There are many people across St Mary's University who are involved in some form of 'outreach', by engaging with external groups (e.g. young people in schools & colleges; older people, Refugees etc). Within Widening Participation, the Outreach team are keen to stay in contact with colleagues and students about these kinds of activities.
Outreach Forum Meetings
A small initial forum meeting took place in November 2021, with the aim of sharing current practice, support and ideas between colleagues at St Mary's who work with young people or other external communities. A summary of meeting notes will be available on this page after meetings take place.
All are welcome at meetings - just contact Nancy Bentley (WP & Outreach Manager) to find out more: nancy.bentley@stmarys.ac.uk
Key outcomes and ideas
Attendees at this forum noted the following ideas and opportunities:
- The Widening Participation & Outreach team are prioritising new sustained engagement programmes aimed at targeted cohorts of young people, or providing subject-specific outreach (e.g. the Drama St Mary's Youth Theatre). The Outreach Manager & Officers are very happy to discuss collaboration and partnerships with colleagues - feel free to get in touch.
- Student Recruitment Officers Meg Griessel, Charlotte Johnson-Maltby and Rachel Stanley are in frequent contact with the Outreach team, and a huge number of external contacts in schools & colleges. Staff can submit items for the Schools & Colleges Newsletter to Meg via schools.colleges@stmarys.ac.uk. Submissions are required before the first working day of the month. Recruitment project work discussed included partnerships with Colleges (CJM), links with Faith schools and Ireland (RS) and targeted engagement with key boroughs (MG).
- Sally Stratton, Learning Manager at Strawberry Hill House, highlighted the great benefits of 'learning in place' during activities at the House, and potential for Gothic-themed outreach with the university (mapped to the English GCSE curriculum).
- Simon Jackson (Sport St Mary's) noted a good overlap in some of his/ Jodie Whitford Stark's areas of interest, including young people in Hillingdon and Uxbridge.
- Nick Turk, Director of First Star Academy at St Mary's University shared his plans for future residentials for the First Star students. Cindy Croucher-Wright (Head of Conferencing & Short Courses) shared upcoming training & resources available for teachers on Stalking Awareness, and her plans for events with young people from underrepresented backgrounds.