About the School-University Partnerships (SUP) team

The SUP team sit between the Public Engagement with Research unit and the Widening Participation and Social Mobility teams at the University of Southampton. Our roles grew out of the Talk to US! School-University Partnership Initiative, and we continue to connect schools, colleges and youth groups to research and researchers for mutual benefit.

Since 2016 we have been working with local teachers, pupils, and community groups, and University of Southampton staff and students, to co-create digital and physical resources and activities for bringing the curriculum to life, inspiring future generations of researchers, and creating better informed and more impactful research.

Activity Packs

Our activity packs project was launched in March 2020, when we noticed that the students we wanted to engage with and support were struggling to access online resources while learning from home during lockdown. To help local schools, teachers and pupils bridge the digital divide, we decided to create our very own activity packs, addressing different areas of the curriculum in fun and interactive ways.

Our packs included Hospital Heist (our forensic science activity pack) and Women in STEM-themed Top Trumps packs, shapes and numbers (numeracy), outdoor learning, , arts and crafts, Nutriskills food health and nutrition, marine engineering, electronic engineering, SOTSEF 'festival at home' packs, and Welcome Packs for young people arriving in Southampton seeking refuge or asylum including for groups arriving form Afghanistan and Ukraine. The pack designs were co-produced by our students (who lead on the project as a key example of championing student voice) and local school teachers & students, and local youth groups including Southampton Hub.

Since March 2020 we have produced and delivered almost 20,000 activity packs to families from Somerset to the Isle of Arran, with the majority delivered in and around Southampton. Using the data that many of you have shared back with us so far, we can report that of the households the programme has supported, 87% of them were from areas with the lowest Higher Education participation rates across the country and 75% of the households were also from areas with amongst the highest relative deprivation, highest relative income deprivation and lowest relative adult education, skills and training.

To find out more about how the project started and the rationale behind it, watch the video below.

Although we are now back in schools in person, the activity packs project is continuing! We are…

• Working with local school Cantell to develop the use of Hospital Heist packs & additional activities as part of their Year 6-7 transition, which we are hoping to role out to other schools in the city.
• Working with our partners to develop new activity packs for older age groups and in areas identified as requiring more support such as mental health & wellbeing.
• Using the Top Trumps Women in STEM card designs shared with us to create packs of cards featuring school students’ designs.
• Working with local youth groups, NHS services, and Southampton City Council to send more activity packs to new groups, especially informal learning settings.

If you represent a school, college, youth group, charity, or community group who would like to work more with the university and activity packs could be a first step towards this, please get in touch via the contact details below.

Resources

• Visit the SUP Digital Library of free educational resources
• Download a copy of the SUP guide book Building School-University Partnerships
• Request a talk or workshop through Ask the Expert
• Explore the Talk To US! YouTube channel for inspiring and informative videos

Contact the SUP team

Email: supo@soton.ac.uk
Phone: 023 8059 7521
Web: www.southampton.ac.uk/per/Spectrum/sup.page