Talented students from South London get a taste of life at St John’s

The Brilliant Club, an educational access charity, brought gifted and talented year 7 and 8 pupils to St John’s College last week, launching a six-week programme of university-style teaching. 

A group of 48 bright, young pupils from state schools across South London came to St John’s College last week to take part in the Scholars Programme organised by the Brilliant Club.

The Brilliant Club is an educational charity that exists to widen access to top universities for outstanding pupils from non-selective state schools.

A high percentage of the students who visited St John’s  are on free school meals and come from backgrounds with low participation in higher education. The Scholars Programme is specifically aimed at academically outstanding young people who have shown a high level of capability, helping them to develop the skills, confidence and ambition to secure places at top universities.    

Whilst at St Johns, the students were split into small groups and teamed up with PHD-level academic mentors for university-style tutorials and discussions.  The pupils also had the opportunity to explore the College with current students and find out about the options available to them in higher education.

The group will go to another Russell Group university for a second visit and “graduation ceremony” which takes place once a six-week programme has been completed.

This enables the children to experience two universities from the Russell Group   ̶̶   a group of universities with 24 members committed to maintaining an outstanding teaching and learning experience, the very best research and unrivalled links with business and the public sector.

Between these visits, the academic tutors will work with the students in their own schools.

The course aims to give pupils consistent contact with their academic tutors and provide a “supra-curricular” experience in preparation for university. Complementing what the children learn at school, the Scholars Programme sets out to encourage students to understand their subject, engage with ideas within it and inspire a passion for different areas of study. 

Access Officer at St John’s, Megan Goldman-Roberts said:

“It was fantastic to work with this group of gifted young people, which was the third cohort of Brilliant Club students we have received here at St John’s.  The Club allows a personalised approach to working with pupils and showing them how much fun can be had at university as well as helping them reach their potential.”

The Brilliant Club is an award-winning charity, which exists to widen access to highly selective universities for pupils from all backgrounds. The Club recruits and trains doctoral and post-doctoral research students to act as Tutors within non-selective State Schools and Sixth Form Colleges serving diverse communities. Through its work with over 150 schools across the country The Brilliant Club helps up to 6,000 pupils a year.

St John’s College runs a busy programme of schools’ events, to find out more, contact the Access Officer at accessofficer@joh.cam.ac.uk