Our Student Progression Team Launches kick off this week in local schools. The SPT programme places University of Warwick Mentors in schools with small groups of year 8 and 9 pupils. Through a variety of interactive and engaging group sessions, mentors build a rapport with the pupils and support them to aim high and work hard to achieve their future goals.

We hope the sessions go well, and look forward to the next 7 mentoring sessions!

This July we welcomed 27 male students from 14 Coventry and Warwickshire schools for our first ever Gradu8 Year 8 Summer School, providing an opportunity to experience university life! Students took part in a variety of academic taster sessions, took part in a range of social activities. They met current university students and stayed overnight in Halls of Residence at the University of Warwick. The students, parents and carers to a Welcome Afternoon prior to the Summer School commencing, allowing everyone to learn about the Gradu8 programme, meet staff and also had the opportunity to take part in activities at the climbing wall at the new University of Warwick Sports Hub.

This year we had a packed timetable beginning with a fun afternoon of team building activities and a scavenger hunt to explore the University of Warwick campus. Students were able to take part in outdoor games activities before enjoying a barbeque and conquering ‘The Cube’, a series of team building challenges. On the second day, the students sampled a variety of new and exciting academic taster sessions, ranging from a ‘Would I lie to you?’ engineering session to exploring ideas of identity through politics to debating Mr B’s Brain through philosophy. Students continued developing their team work and communication skill through a sports session led by the WASPS Rugby community team and in the evening, students enjoyed a pizza night and were able to take part in activities at the Students Union. Day Three began with a food system challenge with Global Sustainable Development and Sustainable Futures with Liberal Arts, allowing students to put their newly developed skills of communication to the test whilst enjoying some new inspiring subjects affecting current issues in the news. The Gradu8 Year 8 Summer School concluded with a graduation celebrating the students fantastic achievements with their parents, carers, families and teachers.

Congratulations to the Gradu8 Class of 2019!

When students were asked what they would say to their friends about their experience they said:

‘It’s so good that I don’t want to go back to school’

‘I have not been to many universities…but I think that this is the best one. There is so, much to do’

When asked to describe their experience in three words, participants said:

‘Fun, exciting, challenging’

‘Fun, intellectually challenging’

‘Very Very Inspirational’

‘Best Thing Ever’

Parent/carers have commented:

“Before he didn’t want to come to uni and he didn’t know what he wanted to do. So, he got two long term things from it. One he knows that he wants to come to uni, and two he knows what he wants to do."

“I would just like to say a big thank you to you all for the opportunity you gave to [student] to come to your summer school. He was so looking forward to going and he absolutely had a fantastic time and took on board all he could. This experience has left him wanting to come back again.”

A teacher has commented:

"I think it is very powerful to actually be at a University…opening up horizons...it is opening up varieties and saying you can do these things."

The Monash Warwick Alliance joined up with Common Purpose, a specialist in cross-boundary leadership programs to launch a Global Leader Experience program in Malaysia this month. The program explored a major world challenge “How do we ensure technological innovation delivers societal as well as economic value in cities” and immersed 47 undergraduates from the two universities into a dynamic international learning experience.

Read more about this exciting opportunity here.

PLACES STILL AVAILABLE!

Wednesday 12th June 2019 4pm - 6pm at WMG, University of Warwick

If you would like to attend the workshop, please book your place here.

BOOKINGS NOW OPEN!

The University of Warwick are running an exciting one day conference for Teachers and Advisers on Friday 28^th June 2019, from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm at University of Warwick, Coventry. This conference is FREE for attendees, lunch and refreshments will be provided.

During the day meet the team, see the campus, hear about new developments, admissions policies and processes, degree apprenticeships. student support and much more.

We are asking for a representative from each of our partner schools to attend the conference to discuss our ongoing partnership and what we can offer in the new academic year.

Please get in touch with us at outreach@warwick.ac.uk if you have any questions about the event.

For further information please follow this link. We hope to see you there!

Best wishes,

WP & Outreach Team

The University of Warwick announced today (Tuesday 14^th May 2019) a transformational new £10 million social mobility programme - Warwick Scholars

The Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick are pleased to invite you to their FREE Classical Civilisation A-level Teachers Day on Monday 1st July 2019, here at the University of Warwick. The event will include academic sessions led by Warwick staff as well as a session led by Alex Orgee, subject leader of classics at OCR. Free bursaries are available, courtesy of The Classical Association.

On Monday 1st July, our Warwick Classics academics will be leading sessions based on the component modules of the OCR A-level Classical Civilisation syllabus (see below), giving subject overviews and an idea of modern scholarship in their specialist areas.

In addition, Alex Orgee, subject leader of classics at OCR will be leading a session on the OCR curriculum and will be answering any questions that you may have.

Throughout the day you will also have access to our Virtual Reality Headsets, and there will be sessions on coin handling, experiencing the Greek Symposium with our replica pots, and an opportunity to learn about the work of the Warwick Classics Network and about how your students can apply to Warwick and visit our Open Days.

The event is FREE and and free lunch will be provided. In addition, a number of free bursaries will be available, courtesy of the Classical Association. More details and a booking form and can be found on our WCN website through the following link:

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/classics/research/outreach/warwickclassicsnetwork/events/classcivteachersday/

On Tuesday 7^th May 2019 we welcomed year 10 students from across the West Midlands to join us on campus for a day of Law ‘myth busting’. The day started with an introduction to the Pathways to Law programme followed up by a “True or False” activity where the students were presented with a series of Law questions and asked to show a card (green or red) representing if they believed the law to be in fact true, or false. This was followed by a ‘Day in the life of a law student’ session, it was explained to the group what a ‘normal’ week would look like for a law student studying at the University of Warwick. The students then had the opportunity to ask current law student ambassadors questions about their course and experience at university.

After a short refreshment break the students had a Law lecture from a Warwick academic, Professor Gary Watt. His session was titled ‘Hearing both sides of an argument, fictional nature of facts’ where he explored the idea what makes a fact a fact and does emotion play a part? The session proved hugely popular with the students, with one stating “The academic lecture was interesting and not boring, interested me not just about law but also university”. The students then got to hear from two current legal professionals, both practicing very different types of law. After hearing the professionals talk, the students got to ask questions to the speakers about their journey into the profession and ask for any tips and advice.

The afternoon session was an interactive mock courtroom. The students were given courtroom roles, lead prosecution, defendant etc. and asked to use their imagination and acting skills to role play out a case. The students all really got into character and with the help of the programme lead Laura, who acted as the court room clerk, worked their way through the hearing. There were two sets of jury in the room that heard the case, interestingly, their sentencing were different with one group finding the defendant not guilty and the other group sentencing the defendant to 6 years in jail. 

To finish the day the students then went on a campus tour before making their way to the coach park and catching the mini bus back to school. The pupils that attended the event all said they enjoyed the day and that it gave them a very interesting insight into studying Law at University.

The Care Companion, a new online support tool developed by Warwick Medical School, at the University of Warwick, to support people with caring responsibilities, will be launched on 26 April and rolled out across Warwickshire and Coventry.

Providing vital information in an accessible format, it is free to use for residents of Coventry and Warwickshire and is supported by Warwickshire County Council, Coventry City Council, the NHS, and local support agencies and charities.

Having caring responsibilities can be stressful and confusing. Carers can spend a great deal of time tracking down information in print and online; however this information can be poorly signposted or presented in an inaccessible fashion, and may not be directly relevant to the person who they are caring for. This often means that they miss out on vital information.

The Care Companion helps with the emotional, social, day-to-day organisational and other demands of caring. The platform ensures that carers have access to information, personalised to their individual circumstances, at the time that is needed.

You can find more information at www.carecompanion.org.uk and on the University news webpages here.

This session aims to address the confusion between terms such as "public engagement," "outreach" and "widening participation," and to help you develop your own session for engaging different audiences with your research or subject area. We'll talk about tailoring content for these audiences, having to take a flexible approach to engagement and thinking on your feet, as well as evaluation and best practice. This single session gives you the opportunity to build your skills, create your own session, and receive feedback on the session from your peers.