Roadshow set to inspire primary school pupils

Posted 31 October 2013

An event aimed at raising the aspirations of hundreds of nine and 10 year-olds from the north-west Midlands takes place at Harper Adams University next week.

The First Steps to University Roadshow, which runs from Tuesday to Friday (November 5-8), will bring Year 5 pupils from eight primary schools on to the Harper Adams campus to enjoy fun-filled activities based, on this occasion, on STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Staff and students from four Universities - Harper Adams, Keele, Wolverhampton and Staffordshire – will work with children from Telford: from St Matthew’s C of E Primary, Wrockwardine Wood Junior, Windmill Primary and the Woodlands Primary schools; from Harpfield Primary Academy and Burnwood Primary in Stoke on Trent; Hempstalls Primary, Newcastle Under Lyme, and Flash Ley Community Primary, Stafford.

Laura Coulthard, Marketing Manager for Student Recruitment and Education Liaison at Harper Adams, said: “This is going to be a really exciting event for both the children and Harper Adams. From our point of view, it’s great to be able to build stronger links with primary schools in our local area.

“For the children, this is an opportunity to experience being on a university campus and sample the types of subjects offered at Higher Education level – most of which are not likely to be on their usual curriculum. I’m not going to give away any details, because we want it to be a surprise for the pupils. But they are going to have a really interesting, fun time here and we hope it will inspire them, in the short and long term, by opening their eyes to the types of careers they can move into with a university education.”

The roadshow is part of the wider Primary to Higher Education Scheme 2013, which aims to assist and inspire school pupils as they begin to make choices about their futures. Next summer, the four universities will each host summer schools for their partner primaries.