A mentoring scheme designed to help students at a Shirebrook school improve their grades and set their sights on joining a top university is to be widened after it helped a host of youngsters pick up high GCSE grades this summer.
Shirebrook Academy has increased the number of Year 10 and 11 students being invited to join the initiative, which is run by the national charity The Access Project, from 40 last year to 50 this year.
TAP works with 33 schools nationwide, largely in London and Birmingham, and was launched in 2008 to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds to overcome the barriers standing in the way of them accessing education at one of the UK’s top universities.
Shirebrook Academy is inviting more students to follow in the footsteps of Ben Madeley and Angel Robinson after they picked up high GCSE results following their work with educational charity The Access Project.
It gives students access to online tutoring and mentoring from the ages of 14 to 18 in order to improve their academic performance and build their confidence, so that they have a better chance of being accepted at one the top 40 to 50 institutions in the UK, including Russell Group Universities, as well as Oxford and Cambridge.
Independent analysis shows that GCSE students working with The Access Project for two years make five months more progress than similar peers and Shirebrook is one of three organisations in the East Midlands that works with TAP, along with Vision West Nottinghamshire College in Mansfield and Ashfield School.
Shirebrook’s students can only access the help until the age of 16, since it does not have a Sixth Form, but many of them continue to work with TAP at West Nottinghamshire College or benefit from the experience by getting the grades they need to attend Sixth Form elsewhere.
This year, Shirebrook Academy’s two top-performing Year 11 students, Angel Robinson and Ben Madeley, who picked up a string of Grade 9s for their GCSEs, worked with TAP and both have since gone to study for A-Levels at Sixth Form elsewhere.
Mark Cottingham, principal of Shirebrook Academy, said: “Our Access Project provision was something I put in place in school three years ago and I’m delighted with the way in which it has helped our students over the years.
“It benefits their academic performance as well as raising their aspirations for their own lives and education and we have all seen first-hand how beneficial it has been through the wonderful achievements of students such as Ben and Angel this summer.
“The only drawback is that by the time they go to university they are no longer with us, but we’ve heard of a number of our former students who have achieved beyond what they would have thought possible and now that we have increased the numbers taking part, we are looking forward to hearing about more success stories in the future.”
Adam Joseph-Kerr is the university access officer for TAP in the East Midlands and works with the Shirebrook Academy students in school for two days a week.
He said: “The buzz surrounding the project has grown over the past couple of years and the awareness of it is higher than ever, which is why we have increased the numbers taking to part to 25 for each year group.
“While we do see an improvement in the academic side of what we do, what gives me the most fulfilment is the way in which the students grow in confidence, to the extent that they are taking informed decisions about what university they want to join and why, having previously not considered higher education at all.
“I was over the moon for all of our students at Shirebrook this year. They’d worked really hard and were excellent ambassadors for the project and there is no doubt that their success inspires others to want to take part in the project as well.”
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