MORE than 200 schoolchildren came to the University of Chester’s Parkgate Road campus to learn about Higher Education.

The university’s outreach team hosted the Winsford Primary Pathways event, which saw six Winsford primary schools invited to the university to participate in a series of activities designed to broaden aspiration and awareness of the opportunities available within Higher Education.

It is the largest primary school event of its kind that the outreach team has run. The children were able to explore a working university campus as well as meet staff and current students.

237 Year 6 pupils from Winsford High Street Community Primary School; Grange Community Primary School; Willow Wood Community Primary School; St Chad’s CE Primary School; Wharton CE Primary School and Oak View Primary Academy attended talks, a subject fair and were taken on a tour of the campus.

While primary schools in the local area are regularly invited to campus tours and talks, this was the first time that the event also included a subject fair which was staffed by lecturers and student ambassadors from English, art and design, languages, business, psychology, and music and performing arts.

During the fair, the pupils participated in a ‘treasure hunt’ task, collecting information from each stall about the skills involved in each subject and possible future careers relating to that degree.

This was designed to support Year 6 students in increasing their awareness of future career pathways and university opportunities, while allowing them to become familiar with a higher education environment.

They also participated in activities ranging from considering Harry Potter and English language, looking through art and design portfolios, solving problems using psychology, using virtual reality headsets to learn health skills, learning to write Mandarin characters, trying on costumes with performing arts, and exploring the range of careers available in business.

Chantal Bradburn, widening participation officer at the University of Chester, said: “Winsford is a key target area for the Widening Participation team, as students from this area face a wide range of challenges in progressing to Higher Education. The work we do with the primary schools is essential in promoting diverse opportunities to students before they begin secondary school.”

Councillor Nicole Meardon, cabinet member for Children and Families at Cheshire West and Chester Council, added: “We are committed to reducing the inequalities gap through a number of projects and interventions.  

“The visit to the University of Chester is one of a series of events to inspire, inform and educate primary pupils about career pathways. To help pupils to contextualise their learning in the real world, the Raising Aspirations Project is linking learning with employers, colleges and universities to ensure young people’s future career choices are well informed and ambitious.”