Widening Access Initiative (Outreach) Award – Commendation
Aspire2Uni is an intensive ground breaking programme for Looked After Children (LAC) from University of Wolverhampton. The University and the Creating Chances Trust are working alongside four Local Authority virtual schools participating in the project to enable the programme to be embedded into wider strategies for raising aspirations, attainment and progression. There are four key elements to the programme which uniquely aim to target the potential barriers to progression- outreach, mentoring, academic support, work experience and enrichment. All pupils in cohort one took part in at least three outreach activities, 235 Mentoring exchanges took place, 40 out of 49 pupils are still engaged on the programme after year one and are 80% still on track for HE based on current Maths and English scores. When asked specifically about the mentoring pupil feedback showed the following results: 67% of pupil’s attitude to learning has improved, 78% of pupil’s ability in Maths has improved, 44% of pupils English ability has improved, 89% of pupil’s abilities in other subjects had shown improvement and 44% of pupils confidence and self-belief has improved.