Our Y10 Creative Media Students had the honour of visiting Staffordshire University. For the majority of our students this was the first time they visited a university. At the university we met “Access: VFX” which is a global, industry-led, non-profit comprised of 40 leading companies, industry bodies and educational establishments in the VFX, animation and games industries. The students attended a workshop on how to use AutoDesk Maya which is a 3D animation, modelling simulation and rendering software for film, games and TV. One of the instructors commented on how resilient our students were and how he loved the creative ideas of how a spaceship could look. They then had the opportunity to look and try state of the art equipment and we used virtual reality equipment to play games. Mr Ashraf got a little carried away and had quite a long go! Students learnt about professional grade 3D scanners which have a vast amount of use at the university by various faculties. The accuracy of the scanners is of 0.025mm and can scan large areas and even reflective surfaces. One of the students asked if it could scan humans and they all volunteered Mr Ashraf to be scanned. Mr Deer kindly added these special stickers on to Mr Ashraf’s face and body so he could be scanned. Our students had the pleasure of making their own cup s of tea using cups and saucers and sugar cubes! But that was definitely not the highlight because we then met the senior animator of the Star Wars, Jurassic Park and Aladdin movies. They also met the producer of a Nike advert which isn’t even out! Which is why we were not allowed to take photos or videos. They learnt how a 20 second clip can have 400 frames and could take 6 months to complete! The whole experience increased the cultural capital of our students by experiencing technology, higher education, learning new mannerisms, language and seeing works of art! We would like to thank Helen Norman from Higher Horizons+ for organising such an innovative, engaging and exciting event and Mrs Brotherhood, Mr Deer and Mr Ashraf for taking our students for this invaluable experience.