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The Brilliant Club

Who we are

The Brilliant Club was co-founded in 2011 by two teachers who became involved in university access through their work in inner-city schools. As classroom teachers, they recognised the barriers that pupils from less advantaged backgrounds face in accessing the most competitive universities.

They started a project aiming at supporting these pupils to progress, by utilising the expertise and passion of PhD researchers, to deliver university-style tutorials to small groups of pupils. From an initial placement of 12 pupils in London, The Brilliant Club won a Guardian Charity Award in 2015 and now works with 20,000 pupils a year in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In pursuit of our mission, we run a flagship university access programme, The Scholars Programme, and our student success programme, Join the Dots. We also collaborate with institutions to deliver additional access and student success projects to support their priorities.

Our PhD tutors deliver The Scholars Programme in schools across the UK; raising attainment and sharing their subject knowledge and passion for learning with students aged 8-18.

Join the Dots brings schools and colleges together with universities to support students who are most likely to face barriers during the transition to higher education.

Parent Power creates parent and carer communities across the UK, each one supported by an anchor institution. Through advice and guidance on accessing higher education, and developing skills in community organising, Parent Power empowers parents and carers to make change in their children’s future.

We are committed to the rigorous evaluation of our programmes and conduct internal evaluations and commission external evaluations of our programmes. For eight years running, UCAS evaluations have shown that The Scholars Programme has a statistically significant impact on application and progression to the most competitive universities. For the last two years, we have been able to show the impact made on GCSE attainment by The Scholars Programme, using data from the Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT).

What we do

We provide high-potential students in your multi-academy trust with stretching academic experiences to develop their academic skills, raise attainment and increase their confidence and aspiration to attend the most competitive universities.

• The Scholars Programme develops key academic skills, including critical thinking and written communication, as well as university knowledge and confidence.
• Recent research showed that students who did The Scholars Programme in Year 8, 9 or 10 were more likely to achieve a 9-5 in maths and English than students who scored similarly at key stage 2 within their schools.
• Recognised by the Office for Students as effective practice in their recent attainment-raising toolkit.
• 1 in 2 Pupil Premium students progressed to a competitive university.
• Year 12 programme graduates are statistically significantly more likely to apply to a competitive university than students from similar backgrounds, and therefore progress to these universities at a higher rate.
• Endorsed by Ofsted as effective use of Pupil Premium funds.
• Impact can be articulated to meet statutory regulations for Pupil Premium, Gatsby Benchmarks and Ofsted.
• All sixth formers in our partner MATs can join a free university support programme, Join the Dots, which helps students through the application process and into first year of undergraduate study.

How we help

Students from the least advantaged backgrounds have a 2 in 100 chance of going to the most competitive universities, compared with 28 in 100 for the most advantaged (UCAS Multiple Equality Measure).

This disadvantage doesn’t disappear when they enter university. Disadvantaged students are 20% more likely to miss out on a 1st or 2:1 grade at university. This affects an individual beyond their time at university and impacts society as a whole.

Our programmes – namely three core programmes, The Scholars Programme, Join the Dots and Parent Power – support social mobility through a range of approaches:

• Growing The Scholars Programme so that over 20,000 students can develop their knowledge, skills and confidence to access university annually by 2026
• Pioneering approaches to university transition and student success will ensure that less advantaged students are supported to achieve a strong degree
• Empowering parents with Parent Power to become champions for higher education in their communities and address any barriers their children face

We’ve known for many years that The Scholars Programme increases applications and progression to competitive universities by building academic self-efficacy, which is a student’s belief that they can succeed at university. Now, new research has also shown a positive link between The Scholars Programme and attainment. At a time when schools, universities and parents are making difficult choices on where to spend ever tightening resources, we believe learning beyond the curriculum can bring multiple benefits that support students, both in their more immediate education needs, and their longer-term outcomes. You can read more here.

In this article, we share five insights from the education sector which represent the current state of educational inequality in the UK and demonstrate why widening participation is so important in the current climate.

Through our fundraised income and partnerships with universities, we are able to offer our high-quality programmes which have proven impact at subsidised rates for schools and trusts.

The Brilliant Club offers multi-academy trusts exclusive partnerships, which are tailored to support your strategic goals. Our MAT partners can access a range of additional resources for students and teachers at no extra cost, including: 

• Termly trust-level impact reports (see an example here).
• Student Oracy Resources to improve students’ confidence and transform their long-term outcomes, developed in partnership with Voice21. 
• Trust-wide graduation events to create opportunities for your trust’s schools to come together and build supportive and strong communities (capacity permitting).