Capital Access

Nine AccessHE member higher education institutions (HEIs) are working with local authorities, schools, colleges and educational providers to build a new local infrastructure enabling access to HE in London. On 20 January, HEIs involved in the project invited staff from schools in Brent, Camden, Hackney, and Islington to a meeting to plan a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) Expo for Year 8s from under-represented groups, taking place in Spring 2016. Peter McCaffery, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of London Metropolitan University, welcomed guests and emphasised the importance of access work taking place at a local level.  Participants engaged in a series of brainstorming activities to ensure the Spring Expo would be highly interactive and tailored to the needs of the Year 8 students, while staff saw demos of some of the ‘hands-on’ activities their pupils will take part in during the event’s workshops.

On 28 January staff from schools in Lewisham and Southwark, local authority representatives, and parents came together with project HEIs to plan a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) Expo for Year 8s from under-represented groups. A series of interactive activities mapped progression routes into careers that represent STEAM, while discussion focused on key issues that pupils and staff need to consider on the pathway to higher education. Participants were excited about a cross-curricular Expo which would engage and inform pupils across a variety of subjects.

To find out more about this project please email Olivia at olivia.saunders@londonhigher.ac.uk.