University workshops are inspiring college students to raise their grades

More than 400 students in Sheffield, who are currently resitting their GCSE English and Maths exams, have taken part in a series of workshops to help build their confidence and inspire them to raise their grades.

Outreach staff and current students from the University of Derby took the ‘Resit Raising the Grade’ events on tour, visiting The Sheffield College across four dates in May (9, 18, 17 and 24).

The workshops, which are usually held at the University’s Kedleston Road Campus, aim to help students who are borderline D/C grade obtain the all-important grade C in their exams, through a series of interactive activities and revision workbooks.

Speaking after the events, Sarah Weir, Outreach Officer at Derby, said: “We have always ran ‘Raising the Grade’ events for Year 10 and 11 GCSE students at the University but this is the first time we have ran ‘Resit Raising the Grade’ workshops at a college.

“These sessions are all about confidence building for students who are in Year 12 at college and have previously failed the GCSE English and Maths exams but are now on a Level 3 course and resitting the exam. We want to empower and inspire them to achieve that grade C.

“Feedback from the events has been very positive. More than 90% of the students who have taken part said the event has increased their understanding of English, while 95% said that the workshops had inspired them to continue with their revision.”

Find out more about Widening Access activities at the University of Derby.