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.

The University of Warwick would like to invite your 6^th Form students to attend Lab Experience Days at the School of Life Sciences.

University Lab Experience Days enable students to:

· Find out about studying Biology at University.

· Learn new skills by attending a mini-lecture and doing practical work in a large teaching laboratory.

· Go on a tour of campus and talk to current students about what life at University is really like.

We will be continuing to run the highly successful lab experience days again this year in the School of Life Sciences from Monday 1 July to Friday 5 July 2019.

Teachers are welcome to register whole groups or alternatively individuals can register themselves. More information can be found on our website at: www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/lifesci/outreach/lab. Registrations are encouraged by 3 June 2019.

Mariam talks about her role as an SPT mentor where she has led sessions once a week at Foxford School. She describes the activities that she leads and how this has impacted the young people she works with.

Maria Kehr, Sutton Scholars Programme Coordinator writes about the residential her Year 9 students in Cohort 4 attended in November. She reflects on their own personal development and the benefits they received throughout access to the programme and the residential itself.

Our Evaluation and Evidence Manager, Tammy Thiele, talks about how the work we do looks in numbers. She explains how evidence and evaluation are used in our team to understand, and maximise the difference our Widening Participation initiatives make to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Realising Opportunities programme has had a busy few months with a range of events from the Launch, to Research Workshops and Celebrations. Read more to find out what these involved.

Into University are a charity who provide an innovative programme of interventions to children through their community based centres. Read on about the launch of the first Coventry based centre and the exciting work they are doing!

One of our SPT mentors, Sebastian, writes about his experience of going into a school regularly to deliver sessions to the young people there.