Fife and Tayside school pupils get a taste of studying at St Andrews

Over 140 pupils from schools in Fife and Tayside, as well as from further afield, have spent a week getting a taste of what studying and living in St Andrews would be like.

Thanks to the fully funded Sutton Trust Summer School programme – in partnership with the University of St Andrews – young people who may be the first in their family to attend university, or who may not have considered it due to family income, were able to experience what attending the University involves, the courses they could take, and the friendships they could forge. Fourteen of the pupils in the group were from care-experienced backgrounds, 15 are young carers, while 56 of the Scottish pupils attending live in the country’s most disadvantaged areas.

Chloe Watson, from Newburgh in Fife, was one of two S6 pupils from Bell Baxter High School in Cupar who attended the 5-day residential in June.

Although she is familiar with the town, being part of the University, she said, “felt like a world away” and she is now inspired to apply to study Medicine at St Andrews.

Chloe added: “It was great to meet so many different people and find out more about university life, what happens on a degree programme and all the other things you can get involved in as well. The Sutton Trust residential gave me an insight I wouldn’t otherwise have had, and it was great to meet new people, speak to lecturers and imagine myself being at university.”

During the week 46 local pupils from across Fife including Lochgelly, Auchmuty, Glenrothes, and Inverkeithing high schools, as well as Levenmouth Academy, and high schools in Dundee and Perth, took part in a wide variety of subjects including Maths, Medicine, Modern Languages, Computer Science, and Biology, and experienced a taste of some St Andrews traditions including the Pier Walk and ‘soakings’ – where undergraduate students are doused by buckets of freezing cold water on completion of their final exams.

St Andrews is one of the Sutton Trust’s longest-standing partners hosting more than 3000 students since 2003. Nearly half of this year’s cohort were eligible for free school meals, over 90% live in an area of disadvantage, and almost two-thirds (62%) will be the first in their family to go to university.

In addition to meeting lecturers and hearing more about courses, participants were able to meet with St Andrews’ Summer School Ambassadors including Josh Rankin. Many of these Ambassadors are Sutton Trust alumni themselves. They are central to how the programme works, providing invaluable support during the residential and showing students that they too can successfully gain a place at the university.

Josh, who grew up near Glasgow, was the first in his family to go to university and took part in the St Andrews Summer School in 2019. He’s now a postgraduate student who has worked with the University’s Access and Widening Participation team since his undergraduate days.

Orla Garrigan Mattar, Education Liaison Officer (Access and Widening Participation) in the University’s Admissions team said: “Watching the development of the young people who attend the summer school is one of the most rewarding aspects of working in the Widening Access team. Over the course of the week, you see them flourish in an environment that, for many, is completely unfamiliar. In many cases, you then have the privilege of seeing them return a year or two later as St Andrews students. The impact that interventions such as the Sutton Trust Summer School can have on young people’s lives should not be underestimated, and it is a joy to be involved in that.”

The Sutton Trust experience doesn’t end with the last day of the residential; Students continue to receive support from both St Andrews and Sutton Trust Online as they move through S6 or Year 13, make their university applications, and take the next step, whatever that looks like for them.