Residential Summer School

The Programme

The Widening Participation Teams Residential Summer School is an annual event delivered at the University of Derby on various sites to learners in Year 10. The event took place at the Kedleston Road, Britannia Mill, Markeaton Street and One Friar Gate Square sites. This event is delivered over three days and is designed to give students an insight into student life with a variety of activities delivered. The event also includes overnight stays in halls of residence to allow them to fully immerse themselves in student life.  

Impact

The evaluations indicate an overwhelmingly positive result and shows that the Summer School was effective in allowing students to receive a positive experience from the three days they were with us.

It is important that we evaluate not just their enjoyment of the Summer School but also how it has impacted their thoughts about future progression.  

The below graphics indicates how the learners felt they would fit in at university and their attitudes towards applying, both before and after the Summer School.  

The number of students who agreed or strongly agreed they felt like they would fit in at university

Before the event, most learners were ‘Unsure’ about whether they would fit in at university (40%), with 19% of students responding with ‘Disagree’ or ‘Strongly Disagree’ to the above statement. Most learners then were not positive about whether they would fit in at university before the start of the Summer School.

However, there were overwhelming positive results post session, with 90% of learners indicating that they ‘Agree’ or ‘Strongly Agree’ that they would fit in at university post event

The number of students who agreed or strongly agreed they were thinking about applying to university/HE in the future

Again, there has been a positive distance travelled due to the student's experiences on the summer school. Before the event, a large portion of the learners were ‘Unsure’ about applying to higher education in the future (49%). We did however see 30% of learners strongly agreeing to the above statement before the session started. This does show that despite the obvious improvements, those who did attend were already considering university as an option (TASO, 2022).

78% of students responding positively and 0% of learners disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the statement. There does remain a small percentage (22%) of learners who were still unsure of whether to apply.

2024 contextual feedback – quotes

• "Good experience and great opportunity" 
• "I was involved and helped with confidence and showed me what uni can be like"
• "Made new friends and had lots of fun!"
• "Met new people and made new friends, staff were amazing and very friendly. Was very happy with everything"
• "It was a fun time, I felt comfortable, and the experience had a good range of activities"
• "I genuinely wouldn’t have changed a thing the people were great; the team leaders and staff were really lovely as well"

2023 cohort long-term impact

We also utilise longer-term evaluative methods with the learners when they are in Year 11. We ask the learners the same questions to measure how impactful the summer school has been 1 year later; we are then able to compare answers and determine the long-term impact, as well as what improvements the team can make to the activity. Below are some responses from learners who attended the summer school in July 2023: 

• "My attitude towards university has changed since attending the Summer School. It excites me for my future as it interested me with what is to come"
• "I used to think that university could be a little dull looking, but it seems lively enough that I can look forward to it after sixth form"
• "It’s made me want to go to university more and less scared about joining"
• "I’ve decided to focus more in classes"
• "I probably wouldn't be as focused as I am now in school if I didn’t attend"
• "If I never went to the Summer School, I may have not learnt about things that could improve my chances of getting into university"

This feedback shows us the long-term impact that these activities have on learners in terms of informing their future progression, one of our key aims for our programmes.