Orchard Park’s pathway of excellence offers regular and specific developmental experiences to raise the aspirations of our students, especially those that are disadvantaged or high attaining. Students engage in a series of activities offering them opportunities to be creative, be aspirational for themselves and develop a love of learning beyond the classroom.

15 students are recruited from each year group, through the process of submitting a written application. These students then have a range of activities and experiences to complete through the year.

Our Year 9 and 10 Excellence Pathway students had a visit from Mansfield College Access Officer in May. The students were told how they can access Oxford or Cambridge University, debunking the myths around access to one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

Our Year 10 students travelled to King’s College London University on Wednesday 1st May for the first of three workshops on Digital Futures. The programme is aimed at BAME students to help increase their representation in digital careers by empowering students in digital technologies and its career opportunities. Students heard from KCL academics and PhD students, learning about the history and future of digital technology, meta data, innovative tech at Fujitsu, targeted advertising and careers and education in digital humanities. In the next workshop, students will be introduced to interactive digital skills, coding and programmes such as Python, preparing them for the final workshop on artificial intelligence.

At the beginning of June, our Year 7 Excellence Pathway students visited the Science Museum (pictured left). They visited different galleries, including the Energy Hall and the Mathematics Gallery. The students also had their own reading book review display. The display aimed to attract audiences from across Year 7, 8 and 9 to read books.  a

Our Year 8 Excellence Pathway students visited The National Gallery at Trafalgar Square last week. The students were led by a gallery educator on an interactive tour and talks. They had the opportunity to practise their observational and visual literacy skills by focusing on paintings from across the gallery. Students were in shock to hear that one of the paintings (Bronzino 1503 -1572) was worth about
£100, 000, 000.

Mr K Afriye, Excellence Pathway Co-ordinator