Hele’s School is celebrating the success of 11 students from their Year 9 cohort as they graduate from The Scholars Programme, a national university access programme.
Year 9 students at Hele’s School were encouraged to think and work independently across seven tutorials with a subject expert PhD researcher from Plymouth University, Bradley Halliday.
As part of the programme they learnt about how persistent pain makes people’s ability to function difficult, the correlation between real and perceived pain, possible causes for persistent pelvic pain and how this could be assisted by physiotherapy. They then completed a challenging final essay which was given a university-level grade.
The Scholars Programme, run by UK-wide university access charity The Brilliant Club, supports students aged from eight to 18 to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to progress to the country’s most competitive universities and succeed once there.
By bringing together two communities – PhD researchers and students – who might otherwise never interact with each other, young people can study innovative and inspiring topics that very few people have ever covered.
The Scholars Programme has enabled students at Hele’s School to learn beyond the core curriculum and helped them to develop key skills for university and later in life, such as critical thinking.
Beyond their graduation, these students have lots more to look forward to because the programme has a proven impact on university progression rates. For the sixth year running, independent UCAS evaluation has found that Scholars Programme graduates are significantly more likely to progress to a competitive university compared with students from similar backgrounds (56% vs. 37%).
Commenting on his experience Hele’s student Isaac Talbot said:
“It was difficult at first and I didn’t think I could write a 2000-word essay with academic referencing – but I did and was very proud of my final work!”
Mrs Brookshaw, Director of the Centre of Excellence from Hele’s School said:
“This programme has developed the students in terms of scientific engagement and shown the students what they are truly capable of. It has enhanced their confidence and they understand how university assignments differ from school essays. There have been brilliant benefits of working with a PhD researcher and we would like to thank Bradley Halliday.”
“The programme sits within the Centre of Excellence’s remit at Hele’s School, which offers higher ability students the opportunity to learn Latin, study classical civilisation and extend their world view through extracurricular project work and research.”
Anne-Marie Canning MBE, CEO at The Brilliant Club, congratulated the pupils on their achievements:
“Congratulations to these outstanding students as they graduate from The Scholars Programme. They join a community of over 90,000 young people who have taken part in The Brilliant Club since 2011.
“Completing their final assignments was no doubt challenging, but it has shown that these students have a passion for learning and the knowledge to produce university-style work already. I hope they use these new skills throughout their education and continue their fantastic work.”
Justine Mason, Principal of Hele’s School held a celebratory ‘high tea’ event for the graduates to celebrate the hard work and commitment of students. She said:
“We are so proud of our Year 9s for the professional and dedicated manner in which they engaged in their research and it was fascinating hearing all about their findings over a cup of tea and a cake. Students put their skills in critical thinking, subject knowledge and written communication to the test by completing a final assignment which was marked against strict criteria and graded using the university grading system.”
“Huge congratulations to the 11 Year 9s for some incredible outcomes; I’ve no doubt the graduation event at Exeter University will have inspired our young people still further to aim high and keep working hard.”
The successful 11 were Julia Pop, Roxana Sitaula, Aaron Butt, Alan Goldyn, Katie Soanes, William Turner, Daisy Wellington, Jaidan Bassett, Isaac Talbot, Doreen Hamed and Abbey Miller. (Story courtesy of Plympton Podcast)
