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November 2009

Pupils prepare for a healthy future

 

Tomorrow’s Health Professionals Today is being launched in West Yorkshire this month to show school pupils the full range of career opportunities in the health sector, other than training as a doctor or nurse.

 

Richard Wilkinson from Aimhigher Bradford explained the thinking behind this new initiative. Richard said: “Students tend to have a very narrow view of health related careers with many aiming for medicine, with pharmacy as an alternative.

 

“We want them to look at the full range of degree courses that can lead to great careers in, for example, radiography, podiatry, occupational therapy dietetics and specialist nursing areas like mental health and operating theatre practice.”

 

Associates Scheme

 

Aimhigher West Yorkshire is taking part in the exciting and innovative Aimhigher Associates Scheme and has a target of recruiting 255 Associates and 1,277 learners from local schools and colleges.

This national programme aims to bring real benefits to the learners through their engagement with an Aimhigher Associate.

 

Associates are undergraduates who have been recruited from one of the five participating universities within the area.  Interest from potential Associates has exceeded expectations with over 500 applications and training is well underway.

 

September 2009

New Director for Aimhigher West Yorkshire

Jonathan Higgins has now started in his role as Director of Aimhigher West Yorkshire.  Jonathan replaced Maura Wilson who retired in July 2009.

Jonathan has brought a wealth of experience to this important role. Before taking up this role  Jonathan was the Director of Studies/ Vice Principal 14 – 19 of the United Learning Trust, Sheffield Springs Academy.  Until December 2006, he was the Aimhigher Co-ordinator responsible for establishing of the Sheffield Aimhigher partnership.

 

18th June 2009

First in seminar series

A successful seminar on retention was run by Aimhigher West Yorkshire, organised by Becca Currant of the University of Bradford and based at Leeds Trinity and All Saints.

An audience of 60 people heard thought-provoking presentations form Professor Liz Thomas, Senior Adviser in widening participation with Action on Access and a Lead Adviser with the Higher Education Academy. Becca Currant, Head of Learner Development and Student Engagement at the University of Bradford, related to current data on transition and successful retention strategies.

 

9th June 2009

West Yorkshire Babble is launched!

Aimhigher West Yorkshire is using cutting edge technology to make its 2009 Summer Schools the most successful ever.

Launched on 8 June, Babble is a social website just for students who have been invited to take part in an Aimhigher Summer School across Yorkshire and Humber. The response from students has been overwhelming; since it was launched, Babble has had 3,459 visits with the average person spending over 16 minutes on the site!

Helen Child, Assistant Director at Aimhigher West Yorkshire, explained how Babble came about. “We are always looking for relevant ways to communicate with young people and to make the most of new technologies.  A year ago we trialled podcasting which was a great success and social networking seemed a natural next step.

 

8th June 2009

First Aimhigher week

June saw the first ever national Aimhigher Week and West Yorkshire joined partnerships up and down the country to celebrate the success of the programme that has shown thousands of young people what a better future could look like.

Aimhigher West Yorkshire hosting a number of targeted activities including ‘Passport to University Days’ and ‘Primary Fun Days’.

Aimhigher also celebrated the success of its ground-breaking mentoring programme which will be rolled out locally in September following a successful pilot phase.  The 'Aimhigher Associates' scheme has recruited students from the region’s universities to give support to young people who have the potential to get to university.

 

June 2009

Diabetes on the menu for West Yorkshire students

Teenagers from across West Yorkshire who are interested in careers in health, descended on the University of Huddersfield for an event called Diabetes: Keeping People Well.

Over 100 Year 12 students from schools in Kirklees, Bradford, Calderdale, Leeds and Wakefield took part in great activities like the Diabetes Treasure Hunt, where they followed a trail to discover key facts about diabetes and learn about carrying out a range of procedures.