University visit adds up to a great weekend – University of Reading
28 September 2004
Local GCSE students gave university life "top marks" when they recently spent an educational and fun weekend of number-crunching at the University of Reading. Twenty-seven Year Eleven pupils from the Brakenhale School in Bracknell spent a weekend at the University campus to complete a major module of their Mathematics GCSEs – and to get a taste of life in higher education. The lively weekend was organised by Aimhigher, which is a government initiative aimed at increasing the numbers of young people opting for higher education on leaving school, particularly those without a family background of higher education. Mr Jonathan Oliver, Brakenhale's Assistant Headteacher, said the students benefited hugely from coming to the University. "Since the weekend, the children have been on cloud nine – they had a fantastic time and I know that their parents were also very impressed. "The students had to analyse various sets of data and it was difficult work so we were delighted to find that every one of the students achieved either an A* grade or an A grade. All in all, the whole weekend was a resounding success." Jon Bramley, who is based at the University and is Operations Manager for Aimhigher Berkshire, said: "We hold these kinds of events in order to let the students see the big picture of education and so they can investigate the opportunities higher education can bring. "As well as seeing some of the equipment and facilities available at a university, the Brakenhale pupils met some of our science students who were able to answer their questions about university. I think it was a great experience for both the university students and the school pupils." End Notes for editors -Aimhigher is a joint initiative by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which aims to widen and increase participation in higher education. Aimhigher focuses particularly on those young people from groups or backgrounds which are currently under-represented in higher education. -For further information, please contact Craig Hillsley, The University of Reading's press officer. Tel: 0118 378 7388 Email: c.hillsley@rdg.ac.uk