Secondary school pupils from Northfield Academy have been recognised by Robert Gordon University (RGU) following their successful completion of a higher education initiative.
The pilot Northern Lights programme for S1 & S2 school pupils was launched in 2014 and due to its on-going success has become a core part of the university’s widening participation programme, ACCESS RGU.
More than 20 S2 pupils received certificates at a special presentation evening at RGU’s Sir Ian Wood Building recently, which also gave them the opportunity to showcase their achievements to their families, teachers and friends.
Throughout the programme pupils reflected on their learning at key stages during the school term and recorded their experiences by completing a Passport to Success personal achievement record.
The Northern Lights programme provides pupils with a taste of the many subject areas available at university. The pupils visited the campus on a number of occasions throughout the academic year and were involved in sessions designed to increase their understanding of what it might be like to study at university.
S2 pupils began the programme with a media workshop at Aberdeen Business School and worked on mock TV and radio interviews as well as a poster campaign about gender imbalance.
They also enjoyed a tour of the university’s engineering workshop and carried out a number of experiments including using the wind tunnel to determine the aerodynamic efficiency of a toy car.
The final session on campus took place with academics from the Allied Health Professions, where pupils were engaged in a number of activities involving Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Radiography and Sports Science.
S2 pupils Joshua Currie, said: “I enjoyed the activities at the occupational therapy home setting the most but I enjoyed basically everything while I was at RGU.”
Classmate Jay Gaudie also enjoyed the activities on the health day and said: “It gave me a different perspective on people who have difficulties with their health and it was good to see how many different ways there are to help.”
Geraldine Lynch, project officer for the university’s Study Skills and Access Unit, said: “We’re very proud of the Northfield Academy pupils who have completed the Northern Lights programme. They have shown great commitment to improving their own knowledge of the options that are available to them at university.
“By showing the pupils what the university has to offer, we hope to increase their confidence and encourage them into positive post school destinations
“Though the pupils have completed the programme we hope to see many of them back next semester through the universities partnership with The Aspire North programme which runs for S3 and S4 pupils and builds on many of the subject areas they’ve had a taster session of already.”
More information about Access RGU is available via: www.rgu.ac.uk/access-rgu