The Brilliant Club
A group of ambitious Year 7 and 8 students were selected to take part in the Scholars Programme run by the Brilliant Club. The Scholars Programme provides students aged 8-18 from non-selective state schools the opportunity to work with a PhD researcher to experience university-style learning. It helps them to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence to secure a place at a highly selective university. The Brilliant Club supports pupils to make an informed choice at 18 but also helps to ensure they develop the skills needed to excel in their next phase of education.
Usually the process would involve the students visiting top universities and being lectured by PhD researchers, however this year the researchers visited Nova and conducted a series of really engaging workshops with students on the subject of life expectancy. Students then had to learn about life expectancy across the world and how this differs from nation to nation. They explored the reasons behind the differences and created a dissertation style write up that was judged using the same assessment criteria as a dissertation would be at university, i.e. they achieved either a First, 2:1 or 2:2.
The students engaged fully with the programme and the PhD lecturers were really impressed by their verbal input during sessions and independent research at home. As a reward for all their hard work, they were invited to a graduation ceremony where they were presented with their certificates by their PhD tutor. Even more exciting is that this programme counts as UCAS points towards their eventual application to university.
Nova would like to thank all the students involved for their efforts, the PhD tutor for their guidance and support, and the Brilliant Club for providing us with this opportunity to inspire this generation to attend university in future.
69