are embedded in all aspects of college life.”

A list of Key strengths was drawn up:

- Inclusive college
- High success rates on many courses
- Very good value added on A2
- Excellent individual support for students
- Productive partnerships
- Outstanding governance
- Outstanding range of courses and enrichment activities.

Ofsted also criticized the present building as being too cramped for the current demand for students. In response, a new college is currently being constructed, with the old one being demolished upon completion.

Additional reading:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4016399.stm - Hundreds que for places at college

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Monaghan - Aquinas alumni

http://www.aquinas.ac.uk/ - Aquinas website

A popular place for any Aquinas students, this place specializes in quick, very-unhealthy-but-damn-tasty-none-the-less food. Do be warned: should you order the chicken noodle soup, you’ll be waiting a very long time for what is essentially supernoodles and poultry in a polystyrene bucket. On one occasion they even forgot we made the order at all!

This place definitely falls into the category of 'Greasy spoon’, but none the less, it’s an awesome place to eat. The best bit is 'The Clarendon Special’ - Their version of the Full English, and boy it’s a ripper of a breakfast, if hardly the most healthy, but then, I doubt the person who invented the English Breakfast (who should have been sainted) looked down on his creation and though “Ooh, this’ll go straight to my left coronary artery”. For such a small place, they also have a range of specialty meals, which look extremely appetizing. The place is also adorned with several excellent paintings done by the owner himself, along with some very serene music piped in, it’s a remarkably relaxing place to eat.

Despite it being a book store, I don’t think I’ve ever bought a book in there. I visit it often, but usually I head straight to the arts section. As an (very amateur) artist, I spend most my money there on art supplies, which are always the cheapest around, and show up Hobbycraft as the rip-off merchants they really are. It’s not like they’re rubbish in comparison either, they’re excellent for working on, and where else can you get a 3×4ft canvas for a tenner? To any artists in stockport who need a cheap canvas, forget Turners and Hobbycraft come here!

Othello’s is a down-to-earth place to eat, it’s good all round and has a welcoming atmosphere. The only criticism I used to have was it freely allowed smoking, however since the smoking ban, thats no longer a problem. Awesome food and very affordable. It was even the venue for scientific research into what makes the perfect bacon sandwich, the somewhat ambiguous conclusion being 'It depends how you like it’. Othello’s specialize in the more hearty and simple meals you can’t help say no to, chips and gravy, sausage and egg on toast, soups and sandwiches, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it :)

Blackshaw’s was a place my Dad and myself used to frequent, however we were eventually put off when it became evident the staff were extremely unmotivated, at one stage we saw one of the members of staff put up the 'closed’ sign two hours before they were actually due to close. Product wise, they make a nice cup of coffee and have some tasty cakes on show, but until they employ staff who actually want to work there, there are better places in Stockport to go to.