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Warwick Sutton Trust Summer School 2016

In the last week of July, 100 Year 12 students from across the country came onto campus for the inaugural Warwick Sutton Trust Summer School (WSTSS). The Sutton Trust is a leading UK charity which aims to improve social mobility through education. Its summer schools programme is viewed as the flagship part of its work, with around 2000 Year 12 students attending a summer school at one of 11 host universities.

 

Warwick offered five subject areas this year, which were Classics and Ancient History, Economics, Law, Physics and Politics and International Relations. Each subject area had around 10.5 hours of study, in a mixture of lectures, seminars and lab sessions. Within the subject areas, the participants worked in smaller groups on a research project.

 

On Thursday, every group went off-site on an educational visit linked to their subject:

Classics: Ashmolean Museum (including a public lecture given by Prof Alison Cooley)

Economics/Law/Politics: Black Country Living Museum in Dudley

Physics: National Space Centre in Leicester

 

Of course, there is a lot more to coming to university outside of the academic study, and the WSTSS offered a packed social programme too, including team building games; sports night (including bubble football, bhangra dancing and Ultimate Frisbee); societies night with Warwick Folk Band leading a Ceilidh; and the week ended with a Formal Dinner & Dancing.

 

At the end of the week, each subject area presented their work back to each other, in the form of an academic poster, a presentation or film. The academics were very impressed with the hard work and commitment from the participants during the week and plenty of people stopped to admire the posters.

 

Thank you for such an amazing opportunity! I learnt so much and met so many amazing people, many of whom I plan on keeping in touch with! Thank you to all the friendly and welcoming ambassadors for making the experience even better! Good luck to everyone for the future.

 

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to attend this summer school. I have met some of the most amazing people ever and I hope that I'll keep in contact with all of you. Also I want to say thank you to all the funny and approachable student ambassadors (and other helpers), without them the experience wouldn't have been so memorable and fun.

 

I'm just writing to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to take part in the summer school this year.

The experience has made me more excited than ever to study politics at university and I hope to keep in contact with the friends I made during the week. It's been a truly unforgettable experience.

 

The participants were full of praise for the team of student ambassadors who were working with them throughout the week. The ambassadors are a vital part of any summer school, but especially on this event where a team of 23 were recruited.

 

As ever, the time to say good bye came far too quickly! The whole summer school team were incredibly impressed by this group of young people and we wish them all the best for their futures!