JANUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER
Let’s LOOK BACK…
Happy new year to all staff, students and school leads that worked with us throughout 2023!
It’s been a fantastic few months for us at HEON since we last made contact with you via our newsletter. This year so far we’ve managed to deliver an amazing 81 activities to our partner schools. Carrying out well over 2200 engagements within schools. Safe to say this has been a great start to the academic year and we are really looking forward to continuing this progress.
FOCUS has continued to develop with both Year 10 & 11 cohorts progressing well. Sessions including ‘Employability’ and ‘Introduction to further education’ were really well received. Most notably, college visits to Merrist Wood College, Farnborough College of Technology & Strodes College were also highlights for a number of students taking part in the programme. Y11 students were also given the opportunity to visit Surrey Sports Park to take part in a wellbeing day which included creative workshops delivered by UCA workshop tutors and sports sessions delivered by Surrey Sports Park staff members.
We look forward to continuing FOCUS with our enrolled schools and welcoming all to the University of Surrey throughout January for our Subject Specific Revision sessions.
As well as our flagship FOCUS programme going from strength to strength, we have also been busy delivering another sustained and progressive programme, EMAR (English & Maths Attainment Raising). This programme is specifically targeted at Y9 and focuses on English and Maths mentoring within both a group and individual setting. Good luck to all mentors and mentees moving forward with the programme throughout 2024.
We’ve also been busy delivering STEM workshops, Apprenticeship sessions, attending careers fairs and higher education fairs!
What’s UPCOMING?
Each newsletter we’ll be looking to give you an insight into what’s upcoming across the next few months.
With HEON moving toward a more sustained & progressive approach through programmes of delivery (FOCUS, EMAR, Students of Black Heritage programme). A large chunk of our delivery will be focussed on continuing this delivery over the next few months.
The Y11 FOCUS programme will be coming to an end in January meaning that we will have a larger scope to work with schools on a more ad-hoc basis. Please feel free to get in touch with us directly, whether we have worked with your school this academic year or not, we are always looking to book new activity in with schools.
If you are unsure as to what we can offer then please open up a line of communication with one of our Partner Officers or Nathan Simpson.
We look forward to working with your school in 2024!
Educational Journeys: Hear From the Student
Educational journeys: Psychology
We asked Debora, a 2nd Year Psychology student at the University of Surrey, about her transition from school to higher education, and to reflect on her university experience so far!
What did you study before coming to university? How did your previous studies prepare you for your degree?
“I did a BTEC in Applied Science, it was like the classic biology, chemistry physics. I think for me, for especially with coursework I feel like I’m really prepared to do it, in terms of doing research, reading and searching for things independently”.
How did your school/sixth form help you decide what to do post-18? Is there any support who wish you would’ve had?
“Even after I applied to university, I wish I had looked into the other opportunities a bit more, as my college didn’t really touch on the options much at all and university is not for everyone!”
What is your favourite part about University and why?
“I think the freedom for me is my favourite part. I feel like for some people it could be quite daunting because it might be something new, but for me I was able to create a schedule that worked best for me. It’s been really nice figuring out what works for me and what doesn’t.”
If you could tell your secondary school-self one piece of advice, what would it be?
“Relax!”
PARTNER PREVIEW
UCA saturday morning clubs
UCA Farnham has opened applications for their Saturday Clubs in March. Each club is open to applications from eligible students in Years 7, 8 and 9. These clubs are free to attend, and lunch is provided for each participant. Please find a poster below and see the links below for further information as well as the link to the online application form. If you have any questions, please email outreach@uca.ac.uk.
UCA Saturday clubs – Higher Education Outreach Network (HEON)
Dates: 2, 9, 16 and 23rd March
Time: 10:00-14:00
Location: The University for Creative Arts, Falkner Road, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 7DS
Still Life in Motion – Digital art and animation
UCA would also like to offer the opportunity to run in-school creative workshops for your students – if you would like to discuss organising a workshop, please email heon@uca.ac.uk. You can find more information about the type of workshops on offer on our website. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have another workshop in mind which you cannot see listed on the page.
activate learning taster sessions
Activate Learning are excited to introduce you to their NEW Taster Session Programme for Year 10 and 11 students!
Between January and May 2024, students in Year 10 and 11 will be able to sign up to bespoke taster sessions on campus, aimed at helping them to make informed decisions about their next steps.
Each session will be completely tailored to a Career Pathway and provide students with the opportunity to sample an activity related to the course, view the facilities, and ask the tutors questions about studying with Activate Learning.
This programme will replace the ‘round robin’ style taster events that we have facilitated over the last couple of years for some schools, and has been carefully designed specifically in relation to feedback about these events. Rather than experiencing a given range of activities, students will have complete control over the subject(s) they sign up for and how many they attend.
Students can sign up for the taster sessions by following the links below:
Merrist Wood Taster Sessions – Merrist Wood Taster Sessions. | Eventbrite
Guildford College Taster Sessions – Guildford College Taster Sessions. | Eventbrite
Farnham College Taster Sessions – Farnham Taster Sessions | Eventbrite
spring residential: royal holloway university london
With two weeks remaining until it passes, the deadline for applications to the Spring Residential at Royal Holloway is January 31st at midnight. If we do not receive a student’s application by that date they may not be considered as eligible for the event. Here is a brief reminder of what the application process is and more information about the event:
Royal Holloway and HEON have partnered again to hold our Spring University on-campus residential at Royal Holloway, 10–12 April 2024.
Applications are open now to eligible students from years 10 and 11. Further information and details are available on our website, where you can also find:
- Teacher PowerPoint with notes to use in tutor/form time
- PDF of the poster which can be circulated digitally or printed and posted in common rooms
- The application form
The application form is slightly longer this year, and includes a section at the end for parent/carer consent. The teacher PowerPoint with notes were designed to guide any presentations you might wish to make to students.
For further information please contact heon@surrey.ac.uk
