Almost impossible to contemplate, but the Year 10 Aimhigher group outshone their Year 11 counterparts in several aspects of their Universities Week.
University Week is designed to raise awareness of the academic pressures and requirements at University. It raises issues of ‘life skills’ and the intricacies of selecting the right university. Above all else, we hope that the students will aspire to get into the very best universities.
The group spent a day on ‘Higher Order Learning’ and revision skills – a tool box approach to working for exams. The sub-text for the day was the ability to work effectively in teams. Our pupils showed a maturity well beyond their years. We also began the process of developing speed reading skills.
The focus for the second day was independent study – what does it entail? It culminated in a research and presentation task with very tight time constraints. Again the group surpassed all expectations.
In the afternoon Gavin Byrom came in to investigate the ‘Conceptions and Misconceptions of University’. He is the Widening Participation Officer at Royal Holloway College, London University. His session included a look at the costs of going to university and where pupilss could get funding from.
On Thursday, the day trip to Sussex University, with a focus on ‘What’s important in Universities’ was an enormous success with the pupils. It covered the breadth of university courses available and the common facilities provided in university.
On the final day, Friday, the workshop including the final assessment of the speed reading. The improvement ranged from 30% to 80%, albeit all were aware that more needed to be done to effectively embed the tool. Kevin Betts and a PHD student came in from Sussex University to help conduct a review of the week. Again staff were astonished at the depth and speed at which they had retained the information from the week and the sophistication of their thought processes from pupils so young.
A special thank you goes to Ms Richards for her assistance with the workshops.