Next Generation Faces Up to the University Challenge

YOUNGSTERS at a Weardale school have an ace up their sleeve when it comes to further education.Year eight pupils at Wolsingham School and Community College learned about living at university, through an Ace – Aiming for College Education – day.About 150 pupils – aged 12 and 13 – joined games and activities, led by students from Northumbria, Newcastle and Sunderland universities.Andrew Fowler, the school’s Aim Higher coordinator, said: “In Weardale, a lot of people don’t have family members or siblings who have been through post16 education, so we wanted to raise awareness of what’s out there.”We found some pupils thought you had to be very clever to go to university and others thought it was about partying all the time. “We were very impressed by the approach of the students. A lot said they really enjoyed it and it had changed the way they think about university.”

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