Georgia Wetherall addresses audience
The University of Sussex Widening Participation (WP) team recently held a showcase event to an audience made up of Yr10 students, parent and guardians, and schoolteachers, celebrating the progress of students who had completed the second year of a three-year programme.
The programme, ‘Inspires 3’, seeks to promote aspiration, ambition, and access to young learners who might not consider higher education as a tangible future. In Year 1 the programme supports informed student choices, Year 2, scaffolds their attainment, culminating in Year 3 where students receive study management guidance.
The programme works creatively with Doctoral students to bring alive academic subject themes, making them relevant and relatable. One of the evening’s highlights was the brilliant Georgia Wetherall (Media, Arts, and Humanities), who delivered an academic workshop using Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games (2008) as the canvas to promote discussion about sites of power, prompting student and parent debate and raising critical thinking around representation.
One Senior Lead from a local Secondary school said: "The event created an excitement about future education pathways and had a really uplifting and positive feel...I enjoyed it… especially watching the students and their parents and carers, from every school, talking to each other in the session on dystopia.”
We are now planning and looking forward to our July Year 12 Summer Schools, and 2026/27 programme, both contributing to the University’s positive regional profile, and local recruitment agenda.