Widening Participation Week and Evening 2020

Raising the aspirations of all students (Whole School - 11/02/2020)

During the week commencing 20th January, students from Years 7-10 took part in the school’s annual Widening Participation Week. Students had access to over 60 sessions. Students across all years took part in a range of different activities designed to inform and inspire students about their prospects and futures after their time with us at Garibaldi. This is a unique opportunity that Garibaldi offers students and, as of yet, we are not aware of any other Nottingham school that offers the same breadth and range of provision in this area.

Years 9 and 10 were provided with a menu of possible sessions and had the chance to opt-in to specific sessions that they felt would benefit them. These included workshops with ASK Apprenticeships, Nottingham Trent University, the University of Nottingham, Bishop Grosseteste University, ex-sixth form students, and current sixth form students. These sessions covered topics such as university life and post-16 options, to mock assessment centre workshops, to life at sixth form and the benefits of further study.

All subjects across the school designed and delivered a one-hour session during the week to one specific year group to inform students about where their subject could take them. In English, for example, students learned about jobs like a lexicographer, a social media manager, a lawyer and a diplomat to better understand the value of English after their study at Garibaldi.

Mr West, who co-ordinated the week, said: “Students have engaged really well with the sessions on offer. All of our visitors have commended the students not only on how engaged they have been, but also on how informed they are already about the options open to them”.

Noah Minto, Year 10, remarked that the week “answered a lot of questions and, in a way, gave me more questions to answer and a new perspective on my chosen pathway.” Charley Strouther, also in Year 10, said that “it gave a great insight of the possibilities of my future and now I have a better understanding of what I could do after Year 11”.