Skip to main navigation Skip to main content

Talk to US! Shaping the Future of School-University Partnerships

‹›

Calling all schools and colleges - join the conversation!

Talk to US! is the University of Southampton's School-University Partnership Initiative (SUPI), part of a national network of projects funded by RCUK building sustainable partnerships between schools and universities. Explore the site to find out how schools are Talking to US and how you can get involved!

The original Talk to US! project ran from 2013 to 2016 as part of the RCUK funded School-University Partnership Initiative (SUPI) which investigated best practice in schools and universities working in partnership. But do not fear, you can still Talk to US! As a result of this project the university now employs a full-time School-University Partnership Officer (SUPO), who co-ordinates requests from both schools and university staff and students, working with colleagues in PERu, Outreach, the MSLC and the Southampton Education School and continuing to support school-university partnerships.

The Talk to US! project worked with 8 sub-projects - follow the links below to find out more. Any questions? Please contact the SUPO.

ACoRNS

Autism Community Research Network @ Southampton

Biological Sciences

Discover Neuroscience

Chemistry

An extensive programme of science learning

Dragonfly Day

Engineering workshops for female year 9 students

Discover Oceanography

Visit our research vessel Callista

Gene Tech Hub

Help to pass CPAC at A level

LifeLab

A science education intervention

Murder in the Medical School

Investigate a murder

The Building School-University Partnerships Guide Book

At Southampton we took all the learning of the school and university staff involved in the Talk to US! SUPI project — what does and doesn’t work in SUP working and why — and distilled it into an easy to use Guide Book. Over 750 copies have already been distributed internationally and it has been cited in journal papers and featured by the NCCPE. It is available as an interactive online toolkit, a pdf download and a hard copy (contact the SUPO for your free copy!).

Click on the links to find out more information about what the University of Southampton can offer

Outreach

for widening participation and access to HE

PERu

for public engagement activities and events

MSLC

for teacher CPD

Education School

for research opportunities and initial teacher training

Quick Contacts
Outreach Pre-16: outreach@soton.ac.uk Post-16: liaison@soton.ac.uk Tel: 023 8059 4737	Public Engagement peru@soton.ac.uk Tel: 023 8059 5466	School-University Partnership Officer (SUPO) J.Spurrell@soton.ac.uk Tel: 023 8059 7521
MSLC CPD and research opportunities mslc@soton.ac.uk Tel: 023 8059 8810	Education School education@soton.ac.uk Tel: 023 8059 3480	Subject Specific Activities Most faculties/schools/research groups have an outreach champion/ officer/ team - to find them look for the outreach/schools and colleges link on their subject-specific website or search "soton outreach" to find the most active teams

    Quick Contacts

Outreach

Pre-16: outreach@soton.ac.uk

Post-16: liaison@soton.ac.uk

Tel: 023 8059 4737

Public Engagement

peru@soton.ac.uk

Tel: 023 8059 5466

School-University Partnership Officer (SUPO)

J.Spurrell@soton.ac.uk

Tel: 023 8059 7521

MSLC

CPD and research opportunities

mslc@soton.ac.uk

Tel: 023 8059 8810

Education School

education@soton.ac.uk

Tel: 023 8059 3480

Subject Specific Activities

Most faculties/schools/research groups have an outreach champion/ officer/ team - to find them look for the outreach/schools and colleges link on their subject-specific website or search "soton outreach" to find the most active teams

Why should Teachers get involved?	Why should Researchers get involved?
Curriculum enriched and made relevant for pupils Something different for pupils and school staff Access to cutting edge research Re-engage with subject area Funding available to develop projects CPD opportunities for teachers including funded conference opportunities	Share your work with a wider audience Become confident in public speaking Learn to create better and more engaging presentations Consolidate your knowledge of a subject by discussing it with a non-expert audience Engage with your local community Get out into a different environment and meet new people Encourage greater diversity and inspire participation in higher education and academia Working with others Most importantly: it's really fun!

Why should Teachers get involved?

Why should Researchers get involved?

Curriculum enriched and made relevant for pupils
Something different for pupils and school staff
Access to cutting edge research
Re-engage with subject area
Funding available to develop projects
CPD opportunities for teachers including funded conference opportunities

Share your work with a wider audience
Become confident in public speaking
Learn to create better and more engaging presentations
Consolidate your knowledge of a subject by discussing it with a non-expert audience
Engage with your local community
Get out into a different environment and meet new people
Encourage greater diversity and inspire participation in higher education and academia
Working with others
Most importantly: it's really fun!

Talk to US!

Hear from Professor Marcus Grace, from the Southampton Education School

Talk to US!

‹›

Personal development for me as it was something I hadn't done before!

The legacy of the project in terms of the lasting impact on the pupils

Some of our less able (and possibly less engaged) pupils came to the BIU session and enjoyed it so much that they were able to speak at the celebration event about how it had changed their minds about what science is and what it involves

We made links with scientists at work, which hopefully can continue and teachers can gain some CPD from involvement with these scientists

Privacy Settings