Great Yarmouth pupils have a brilliant time at learning club

Pupils Charley Newell, Kacey Halstead and Lula Smith with club tutor Anne-Grace-Scullion. Picture: GYCA (Image: Archant)

The pupils from Great Yarmouth Charter Academy graduated from the Brilliant Club course at a ceremony held at the University of East Anglia after a rigorous programme of study led by a PhD student at the university.

During the course they studied various topics including stereotypes of Native Americans, learning how to interpret and critique key texts and building their debating and analytical skills.

The Brilliant Club pairs PhD students with state schools to increase the number of young people from under-represented backgrounds applying to the best universities.

Additional support for the course graduates included a workshop showing pupils how to use the skills they’ve learned in their university applications, and sessions for parents on university finance and helping to choose the right university course.

Charter pupil Charley Newell acted as a ‘spokes-scholar’ at the graduation ceremony, giving a speech to students from across the region about her course content, reading from her final assignment, and explaining some of the skills she had learned during the course.

“I have particularly enjoyed learning to analyse and critique the work of an author, to create debates on what the author’s intentions were when writing the piece,” she said.

Course tutor Anna-Grace Scullion commended the Charter pupils’ work on the “highly challenging” final assignment, adding: “The group should be very proud of what they’ve achieved.”