Meet Henry
Who are they?
Henry is a Year 10 learner at a school in Bradford. Like many young people his age, he is currently considering his options after school. Although he dislikes school, he is a focused, confident learner. He hopes to earn decent money when he’s older but is not yet sure what path to take. He has spoken to his family about their experiences and different options and listened to their perspectives.
Before Henry took part in Go Higher West Yorkshire’s Think and Go Higher programme, he stood to benefit from developing cognitive strategies to support his decision-making and help him fulfil his potential. Henry wanted to feel like education had a clear purpose for him, and the programme had the potential to help him align these values with his decision-making.
“I’d rather be focused on a specific, like, goal in what I’m doing, than just going into a lesson being told, oh, yeah, we’re doing this today, and then moving on to something else out of nowhere.”
Their experience on Think & Go Higher
Henry highlighted multiple activities which enabled him to develop new cognitive strategies, such as choosing and justifying items to take to a desert island. By increasing his capacity to think in more depth, the skills he developed supported his decision-making skills and his study skills.
“Definitely made me think about things more specifically… actually taking a look at everything… understanding certain things and how stuff works.”
As part of the programme, Henry visited the University of Huddersfield. Henry was inspired by his visit, identifying a clear connection between the campus visit and increased motivation to work harder at school. After observing students on the campus, Henry could picture himself studying higher education specifically to help him achieve and earn money later down the line.
“Obviously everyone in [the University] has pretty much got the same idea. You know, they’re there for a specific reason. They want to learn specific things.”
Concluding thoughts
As a learner with the potential to do well at school but undecided on his future pathway, Henry stood to benefit heavily from the programme. Despite disliking school, the programme enabled him to imagine himself in a higher education environment based on his own practical values, as well as developing vital skills to support him to fulfil his academic potential and make an informed decision.
“Actually like seeing the college and thinking, you know, this is a massive place. You could do so much here and that’s why I wanted to try harder, like, try as much as I can anyway, in school.”
Please note that names have been changed to protect learners’ identities. Any images used are not real photos of the learners in the case studies