BRILLIANT CLUB – YEAR 12 STUDENTS EXCEL ON SCHOLARS PROGRAMME 

The Brilliant Club is a charity formed with the aim of providing access to university-style tutoring and learning experiences in order to raise students’ aspirations. They work with schools and colleges to give students tuition delivered by PhD students as well as providing university visits.  

The Scholars Programme, run by the Brilliant Club, is designed to equip students with the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to succeed in university-level studies. Richmond School and Sixth Form Trustees kindly funded places for twelve of our Year 12 students to take part in the programme this year.  

The course took place between January and April. Gordon, a PhD specialist in ethics, delivered this year’s programme which was entitled “The Robots are Coming!”. The course explored the pros and cons of the use of artificial intelligence. To complete the course, the students wrote a 2500-word essay which was graded by Gordon using university-style grades.  

Leslie Richardson, Head of Sixth Form, said, “I am delighted with the way our students engaged enthusiastically with the course. Gordon posed many ethical dilemmas for the students to explore which sparked a good exchange of ideas. It was excellent to see how the students interacted with the tutorial-style approach, and they certainly rose to the challenge. The icing on the cake was that they all achieved one of the top two grades available- they all got either a First or a 2:1!”  

Our students recently attended a graduation event at Trevelyan College, Durham University. They had a tour of the university grounds, visited three colleges and asked the university student ambassadors lots of questions. Francesca, Izzy and Paige even became “Spokes Scholars” by volunteering to speak at the graduation ceremony about their reflections on the course.  

Francesca said in her speech, “I really enjoyed exploring the ethics of using AI in the workplace and in care settings.  It made me think creatively and critically about virtue ethics and consequential thinking. I will definitely be applying the skills I learned on the course to other areas of my study. I hope to become a Primary Teacher in the future. Today’s visit has confirmed that Durham is one of my top choices!”  

Ryan said, “Before the Scholar’s Programme, I wasn’t sure if higher education was right for me. However, after completing the course and the visit to Durham, university is definitely an option now.”  

Leslie added, “I am so glad that our students were able to have this opportunity. I would like to thank the Trustees for providing our students with this opportunity. We are all very grateful for their continued support.”  

This year’s brilliant (!) Brilliant Club students were:   

Arlo Wheatley, Caitlin Holcroft, Euan Millar, Ellie Hughes, Izzy Heap, Faye Hankin, Francesca Rouse, Lenny Blowes, Lily Parker, Naser Al-Bargooth, Paige Baker, Ryan Raine