Q3 Academy Tipton started delivering The Scholars Programme in 2024-25. This year, their students have been learning about Future Vaccines with a PhD tutor. We spoke to programme lead Daniel Edmonds, Careers and Aspirations Leader, about the impact university-style teaching from a PhD researcher has provided for students.
“One of our ambitions over the past few years has been to make students more academically rigorous. Partnering with The Brilliant Club and welcoming university academics to school has supported our school in giving selected students the opportunity to become so.”
“As a school with a high number of pupil premium and deprivation pupils, The Brilliant Club allows students to become more ambitious. Even those not participating in The Scholars Programme are aware of its existence within school and support their peers in completing the programme.
“We are also using The Brilliant Club to soft launch our Sixth Form to Year 10 students, with all sessions taking place in the Sixth Form homebase rather than a traditional classroom. As a result, most students who participated in last year’s programme have submitted applications to our own Sixth Form. Hopefully we will see similar next academic year.”
“I was desperate to include more male students, but those who I had targeted didn’t wish to participate. Finally, a third male student agreed to take part. He showed a natural flair for the subject and completed all work to a high standard – even getting the joint highest grade. Throughout the programme, I and our guest PhD tutor have highlighted his progress and seeing him grow in confidence has been wonderful. For example, at the beginning of the programme when the tutor asked about career interests, he replied with a shrug of the shoulders.
“By the end of session 2, after I had kept him to praise him, he was telling us that he wanted to be an astrophysicist but felt embarrassed about saying it. I have pointed out to him that, with his predicted grades, he has a shot at being a Year 11 top achiever, but that it will only happen if he wants it enough to put the effort in. I have my fingers crossed that these little conversations plus his involvement in The Brilliant Club can take him from incredible GCSE results to the world of astrophysics.
“Another student also grew in confidence throughout the programme. Supported by a lovely group of friends, all of whom achieved 1sts on their final assignments, she was visibly excited and proud when the tutor shared her grade, stating that she didn’t think she was capable of receiving a 1st. She is exactly the sort of student who should be benefitting from such a programme. A good but shy student, sometimes her input in class can be limited. However, here she got well and truly stuck in, resulting in her being rightly proud of herself.
“At the graduation event, she delivered an out of character speech highlighting how The Brilliant Club had helped her and personally thanking me for her inclusion. The academic brilliance shown in this programme combined with her respect and kindness will carry her far.”
“My favourite part has been getting to see a real mix of abilities prove to themselves that they can achieve great things. The graduation is always a special part for the students, but I remember there being a lot of discussion in the session that referenced COVID. Often, some of what students learn lacks relevance as they have no lived experience of it, but this session impacted us all and was presented and delivered in a really engaging way.”
Non-selective UK schools and colleges can find out more about the benefits of The Scholars Programme for their students by making an enquiry.