The “Aim High” personal development programme proves to be an invaluable opportunity to make impact across South East London’s students from challenging socio economic backgrounds. One of our Facilitators wanted to share a reflection on the first session of the programme and how Unloc has enabled them to support students in striving to achieve their goal, no matter how high their aspirations may be!
The “Aim High” personal development programme proves to be an invaluable opportunity to make impact across South East London’s students from challenging socio economic backgrounds. One of our Facilitators wanted to share a reflection on the first session of the programme and how Unloc has enabled them to support students in striving to achieve their goal, no matter how high their aspirations may be!
Working with sixth form students at a college in South East London recently, has made me consider how we can best help truly inspirational young people in some of the most socially challenging areas of the country to achieve their career and academic goals.
As part of Unloc’s ‘Aim High’ Personal Development Programme for potential Oxbridge candidates, we explored the students’ aspirations and together plotted their personal and academic journey so far. During this process, I started to appreciate the social challenges and barriers some of these boys and girls face in their everyday lives. Although these issues were significant, it was clear that they would not stand in the way of aspiration or become obstacles to success.
The students inspired me.
The students inspired me. Not put off by statistics that show how heavily oversubscribed both Oxford and Cambridge are each year (and this did shock them!), the high entry requirements or some of the data relating to demographics, these young people were determined to realise their potential.
There is a great deal of debate around how the most prestigious universities select their undergraduates. Maybe some students do have an advantage over others because of their background or schooling, which needs to be addressed, but I came away from the first part of this programme feeling strongly that there is so much potential out there, across all schools and colleges. I think about how proud I would feel if just one of the students I worked with took up a place at their first choice university. To be able to play a small part in helping these young people achieve their goals is an absolute privilege and I look forward to working with them again next month.
At Unloc, our facilitators deliver content in a way that is most impactful, meaningful and beneficial for both themselves and more importantly, the young people we work with to develop their potential.
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