We are pleased to share our Annual Impact Report, or our ‘Year in Stories’ for the 2023/24 academic year. This year’s report is dedicated to sharing the voices and experiences of The Brilliant Club community through stories – stories that showcase the impact of our programmes, our growing reach in new places and with new partners, and the achievements of the young people we work with. If you are interested in partnering with us or learning more, we would love to hear from you so we can continue to grow our impact.
In 2023/24, we mobilised 469 researchers to support 19,968 students in 872 schools across the UK, working alongside our 64 higher education partners. We’ve also worked with over 470 parents through Parent Power, and 50 student ambassadors from our alumni community. The 2023/24 academic year also saw the launch of our research on the student experience, new exciting collaborations with our Brilliant Consulting unit, and successful parent campaigns in Cardiff and Fenland.
In 2023/24, students across the country have contemplated the role that plankton might play in solving climate change and debated whether a novel can save the world. They have written assignments on the link between oral health and memory and tried their hand at cryptography. As well as this, parent leaders attended the Labour Party Conference to advocate for the parent and carer voice, and, at our first ever national Parent Power conference, built their shared vision for the future of education policy. Our ambassadors continue to share their own stories of overcoming barriers to educational opportunity, with our ambassador Hoa’s story featuring on a BBC Radio 4 appeal back in September.
As we look forwards he barriers to educational opportunity feel more challenging than ever. We continue to see a concerning rise in child poverty, with recent findings showing that 1 in 3 children are now below the poverty line. This means that a record 36%, or 5.2 million children, are experiencing some form of deprivation. The rise in poverty also means that schools are increasingly taking on pastoral duties to ensure that the immediate needs of their students are met – that they remain warm, fed, and dry.
Activities that take students beyond the curriculum, like The Scholars Programme, can play an important role in building skills, including academic self-efficacy, critical thinking, subject knowledge, and written communication. Sadly, we are seeing schools having to make difficult decisions on where to spend their Pupil Premium budget, with 47% of school leaders now using the funding to plug gaps in their budget, and 50% of schools cutting enrichment activities like trips and outings. We also know that students are increasingly facing barriers if they do progress to university. This year, we published research that showed that students from less advantaged backgrounds are facing significant roadblocks to participating fully in university life. In the face of these new challenges, The Brilliant Club continues its efforts to improve access routes to higher education and support for students when they get there.
If you want to read more about our programmes and impact, you can find the full report here.