Theme 3: Working With Others

The DevNeuro Academy is a widening participation-focused Summer School for Year 12 students, hosted by the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology and the MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN). KCLWP supported Dr Leigh Wilson, Public Engagement Manager and Programme Lead, from the start, offering expertise and delivering information, advice and guidance on the programme. Our relationship with Leigh helped steer the design of our WP Champions Programme. We caught up with her to hear about how DevNeuro Academy has progressed.

My role at King’s isn’t entirely straightforward. My background is in neuroscience research, then I became more interested in science public engagement and outreach. I was magnetised to working with people, especially younger people, and to develop courses that teach science in a creative way.

The flagship programme I’ve worked on and reconceived is DevNeuro Academy. I thought it was a great opportunity to develop a bigger WP-based programmes within neuroscience. It’s existed for seven years, starting off as a small programme working with 12-15 students in three WP-based schools in the local area, and now we work with 52 students in 26 schools from 13 London boroughs.

I want it to reach out to London communities. It’s not just local to King’s, it’s spread out over 13 boroughs, opening the opportunity to schools that have low progression to university, encouraging those pupils that are interested to feel as though they have access to Russell Group universities. That’s one of the big impacts I’d like to seeincreased applications to King’s from those would never have thought about applying.

I think it’s taught me how to get people on board, how to introduce a culture amongst academics who are not used to doing outreach and introduce a real culture of WP, showing the two-way benefits. It’s taught me a lot about how young people think, and to never make assumptions about what they’re thinking, what they’re interested in, what drives them, what backgrounds they come from.

It’s my second year of face-to-face in July. I want to know every student’s name by the end of the week and for them to know each other’s. This year, we’re going to base our selection entirely on WP criteria. I’d really like to make some partnerships with local schools and select a certain percentage based on neurodiverse criteria. I’d love to expand it - students are interested in neuroscience and getting experience in research centres which is virtually impossible when you’re a 17-year-old.

I want to introduce more people to the joy of creating unlikely relationships.

Being a WP Champion means KCLWP have helped me figure out the programme as I go along which has been an interesting process in itself. I hope that what we’re doing with DevNeuro Academy is forming a really good template for other departments. It’s been a lovely process working with the team –I’m really grateful for that.

Since 2013, KCLWP has partnered with IntoUniversity, a charity that runs local learning centres across the UK for young people. We are proud to sponsor the IntoUniversity centre in Kennington. King’s takes a key role in providing IntoUniversity with student mentors who inspire the next generation to consider higher education as a viable option for their future. Through the mentoring programme, university students provide information, advice and guidance to young people and support them with their academic work.

Throughout the 2021/22 academic year we welcomed over 1,000 IntoUniversity students to King’s, offering pupils the opportunity to explore different campuses and speak to current undergraduate students. Our student ambassadors play a vital role in supporting IntoUniversity events, from leading interactive campus tours to speaking on Q&A panels. Meeting university students with similar backgrounds makes the university pathway more achievable for future generations.

This year, we partnered with the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences to create an interactive dentistry summer school. Our aim was to bring dentistry to life and increase applications to the faculty from young people living in England’s social mobility cold spots. To do this, we focused on practical clinical experience. Citing learnings from this type of activity is the cornerstone of a strong dentistry application but it is not something that is typically easy to access.

34 young people attended the summer school from across the country. With the help of the faculty, participants experienced the newest technologies in dentistry teaching. They used haptics machines to practice clinical skills on virtual patients and learned how to wax up a tooth.

“Being able to use the dental school equipment gave a real feel of what it would be like to study dentistry.” - Summer school participant.

Our partnership with the dental faculty enabled us to offer young people from widening participation backgrounds a unique summer school experience. Access to technology and knowledgeable staff created a high-quality programme and a transformative opportunity.

The first day of secondary school is daunting for everyone and we know that a smooth transition from primary to secondary has a positive impact on attainment. Step Up Scholars targets the youngest participants in our programme portfolio. Year 6 pupils from three partner schools attend five inschool sessions led by Student Ambassadors. Students take part in a variety of activities that prepare them for secondary school life. They learn soft skills like friendship-building and timetabling, as well as metacognitive skills to support their attainment. Since the pandemic, Step Up scholars also has a renewed focus on mental wellbeing.

Parental engagement is a priority for KCLWP and Step Up Scholars gives us the chance to meet and engage Year 6 parents at the beginning of their child’s secondary schooling. We support Step Up Scholars parents and guardians through the KS connect text messaging service and invite them along to their child’s graduation at the end of the week, and our annual King’s Scholars Family Day. 14 Step Up Scholars Years 6s have progressed onto the King’s Scholars programme.