Teaching Partnership in Ampthill teams up with Shefford school to give more opportunities to less advantaged students

The Brilliant Club is the UK’s largest university access charity. It delivers The Scholars Programme, run in collaboration with schools and teachers, which supports students aged 8-18 to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed to progress to the country’s most competitive universities and succeed once there.

The partnership will raise attainment and improve university access for students in Bedfordshire through The Scholars Programme, which offers the opportunity for students to engage with university-style learning through small group tutorials delivered by PhD tutors.

The Brilliant Club has a community of over 850 schools nationwide and is excited to work with Redborne and Samuel Whitbread Academy to expand its reach and impact. The programme aligns with Redborne and Samuel Whitbread Academy’s existing ‘Raising Aspirations’ programme, which expands opportunities for less advantaged students in Bedfordshire, such as its recent involvement with the Wadham Project run by the University of Oxford.

This collaboration will see the launch of Scholars Programme placements across Bedfordshire. Students across the Redborne Teaching Partnership, including at Samuel Whitbread Academy, will enrol on bespoke courses, with students studying courses such as ‘Unravelling the Science of Communication: A Journey into the Art of Sharing Research’ and ‘Knock, Knock - Whose Fear? Creative Writing Research in the Horror-Comedy Genre’.

At the end of their placement, scholars will be invited to a Graduation Event at a university, which will give students the opportunity to celebrate their achievements, as well as to find out more about university learning, tour a campus, and meet current undergraduates.

Beyond their graduation, these students have lots more to look forward to because the programme has proven impact in schools: students who participate in the programme are more likely than their peers to get a 9-5 in English and maths at GCSE, and more likely to eventually apply to and progress to a competitive university.

Nigel Croft, former Principal of Redborne Upper School, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Connolly foundation for their continued financial support across a number of projects in Bedfordshire secondary schools.

"Across four projects this is well over £200k per year. The Brilliant Club is funded by The Connolly Foundation for five schools in the first instance with the aim of offering it across most secondary schools with year 12 students in future years. The projects are all aimed at raising the aspirations of our students and supporting them in future university applications. This would not be possible without the fantastic support of the Foundation.”

Akvilė Stuart, Strategic Partnerships Lead at The Brilliant Club, said: “The Brilliant Club is delighted to work with schools in Bedfordshire, and it is exciting to see how well our work fits in with the wider Raising Aspirations project that students are benefitting from. Every member of school staff I have met is fully dedicated to empowering their students to succeed, and I cannot wait to see students flourish academically and learn more about university life as Brilliant Club Scholars.

"We look forward to welcoming the five pilot schools into our Brilliant family this academic year and seeing how the project grows in the years to come.”