A DOZEN Year 8 pupils from Bradon Forest School had a taste of what university life is like after attending the launch of the Scholars' Programme at Southampton University.

The 12 pupils from school, from Purton, travelled to the south coast on November 8, where they were put through their paces with study skills, essay writing, Agency and Paternalism and the ability to make choices for yourself and on behalf of others.

Assistant Headteacher, Mrs Chappell said: "The pupils were brilliant, the level of conversation, the ideas they were coming up with and the language they were using was really impressive."

One of the pupils said: "I was surprised by how big the University Campus was. It was interesting to see how different it was from secondary school."

On Tuesday, Mr Scaramanga, one of their assigned PhD tutors on the day, visited the school for the first of four tutorials. Pupils then submitted a 1,500 word dissertation for grading for grading prior to attending a graduation ceremony at another Russell Group University.

The Scholars Programme is run by The Brilliant Club, a UK non-profit organisation. Doctoral and postdoctoral researchers deliver academic tutorials in non-selective state schools to pupils aged 10-18.

During the Scholars Programme pupils have six tutorials with their PhD tutor, and visit a highly-selective university to celebrate their launch trip at the beginning and graduation at the end of the programme

This comes a couple of weeks after Year 9 pupils from the school were given a glimpse into the world of politics and democracy this week when MP James Gray gave them a tour of the Houses of Parliament.