The Brilliant Club and Unifrog

16 Jul 2020

On Thursday 9^th July, The Brilliant Club and Unifrog co-hosted a free, online webinar for secondary school and FE college staff to be able to engage with external experts on how to support their learners that are transitioning into Higher Education, as well as what can be done for their next cohort of learners entering this post-16 study.

Greg Scannell, National Manager for Wales, organised this event with Mitch Purnell, Unifrog Area Manager for Wales and the South West, seeing that COVID 19 has created a situation where it is more important than ever to ensure learners are receiving additional support and opportunities: ‘Year 11 and Year 13 learners have missed a large period of teaching, skills development and life experience – including the experience of fully engaging with independent study and the process of sitting external examinations – and it is essential that education professionals are confident in what universities and other organisations are doing to support them.’

The event was comprised of 4 short sessions for attendees to engage with experts on a range of subjects:

• A University Panel discussion chaired by our CEO, Anne-Marie Canning MBE focused upon what universities are doing to support learners transitioning into HE in 20-21, how COVID 19 has influenced their recent approaches, and what opportunities there are for current school and FE college learners as well as those who have recently finished school or college.
• An update on The Scholars Programme from Greg Scannell, National Manager for Wales with The Brilliant Club, exploring how the programme can help learners to become prepared for future university-level study, stretch and challenge able learners and assist in learners ‘catching up’ on important learning skills that they have missed during the crisis. This talk also covered how the Brilliant Club has adapted their approach and wider work during the COVID lockdown.
• What effect has COVID-19 had on students’ wellbeing and next steps? was led by Mitch Purnell, Unifrog Area Manager for Wales and the South West in which he shared the findings from Unifrog’s latest report which analyses 2,500 student survey responses and the Unifrog platform behaviour of over three quarters of a million students to investigate the immediate impact of the crisis.
• A session focused upon ways in which schools and colleges can support students’ wellbeing, particularly when they are coping with change. This session was led by Pat Sowa from Starfish; a former headteacher, Mental Health Trainer and speaker with over 30 years of experience of facilitation, teaching and leadership expertise with first-hand experience in supporting young people with their mental health, whose a mission is to raise awareness and knowledge of mental wellbeing.

The recording of the event is available to view on The Brilliant Club’s Youtube channel.