June 2024 NEWSLETTER
Let’s LOOK BACK…
Happy Summer Term to all of our school leads!
We have had an exceptionally busy and productive 6 months since our last newsletter.
In summary, HEON has delivered 163 activities to across our partner schools, this has involved in excess of 7800 engagements with students. We have been on an amazing trajectory in 2024 and continue to deliver both one-off workshops and sustained and progressive delivery throughout the Summer term.
FOCUS has continued to act as a flagship programme for HEON in 2024. Both Y10 and Y11 cohorts of the programme benefitted from ‘Subject specific revision sessions’ in English and Maths. The sessions were delivered by Will Rigby (Maths) and Helen Hewlett (English) and acted as a key element of our attainment raising promise as part of FOCUS. Over 120 Y10 & 110 Y11 students took part in the sessions in January!
Royal Holloway University and HEON ran a joint three-day residential programme for Year 10 and 11 students. The programme covered a wide range of activities aiming to help students better understand what University is like, increase subject knowledge and increase confidence.
The students were given the opportunity to take part in a number of subject tasters ranging from Criminology to Electrical Engineering with evening activities including a quiz night and murder mystery.
Back in March, we ran a 4-week progressive programme over at Brooklands College for their ESOL students. The sessions involved application, CV and personal statement writing, as well as teambuilding activities and a creative arts workshop with a tutor from UCA. In addition to these sessions, in May we invited the students onto Royal Holloway’s beautiful campus for two days of Maths and English revision masterclasses.
As part of our strategic offer we look to work with hard to reach group such as young carers, military service children and students from ethnic backgrounds. One of our key projects has been ‘Students of Black Heritage’ – this programme works with students from a black background and aims to raise aspirations and provide advice and guidance around careers and next steps into FE/HE. During the month of May we took a number of students from Bohunt Farnborough to BMW’s HQ in Fleet.
The students had an amazing time being treated to talks from three members of BMW staff who were of black heritage, a lunch hosted by BMW’s diversity and inclusion group, ‘Embrace’, and an amazing tour of the grounds, offices and showrooms. Safe to say aspirations of the students were firmly raised and expectations of their first car have been as well!
What’s UPCOMING?
Each instalment of the newsletter will give you an insight into what to expect from HEON over the next few months.
There’s a huge amount of upcoming activity but not only that, there’s a massive opportunity for you to have an impact on the future of HEON. On the 2nd July the HEON team will be hosting a morning of discussion at University of Surrey – ‘Help Shape The Future of HEON’. This morning of discussion will take place from 9am to 1pm on campus and will be an opportunity to gain further understanding of HEON as a programme and what the future holds. Most importantly, we would like to give you and members of SLT from your school the opportunity to have your say! If you would like to attend and haven’t made us aware, then please contact Nathan Simpson (n.simpson@surrey.ac.uk) directly.
We will be delivering our ‘Discover Summer School’ between July 29th and August 1st. Applications for this have now closed but we are extremely excited to be welcoming around 60 students on to campus at the University of Surrey where they will take part in a variety of subject tasters, IAG talks and evening activities. All in aid of raising their aspirations and understanding of what it could be like to become a higher education student.
Two of our flagship attainment raising and aspiration raising programmes will also be concluding for the academic year. The final stop for our Y10 FOCUS students will be taking part in higher education tasters days at one of Royal Holloway University London or University of Surrey. Students will get the opportunity to take part in a number of subject tasters ranging from ‘Health Sciences’ to ‘Law’. Students will also get the opportunity to listen to talks carried out by current student ambassadors on ‘Student Life’ Our second flagship programme, EMAR (English Maths Attainment Raising), will be ending with their final mentoring sessions and campus visits.
Thank you to all staff and students that have participated in the programmes this year. We look forward to working with you in the future and will be in touch in due course regarding expression of interest for academic year 24/25!
If you would like to gain a greater understanding of our programme of delivery and any bespoke opportunities for your school then please open up a line of communication with one of our Partner Officers or Nathan Simpson. Contacts for all can be found in the links below.
We look forward to working with your school in 2024!
PARTNER PREVIEW
University centre farnborugh open event
University Centre Farnborough are hosting a final open event this academic term on Wednesday 19th June 2024
Discover what your options are for studying with us and experience student life for the evening!
Choosing a course and a place to study can be difficult, so we’ve tailored this event to give you all the key information that we know people want on a visit. This includes the chance to:
• Explore the University Centre campus and the great facilities we have to offer including all of our 2 year accelerated degrees
• Chat to with experienced lecturers about your course
• Speak to our accredited learner services team regarding fees, funding and support
• Get to know what it’s like to be a student with us
Register your place using this link: www.ucfarnborough.ac.uk/open-event/june-2024-open-event/
University for the creative arts’ grad shows opening soon!
13th-25th June
Book your place to see the graduate takeover from our largest range of courses including games concepts, short films and stop-motion animations to crafts, fine art, photography, illustration, and graphic design.
14th-25th June
See the very latest innovations and concepts in fashion, business, and graphic design at Epsom’s Graduation Show.
Individuals can book via the links above – if you would like to bring a group of students interested in the creative arts, please contact outreach@uca.ac.uk to arrange a visit.
Upcoming UCA Open Day
UCA’s next Open Day is 22nd June on all campuses – Farnham, Epsom, and Canterbury. Book your place to attend our Open Day and explore your subject of interest, meet our lecturers and have your questions about University fees, funding and accommodation answered.
