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A stepping stone to university

Budding young artists from Adamsdown have demonstrated their creative flair by designing and making a series of ceramic stepping stones for their community garden.

The First Campus team at UWIC collaborated with Communities First Adamsdown on the innovative summer school project, bringing youngsters together with professional artists and technicians from UWIC’s Cardiff School of Education.

The aim was to give the young people involved the experience of attending a university and using its range of facilities.  Annie Davies, First Campus Officer at UWIC, explained further: “It is important that the universities open their doors to the local community and work together. 

“The aim of First Campus is to engage further with young people to raise the awareness of progression routes into Higher Education for both themselves and their families.  We want show that learning can be fun and to plant the idea that university is an option for all. Making university facilities available to young people raises their educational aspirations and achievements and hopefully encourages them to progress to higher levels of learning.”

Beth Gamble, Communities First Development Worker commented: “This is the seconadamsdownd project we have run with UWIC that takes the young people of Adamsdown into a higher education environment.”

“They have both been a great success, not only do they get the kids involved in creative activities but it gives them the opportunity to experience university and what it could be like in the future,” she added.

The eye-catching ceramic art pieces are now a permanent feature of the community garden which was started in 2006 and has been developed by the Adamsdown Environmental Action Group, BTCV, Adamsdown Communities First, Adamsdown Play Centre, Cardiff Community Housing Association and the local community.

Spurred on by their higher education experience, the participants are now set to take part in a First Campus sports taster session and hope to sign-up for an activity at UWIC’s Llandaff campus in the near future.