Brilliant way to get ready for university
STUDENTS from Whitworth Community High School are being better prepared for university life thanks to the Brilliant Club.
Fifteen Year 10 students have been given the opportunity to join the Scholars’ Programme, which sees them working with University of Manchester PHD Honorary Research Fellow Dr Letizia Alterno.
Daisy Rowe, 15, said: “We started by learning about Colonialism, Post-colonialism, and the British Empire.
“We talked about how there are preconceived ideas about the British Empire and learnt a lot about Colonialisation and then finally we had to produce an essay.”
Daisy referenced Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in her 2,500-word essay as it links to Colonialisation and she also quoted T’pau’s ‘China In Your Hand’ which was inspired by Frankenstein.
The students read and acted out the play Lampedusa by Anders Lustgarten, about mass migration and the impact it has had on the Italian island.
Sophie Ainscow, 15, said: “This gave us a different perspective because it tells the story from the point of view of an islander and migrant.
“It is a very grown-up drama and it put Colonialism into a modern perspective.”
Since February, in two groups, the students had six one-to-one sessions with Dr Letizia and their essays began with just 300 words and they have steadily increased the word count over the weeks.
Sophie said: “She would challenge us a lot.
“It has been very different to a lesson.”
Both Sophie and Daisy are now looking at universities to continue into Higher Education.
Sophie said: “I like forensics and am also interested in criminal psychology. I now feel more confident to try for some of the universities I would have considered out of my reach.
“I feel so much more confident about my GCSES now because I was on the Scholar’s Programme.
Daisy loves Drama, Psychology and Psychotherapy and is looking to study Drama at university.
She said: “When I got into the flow of essay writing, I found it was easier to do.
“With my first essay, I didn’t think I had done very well, but I got a 2.1 when it was marked, the top marks.”
The school’s Brilliant Club is run by Computer Science teacher Bilal Hanif and graduates on the programme are twice as likely to progress to highly selective universities.