The Maplesden Noakes School

"Through Unifrog we can better engage every member of staff involved in the Sixth Form... our teachers now feel more informed and the support they give their students is much better.”

Rebecca Moody, Head of Year 13, IB Coordinator and Teacher of English

 

Embedding the program

“Unifrog focuses students on their university searches much earlier than had previously been the case at our school. We no longer have the scenario of the student who gets interested in the process only when it’s too late. By giving them their own login to this powerful and personalised platform, you’re empowering them to explore independently.

We’ve also found that through Unifrog we can better engage every member of staff involved in the Sixth Form - not just the management."

 

Accessible information

“We’ve had students this year who haven’t had the grades to pursue certain degrees, but on Unifrog we’ve found more and more foundation courses for them to look at.

To better understand what universities are looking for in students we’ve found it really useful to have the wealth of entry requirements information that is brought together on Unifrog - beyond just subjects and grades at A-level - also requirements for other qualifications including GCSEs.

Where you might have been hunting through a book, or calling the university, you can now just put in a simple search and find that information. We have mentoring sessions where our students see their mentors one to one, and students’ work on Unifrog provides an excellent basis for these conversations.”

 

Equal opportunities

“In the past we’ve had a big divide between students who wish to go to university, and those who’d rather do an apprenticeship or go straight into employment. Unifrog brings both routes together - with the university tool and the apprenticeship tool students get an idea of the variety of opportunities that are available, so they start thinking beyond the norm of what they thought they would go on to do. The platform brilliantly encourages students to consider both as viable options."

 

Engaging teachers

“In the past we’ve had teachers who haven’t engaged in helping students navigate their next step after school. They’ve taught their classes, but beyond that they haven’t felt much responsibility to be involved. To an extent this makes sense because before Unifrog, staff were limited in the advice they could give to their personal knowledge. If you’re a geography teacher, you only really know about which universities offer top geography courses, you wouldn’t necessarily know much about other subject areas. Unifrog helps to inform them about the many different options out there.

Unifrog has allowed us to change this. Our teachers now feel more informed and the support they give their students is much better.”

 

Customer service

“As far as customer service goes, they’re absolutely fantastic. I generally get a reply the day I email them for assistance, letting me know they’re working on the problem and will get back to me as soon as possible. They’re always willing to pop down and discuss anything or meet with students directly.

They put on a conference in February which was really interesting! There were Dutch universities giving presentations, speakers giving tips on writing personal statements, and I was able to network with other teachers about how they’re using Unifrog, which was very helpful. If UCAS had put that on, it would have been something like £500 to attend for the day, but all you needed for this one was to be a partner school of Unifrog!”