Earlier this year, our School Partnerships team caught up with Michael Tomlinson, Assistant Head Teacher at Wellington School in Trafford, to find out how their KS3 Scholars Programme placement went last Autumn. Their cohort studied our pre-designed course Disease Detectives, inspiring some the students to consider career in science post-graduation!
We’ve been doing The Scholars Programme for the last 2 or so years, and it’s been a real success. We initially wanted to set it up at Wellington as the younger pupils, particularly our vulnerable and disadvantaged pupils, were struggling with their study skills and building aspirations.
For our most recent Scholars Programme placement, I chose an initial set of 16 pupils from year 7 and 8, gave them an introduction to the programme and then asked if they were interested in taking part. Along with the parent letter provided by The Brilliant Club, I showed parents pictures of our graduation trips from the programme to show them what their children could get involved in.
A lot of the pupils asked why they had been picked – I thought it was important to be open and honest about why we chose them. At the start, the pupils were nervous about the work commitment, but we asked our Scholars from previous years to speak about their time on the programme.
Our PhD tutor, Rowan, was great. He had a calm approach to the work where he made nothing seem too difficult, and he was ultra positive towards the pupils which I think really helped them to engage with the course. It really helped that he was a researcher as the student threw some difficult questions at him – ones only an expert could answer!
The pupils were buzzing when they received their final essay grade at the end of the tutorials. Rowan came in for two hours and gave every pupil a personal 10 minute appointment. It didn’t even matter what grade they got, they just felt proud to have the 1-2-1 time with their tutor.
The graduation event gave the pupils a real sense of purpose and pride, especially when they received their certificates. Having the graduation hosted at a competitive university was a great opportunity for them – they couldn’t believe what was on offer for them and that they have the responsibility to choose it for themselves. For them, seeing the scale of a university in comparison to school classrooms really raised their aspirations.
The main takeaway I’ve had since running The Scholars Programme at Wellington is that the kids can understand that studying isn’t an onerous task. Lead teachers can do it really well in their schools, with a bit of planning to support the programme.
If you’re interested setting up The Scholars Programme in your school like Michael, get in touch with our School Partnerships here to find out how we can support your students to realise their aspirations.