A Decade of Impact: A Teacher’s Perspective

For over ten years, Year 6 teacher Ruth has been working with IntoUniversity Leeds East to deliver our Primary FOCUS programme, specifically our Year 6 FOCUS Week: a week of concentrated learning on a university degree subject through immersive workshops and trips, ending in a university graduation.

Her school, which serves a community where many pupils face significant barriers, has seen long-lasting benefits through this partnership, not just academically, but in confidence, aspiration and engagement.

“We’ve been working with IntoUniversity for 10 years now,” says Ruth. “It’s always one of those things in Year 6 that we really look forward to because you see so much progress in the children.”

At the heart of the FOCUS Week is personal development. “For example, we see huge strides in children’s confidence, their relationships, not just with their peers, but relationships that they’re forming with adults, like unknown adults. And that’s credit to the IntoUniversity staff as well, who build those relationships really, very quickly with the children.”

Children who may find traditional learning environments difficult often thrive in this new setting. “Some children who might struggle in school, but then actually really blossom in their FOCUS Week because they’ve got that opportunity to do something slightly differently. And it’s focusing on something that they’re interested in, it can personalise it to them.”

For many pupils, the programme provides their first real exposure to university as a place they belong, not just somewhere ‘other people’ go.

“The things that they learn in respect of university and their Post 16 options… We do a lot about careers in school now and it’s really nice for them to make those links and for them to actually understand what university is and that it’s not a scary place. It’s not something that’s out of their reach.”

The university visit is a highlight. “Having the tour of the university, when I tell people that we get to do that, there’s so many schools that are really envious of that situation because it’s not something that every child’s going to be able to do.”

This kind of exposure can be transformative. “It gives us the opportunity to expose them to the wider world and that wealth of options for them so that they can follow their hopes and dreams and think, well, I can do that and I’m not tied to where I feel like I am. And they can break out of that cycle.”

Teachers at Ruth’s school see the programme as a vital extension of their classroom teaching.

“They get a breadth of different things that they also then can experience that they wouldn’t do with us in the classroom. This is more about meeting the whole child as opposed to just, this is where they’re at in English and this is where they’re at in Maths. This is so much more than that.”

That growth is visible and emotional throughout the FOCUS Week. “Stand[ing] up in front of their peers and read[ing] their University Tree leaf [where they have written their future ambitions] to 30 children… that’s huge for some children, and yet they all manage to do it. And I always find that quite emotional. That’s always the one where I sit there and it often makes me feel very teary because I just think, look at what you’ve just done, especially with some children. I would have never thought they’d have been able to do that and they’ve done it.”

“Then I can harness that and say, you can do it. You can do hard things. You’ve done it.”

The success of the programme, Ruth says, lies in the care and commitment of the IntoUniversity team.

“It’s all really well researched and prepared and it’s meeting all the needs of the children. I just think it’s such a great idea and opportunity and all the things that they do. We just love it.”

After ten years of collaboration, Ruth has one clear message for other schools: “I do hugely recommend working with IntoUniversity. You do the FOCUS Weeks, do the transition days, you work with Year 5, you work with Year 4. We’ve built such a strong relationship. I’m just grateful that we’re able to provide it with them and the IntoUniversity [staff] work so hard to make it happen for them, because these kids are deserving of it, and I’m really glad that they’re able to do it.”

Read more about 10 years of supporting young people in Leeds