The impact of an extra-curricular programme on HPA students’ engagement
Author
Lesley Nelson-Addy, Didcot Girls’ School
Summary
This investigation, which was undertaken in the final year of the MSc in Learning and Teaching, reports on how ‘participation in Symposium (a six-session programme on language, literature, and media) affect[s] Higher Prior Attaining students’ engagement in English?’. The Symposium programme was implemented in a school in an area of socio-economic disadvantage (where around 50% of pupils were eligible for Pupil Premium) and was structured as a series of ‘undergraduate-style’ seminars, intended to encourage students to engage with content that went beyond the curriculum and to have discussions with similarly able students about that higher level content. The presentation reports on the project and on students’ experiences and reflections on its impact.