The Graduate refers to the dedicated programme in place to support the most able students at Priestley, focusing on providing room for students to develop the skills necessary for academic success at Priestley and beyond, and embed the super curricular into students’ academic life.
The thought is that by having sessions on the skills, mostly academic, for success at the most competitive universities, the confidence needed to put in an application follows.
What we offer..
- Weekly Sessions with the Graduate Tutor: Students meet for one hour per week with the Graduate Tutor and complete activities to bolster their academic skills outside of the standard curriculum. These sessions include things like building resource banks, giving presentations on topics that students are interested in and academic writing workshops.
- 1-1 Support: This support runs throughout students’ time at Priestley, from considering degree choices to 1-1 subject exploration sessions, personal statement support, and mock interviews.
- Trips and Visits: Students have the opportunity to visit universities like Oxford and Lancaster.
- Lectures: The Graduate Lecture Series brings together teachers, early career researchers and professionals and allows students to see where their intellectual curiosity may take them.
- Specialist Feedback on university applications: Graduate students begin thinking about university applications much earlier than non-Graduate students, and are therefore able to get more support and feedback from the Graduate Tutor.
Who is the Graduate for?
The Graduate falls under our EXCEL provision and is targeted at students with an average GCSE score of 7 or above, though applications are considered on a case-by-case basis and we would not deny any student who wishes to enrol the opportunity to do so.
Graduate Lecture Series
- The Graduate Lecture Series runs weekly on Wednesday afternoons in our Autumn and Spring Terms.
- The presence of a lecture series that brings together teachers, early career researchers and professionals helps to give students an insight into where students’ intellectual curiosity can take them.
Graduate Magazine
The Graduate Magazine gives students a platform for their super-curricular work. This ranges from award-winning essays to book reviews and investigative articles.
What the students say..
We visited former Priestley students Madgey Thompson and Thomas Shaw at Oxford University to discuss their experiences so far.
Priestley students Tailun Sun and Kata Pal talk about the offers they received from University of Oxford.
Students talks about the skills and knowledge they have acquired on the Graduate programme.
