Appleton Academy

What is the Scholars Programme

The Appleton Academy Scholars Programme was created in February 2024. The programme has been developed with support from Andy Griffith, a renowned educational consultant, teacher, trainer and writer who works with schools, colleges, universities, and businesses to improve social justice.

The primary aim of the scholars programme at Appleton is to counteract the structural bias in our society against working class children achieving success in their adult lives. Many children unconsciously absorb messages that they are not as worthy of success as people from more affluent backgrounds. Some will come from families who face poverty in many forms. One such instance of this is cultural poverty, where some students will have a relative knowledge poverty compared to their more affluent peers. The Scholars Programme aims to counteract this and provide the ‘secret’ knowledge that is inherent in literature and the media. The programme is targeted towards students who have the potential to achieve a university degree or higher level apprenticeship. Many will achieve this without the Scholars Programme but the Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills and Habits (KASH) gained through formal sessions, planned experiences and informal learning opportunities will build learning dispositions that can support students to be successful both academically and in terms of personal and career progression. 

The programme is based around a ‘co-curricular model’. Most sessions will take place within school time. This includes trips as well as the delivery of the Scholars units of work. Much of the content will be revisited throughout the programme to ensure habit development and to deepen understanding. The content includes:

• An in-school Scholars session presented twice per half term. These will vary in duration although the average session will be over two hours (two lessons).  
• An Experience (either on or off-site) such as a speaker or an educational visit to take place at least once per half-term. 
• Parent sessions to take place at least once per term – a combination of in-person and virtual sessions. 
• Provide time in the training sessions for discussion and self-reflection on progress made, challenges still to be faced and learning from the process. 

Extra-Curricular Events

All departments work hard to ensure that they provide activities to further engage pupils outside the normal curricular structure so that pupils can develop their curiosity and interest. With our Scholars Programme participants, we also aim to offer them visits to Russell Group universities and have representatives from Oxford and Cambridge universities join us in school to talk to pupils about their application process. Now entering its second year, our unique Scholars’ Programme is expanding in both the range and variety of activities on offer.

Recently our Scholars undertook some of their first visits and activities as part of the programme and enjoyed an experience at Huddersfield University and a trip to the regional office in Leeds of the prestigious organisation, Deloitte.

Deloitte Visit Gallery:

Huddersfield University Visit Gallery: