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LOCAL SCHOOL STUDENTS GRADUATE FROM B6 RAY PROGRAMME AT LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

LOCAL SCHOOL STUDENTS GRADUATE FROM B6 RAY PROGRAMME AT LANCASTER UNIVERSITY

Year 10 students from Atherton High School, Harper Green School, Mount St Joseph Catholic School, Sharples School, Smithills School, St James School, St Joseph’s R.C High School and Westhoughton High School had a fantastic day at Lancaster University celebrating their graduation from The Sixth Form Bolton RAY (Raising Aspirations Youth) Programme.

RAY is a one-year programme for gifted and talented Year 10 students. It’s designed to equip the students with the necessary skills to excel in their studies and involves a range of activities, seminars and visits which broadens their horizons, teaches them new skills and helps them to make new friends.

RAY students enjoying their session

As part of the programme, the students have attended five sessions at The Sixth Form where they have worked in mixed groups with students from other schools. As well as a Debate Night and World of Work session, they were also able to choose a subject area or strand that interested them. The strands offered were Art & Design, Criminology & The Modern World, Health & Childcare, Humanities, Media & Performance and Sport and STEM. The RAY group attended two sessions focussed on their chosen strands where they took part in engaging activities related to those subject areas. These included a dark room session tasting in Art & Design and an offendor profiling activity in Criminology & The Modern World.

RAY students enjoying their session

In their final session, the RAY group visited Lancaster University which gave the students the opportunity to enjoy a range of activities. In the morning, they had a campus tour which provided an insight into university life and the benefits of undertaking a degree-level qualification. During the second half of the day, the students enjoyed a study skills session delivered by student ambassadors. They then experienced a graduation ceremony, celebrating their RAY achievements and receiving their completion certificates from a member of Lancaster University staff.

RAY students visiting Lancaster University

Simon Christian, RAY Lead Coordinator and Senior Leader, felt the programme overall had been a huge success and said:

This year’s RAY cohort have thoroughly enjoyed all of their RAY sessions at The Sixth Form. They have learned some valuable academic and employability skills, while at the same time developing their confidence. It’s been a pleasure to work with our local schools on this excellent programme and we are looking forward to the continuing success of the programme in the future.

RAY students visiting Lancaster University

Jill Whitham, RAY Co-ordinator, was really positive about the Lancaster University trip and said:

The trip to Lancaster University was a fantastic opportunity for our RAY students to experience life on campus at a leading university.  During the trip, RAY students heard about university-life and degree-level study and also took part in a workshop focusing on revision technique which will help prepare for their GCSEs in year 11.  The day was rounded off with our RAY graduation ceremony, which was a great way to celebrate and acknowledge the amazing achievements of this year’s RAY students. We would like to congratulate all of the participants on their RAY graduation and to thank all of the school staff, Lancaster University team and B6 staff who’ve been instrumental in making this such a successful programme. 

Students graduating from RAY Lancaster University

The students really enjoyed the programme. Year 10 St Joseph’s RC High School student, Bradley Forster, said:

I really like the RAY Programme. It’s made me decide that I definitely want to come to The Sixth Form Bolton. Before doing this programme, I was considering going to a different college with my friends but now I can see that it’s important to get to know that place that you’re thinking of studying at and The Sixth Form seems like such a caring place with great courses and staff. The Lancaster University trip was great. I’d not thought that much about what kind of university I’d want to go to but I really like the idea of a campus one now. I’m so glad I did RAY and want to thank everyone involved

For more information on the RAY Programme, go to https://www.bolton-sfc.ac.uk/ray-programme/.

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