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Posted on November 30th 2012
Brilliant Club helps students shine
High-flying students from Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich are getting a taste of university education through a new scheme called The Brilliant Club, running at the school this term.
University-style tutorials, led by PhD students from top universities, are held on Thursdays, with students writing an extended assignment to finish the project.
Aspire
“The tutorials give students a feel of what it’s like to study at a leading university,” says Assistant Principal, Ed Owen. “They encourage our students to feel at home in a higher education setting and aspire to places at the very best colleges.”
The biggest difference is that tutorials are run with just four students, but learning is approached in a different way too, with more time for individual discussion with the tutorial leader.
Oxbridge
“I like learning in this way,” says student Shaima Amellah. “There’s time to focus on each of us individually and it definitely makes me want to go to university.”
Students visited Sussex University at the start of the project and will attend a graduation event at an Oxbridge college too.
Skills and confidence
The Brilliant Club aims to encourage outstanding students from state schools to apply to the very best universities, particularly students who are the first in their family to experience higher education.
The club, which is a national initiative, help students develop the skills, confidence and ambition that allows them to secure places at top universities.
Dr Chris Wilson (who studied history at Cambridge and Exeter) leads a tutorial on modern-day religious conflicts and their relationship to the Reformation in the 16th century.
PhD student Rebecca Dobson (who studied history at King’s and Oxford) leads a tutorial on different ways to interpret the Reformation.
