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Celebrating 14 Year 9 students as they graduate from unique university access programme
We are very proud of our Year 9 students who graduated from The Scholars Programme, a national university access programme.
Our Year 9 students were encouraged to think and work independently across seven tutorials with a subject expert PhD researcher. During the programme, they learnt about "Are All People Persons? An Anthropology of Personhood" and 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 8-18 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 our students 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 proven impact on university progression rates. For the sixth year running, independent UCAS evaluation that Scholars Programme graduates are significantly more likely to progress to a competitive university compared with students from similar backgrounds (56% vs. 37%).
Anne-Marie Canning MBE, CEO at The Brilliant Club, congratulated the students on their achievements:
“Congratulations to these outstanding students as they graduate from The Scholars Programme. They join a community of over 110,000 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.”