From Tuesday 30 July to Friday 2 August, the Partnership Development Office ran a four-day residential Summer School at the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus for 48 year 10 participants. The young people came from a wide range of partner schools from across Kent and Medway. Throughout the week, students engaged in a variety of academic and social sessions that were designed to reflect the university experience while living on campus in Keynes College, allowing them to gain first hand experience of what it is like to live in student accommodation.
A key element of the summer school is the opportunity for participants to focus on subject areas which interest them. Three subject strands were available, each one corresponding to a Kent Faculty and students in each area worked in groups to develop a project which culminated in a presentation to their peers. The humanities students discussed different methods of protest through a variety of creative methods in the Jarman studio, the social science students created a business pitch using the ASPIRE space in the Sibson building, and the science students visited the Biosciences lab and conducted research on global challenges. In addition to their project work, students were also able to experience tasters in subjects within their faculty including Politics, Classics and Pharmacy. Alongside their academic sessions, students were offered a range of social sessions to show them what student life may be like. These included volleyball, CSR (radio) and evening activities such as a trip into Canterbury on a student budget.
University of Kent Outreach Ambassadors provided support throughout the summer school, ensuring that the students were well looked after but also responding to their questions and concerns about university, drawing on their own experience as Kent students. This was invaluable for the participants and, it is hoped, will help them to make a more informed decision about whether university is the right option for them in the future.
There was a high demand for the Year 10 Summer School this year and therefore a number of unsuccessful applications. We will be running a one-day event in the Autumn Term to give those applicants the opportunity to visit the campus and explore their higher education options. For more information, please contact outreach@kent.ac.uk.