Ten Year 8/9 students graduate university access programme

St Thomas More celebrates ten Year 8 and Year 9 students as they graduate from unique university access programme

  • Year 8 and 9 students at St Thomas More Catholic Academy in Longton have graduated from The Scholars Programme, run by education charity The Brilliant Club
  • The hard-working students produced challenging university-style essays exploring ‘The Anthropocene vs. Deep Time: A Journey Through Earth’s Climate History’.

St Thomas More Catholic Academy, Longton is celebrating the success of ten students as they graduate from The Scholars Programme, a national university access programme.

Year 8 and 9 students at St Thomas More were encouraged to think and work independently across seven tutorials with a subject expert PhD researcher. During the programme, they learnt about ‘The Anthropocene vs. Deep Time: A Journey Through Earth’s Climate History’ 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 helped students at St Thomas More to re-engage with learning and rebuild their confidence during a challenging period for education.

Beyond their graduation, these students have lots to look forward to because the programme has proven impact on university progression rates. For the fifth year running, independent UCAS evaluation has found that Scholars Programme graduates are almost twice as likely to progress to a competitive university compared with a group of students from similar backgrounds (44% vs. 28%).

Mrs Barker from St Thomas More said:

“Students involved on the Scholars Programme this year have had a valuable University style experience which has impacted positively on their confidence and resilience, as well as increasing their aspirations and self-belief that they could go onto study at a highly selective University in the future. Four of the ten students involved graduated from the programme with a First Class Degree Assignment. Our students have benefitted from working with a PhD researcher to study an extra-curricular project to broaden their thinking and learning.”

Susie Whigham, Interim CEO at The Brilliant Club, congratulated the pupils on their achievements:

“Congratulations to these outstanding students as they graduate from The Scholars Programme. They join a community of over 90,000 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.”