Queensbury Academy students attend the launch of The Elephant Group in London

Year 12 students from Queensbury Academy in Dunstable, part of Anthem Schools Trust, were up in London this month to attend the launch of The Elephant Group.

The students were taken on the trip by the Assistant Sixth Form Headteacher Mr Yarnell to Senate House at the University of London for the launch. The Elephant Group is a headteacher-led charity committed to improving fair access to top universities through the power of collaboration between school leaders, universities and wider invested partners.

The charity’s stance is that talent is everywhere but opportunity is not and though 57% of private school students access ‘top third’ universities, only 23% of non selective state school students and only 5% of disadvantaged students do.

The aim of the visit was to get the young people in attendance talking about their future and to start preparing them to make choices and apply for university courses through UCAS. Students heard from Admissions Tutors and undergraduate students from Exeter University, Kings College London, Sheffield University, Newcastle University, Oxford University and Cambridge University.

They also heard from Zero Gravity, a tech startup that is developing technology to identify top talent from low-opportunity areas and incubate it, so talented people everywhere can reach their full potential. Representatives from Procter & Gamble were also in attendance and they spoke to the students about the internships the company runs.

Helen Palmer, Headteacher at Queensbury Academy said:

“At Queensbury Academy we want our students to know the sky's the limit when it comes to their futures. The work The Elephant Group is doing to inspire some of those who might not consider certain universities is so important and it was brilliant to hear how much those who attended took away from the launch.

“As someone from Dunstable who attended the University of Cambridge, this project is really close to my heart. We shouldn’t have to bang down doors, opportunities should just be equal!

"If I had had the support of an organisation like The Elephant Group when I was going through my application process, perhaps it would have been easier, and it might not have felt so daunting. Our job as educators is to prepare students for university, because even if they choose not to go, they are ready to do anything that they want!”