On Friday 11^th June all LVI students attended UCAS and Higher Education Day, a bespoke event which aims to introduce students to the university application process.

The morning was spent in the company of the CEO of Optimising Futures, Jane Marshall. After a comprehensive and informative talk about Personal Statements the students participated in an interactive workshop, sharing ideas and discussing good practice ahead of writing their own statements this summer. Everyone took time to fill in a detailed form about themselves for their form tutors, providing bespoke and individual reference material about their achievements and ambitions. After lunch, Ms Williams, the new Director of Higher Education from September 2021, took the students step-by-step through registering and applications on the UCAS Hub. Specialised breakout sessions followed, with experts detailing various options such as STEAM degrees, US and European universities, Oxbridge and Art Schools.

The LVI showed not just emotional maturity but intellectual stimulation throughout the day, causing our guest speaker to comment “I have never been so impressed with the results of that workshop as I was on Friday. The fact they all put in so much effort really made the difference. All future workshop participants have a very high benchmark.”

A lecture by Dr de Bono on Monday 28^th June will capitalise on the day and set specific Higher Education targets for the LVI over the summer break.