Our purpose:

The core purpose of the Scholars Programme at KS5 is to nurture potential in our academically gifted students. We want to enable our chosen scholars to advance and embrace their talents in the company of teachers, students and invited guests, who share their passion and ambition. We also seek to fully prepare these students for pathways towards the most challenging and rewarding courses at the top universities and most sought-after apprenticeships.  

Our aims:

• Support and nurture students with exceptional academic gifts
• Accelerate the pace of learning for our gifted students
• Foster extremely high expectations
• Promote independence in thinking and learning
• Add further breadth, depth, complexity and enrichment through our super curriculum
• Ensure that students are confident and fully prepared for early-entry university applications and interviews
• Our links and programmes:

Etonx: courses go beyond the curriculum – Etonx helps students gain the skills they need to achieve their goals. From critical thinking to LNAT preparation, this online platform is free to all students on the scholarship programme.

Cambridge Outreach: this link is used to facilitate personal statement support, early entry submissions and entrance exam preparation.

Wycombe Abbey Outreach: A world leader in girls’ boarding education and a school that has outstanding results. This outreach link supports our prospective medical students and ensures that each student has one-to-one interview preparation and entrance exam support.

The Access Project 

Woolwich Polytechnic began working with The Access Project in 2018. The Access Project is a charity that combines tuition and in-school mentoring to support gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds to achieve the highest possible grades and compete – successfully – for a place on some of the most competitive university courses in the country.

Students selected to join The Access Project's 4 year programme from year 10 onwards are paired with a volunteer tutor from a wide range of professions to receive free 1:1 subject tuition for an hour a week throughout the year. In addition, Access Project students benefit from a dedicated member of The Access Project team, who works at Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys two days a week to offer expert advice on A-Level choices, university applications and academic development.

Access Project students attend regular workshops arranged around their timetable and enjoy visits from speakers and outings to top universities. In addition, all Access Project students are given exclusive access to work experience and super-curricular opportunities, as well as a free subscription to Uplearn and AITutor. Students not chosen to be part of the Access Project's programme can still benefit from support with applications, admissions tests and interviews through The Access Project's Medicine and Oxbridge societies.

Across all the 35 schools currently working with the Access Project, students on the programme are more than twice as likely to end up at a top university than those of similar ability who were not on the programme. In a 2022 survey of Access Project students, almost all participants felt that the initiative has helped them become more confident (97%), more independent (98%) and more positive about their future (95%).

For the students at Woolwich Polytechnic School for Boys, those enrolled in the Access Project typically apply to and receive offers from at least one top university and eight out of ten students will meet the grades needed to secure a place at one of these selective institutions.