FACTS
| The Academy is intended to develop, implement, promote and support educational opportunities for gifted and talented children and young people aged up to 19, as well as providing support for parents and educators.
The summer school is, however, just one part of the Academy, and the total membership of the National Academy stands at 1600.
New applications for membership are currently coming in at the rate of 100 a week. Over 100 outreach events are scheduled for next year, which will help support gifted and talented students all over the country.
The students who attend the summer school are amongst the top 5% of the brightest kids in the country. They are from all over the UK.
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 |  | The National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY) at the University of Warwick has been a hive of activity with some of the UK's brightest children on campus enjoying anything from maths (yes, honestly) to drama workshops.
The Academy is an internationally recognised centre that provides opportunities for young, gifted people to extend their academic abilities, regardless of economic background.
Young children do university courses
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The courses available have included Ecology, Sport in Society, Chemistry, Creative Writing, Design of a Light Rail Transport System, Drama and Theatre. These are pitched at first year university level and are designed to really stretch students.
World famous author, Terry Pratchett, was available to meet the first ever Terry Pratchett Scholar, young pupil, Adam Birch.
As well as study, the students enjoyed fun activities in and around Warwickshire.
Some young people who've been involved tell us what they've been up to.
Drama workshop - Tom McGauley ,15
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| |  | Students have been doing Shakespeare workshops
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The year is 2003, the place… Warwick.
Ladies and gentlemen, roll up, roll up for the students of the NAGTY summer school studying drama are putting on a show.
NAGTY had organised the course so as we would be working with experts in our subject fields. NAGTY excelled itself and we started working with some integral members of the Royal Shakespeare team and other theatre companies.
Workshops with the RSC
Working with a member of the RSC obviously meant we would be studying one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces. We were correct, and began working on the play Measure for Measure, notably one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known masterpieces, but still a masterpiece.
Now the days roll on, and we are quickly learning the structure of the drama and theatre course. We go to bed late then wake up early, and are on our feet all day. The tasks are ambiguous, and often confusing, but we love it. We are learning more about drama in three weeks than in our entire lives.
From the perspective of the students, we would like to thank all NAGTY staff for giving us the opportunity to be able to study this course, and a huge thank you to Trev, Claudette, and Michael for their expert aid and advice throughout the course.
A Day at Warwick Castle - Rhys Parfitt,14
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We started our day off with breakfast, before leaving for Warwick Castle at about 9am. As soon as we arrived, we were given some sheets as a guide to the pleasure of the sights before setting off in groups.
A couple of friends and I decided to visit the dungeons first, as we'd been given a talk by the "executioners" the night before and were interested to see what he was up to.
Torture chambers and the rack...
After he "chopped my head off" in imitation of an execution, we descended into the gloomy murks of the torture chambers where hidden evils lay…
After we had discovered the terrors of the rack – an ancient instrument of torture – we emerged back into the light. We then struggled our way up to the top of the tower where we discussed its height relative to other castles with several members of the public.
| |  | We had a great day out at Warwick Castle
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After the tiresome journey up and down, we stopped for lunch. Then we decided to visit the medieval fair where you had to buy "groats" to participate.
My friend won some peacock feathers but, unfortunately, I had no such luck.
Soon after, we took a tour of the central house where we viewed certain royal items of great importance and the personal chambers of the inhabitants.
An exhausing but great day
When this was over, we hastily (well, the girls did, anyway!) sped through the ghost tower, which, because it had live actors, was actually quite thrilling. With little time left, we paid a quick visit to the wax works before returning back to campus. We were tired, but it had been worth it – a great day.
Engineering - Pippa Gardner, 13
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I took part in the engineering course. Our project was to design a Light Rail Transit System (LRTS) to run between the University of Warwick and Coventry City Centre.
There were many things we needed to think about: route; vehicle designs and colours; the service times; and the costs.
Brum brum
We started the course with a "get to know you" game. The game consisted of passing vehicle noises around a circle and trying not to let them crash. We had cars ("vvrrroooom"), bicycles ("pant, pant, tinkle, tinkle"), and trams ("clickety-click").
We had breaks ("eeeak") for the cars and bicycles to stop crashes. After break we watched a video about congestion in Coventry. It contained many facts which we could use in our project.
Trams for Coventry?
Later in the week we spent time in the CAD computer room, where we learnt how to use a designing program. By the end of the week we finished choosing the route and were prepared to walk it the following Monday.
Summer school is a great way of learning new things and meeting new people.
We were then split into four groups which we would be in for the rest of the project. Our group called itself "The Revengineer Crew".
From then on we started working on the LRTS.
All about trams
On Tuesday we visited Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire. Whilst there, we had the chance to ride on some trams, look at some exhibitions and have a guided tour of the workshops and tramsheds where we learnt more technical details about operating trams.
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