{"id":591,"date":"2026-11-03T11:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/?p=591"},"modified":"2026-10-27T09:40:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T09:40:23","slug":"scholar-insights-claverton-scholarship-summer-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/2026\/11\/03\/scholar-insights-claverton-scholarship-summer-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholar Insights : Claverton Scholarship Summer School"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

A core part of being a Claverton Scholar is the opportunity to attend the Year 1 Summer School. This three-day event contributes to the Claverton Employability Passport you complete as a scholar, with the aim of developing your employability skills, enriching experiences, and personal and professional development.<\/p>\r\n



\"\"Day One:<\/h4>\r\n

The first day consisted of a variety of icebreaker activities, including an interactive quiz done in assigned groups. This was followed by a Sustainability Challenge, where our groups had to develop and present a solution to a sustainability issue related to the scholarship. My group centred ours around the catering needed for the event, with solutions including reducing plastic waste, meat and dairy products, and using local ingredients. Whilst my group didn't win, I had a great time getting to know my teammates and collaborating creatively to find solutions as a group.

That evening, we all came back for a meal at Nourish on campus, in which I had a tofu Thai green curry and cheesecake with fruit for dessert (and went back for seconds). We then split into teams to compete in a general knowledge and pop culture quiz.

In all honesty I found the beginning of the day nerve-wracking as I only knew a few people and had to settle into this new environment but ended the day feeling a lot more comfortable after getting to know a variety of people and having made some friends!<\/p>\r\n



\"GroupDay Two:<\/h4>\r\n

On the second day we met Martin Burder, a guest speaker who led workshops based around connecting with others and resilience. In this we were encouraged to talk to be reflective on our communication skills and how to create a positive first impression. I was shocked to find that over 60% of your first impression is made through your body language and learnt a lot that I will implement in the future! A later workshop run by Martin was based around learning to juggle. At first, I didn't understand why as this seemed quite a random skill to have chosen, but it quickly became clear the intention of the workshop was less about actually juggling, and more about building the confidence and resilience to keep working towards a goal. We got the opportunity to borrow the juggling balls and practice for the next day, and whilst I can't say juggling is something I can do yet, I definitely saw improvements in my ability over the day.

A large part of the Claverton Scholarship is about expanding your access to professional networks, and this was seen directly in the Cream Tea and Connections event on this day. This was a chance for us to approach professionals from both departments at the University, and local organisations. Personally, I found this really valuable as networking can feel intimidating as a student, but everyone there knew we were all scholars and practicing our professional skills which put my mind at ease.
\"\"
Formally networking was an experience very new to me, and it can be easy to get overwhelmed at events like these. Thankfully, the Claverton Scholarship team were incredibly supportive throughout, and encouraged me to talk to just one more stall before I left. From this I spoke to the 93% Club, a great charity based around state-school students which I ended up joining. Pushing myself gently beyond my comfort zone here helped me not only hear about different opportunities but prove to myself my own resilience and abilities.<\/p>\r\n


\u202f
Day Three and Reflections:<\/h4>\r\n

The third and final day revolved around reflecting on the skills we had learnt over the summer school, as well as how to communicate these professionally. It can be difficult to acknowledge and market your own skills so this workshop by the University Skills Centre was really useful and signposted lots of resources for the future.

Getting to hear the different perspectives and experiences that other students shared across the sessions was an additional highlight for me. Seeing the motivation so many of my peers shared was inspiring and emphasised the importance of programmes that empower young people to have flexibility and support in achieving their goals.

Reflecting on the summer school in this session, and for this blog, has been insightful for me. Many of these activities would have been ones that would have really intimidated me a couple years ago, or even at the beginning of first year, and getting structured support has helped me acknowledge the progress I have made and be grateful for the wide array of opportunities at university. Overall, I would definitely encourage any current or prospective students to explore and make the most of what scholarship or other extra-curricular support there is available!<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A core part of being a Claverton Scholar is the opportunity to attend the Year 1 Summer School. This three-day event contributes to the Claverton Employability Passport you complete as a scholar, with the aim of developing your employability skills,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2090,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,23,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-claverton-scholarship-programme","category-csp-community","category-enriching-experiences"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2090"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/undergraduate-scholarships-and-bursaries\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}