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Sutton Trust Summer School 2024

The Sutton Trust Summer School this year welcomed 123 Year 12 students onto campus for a 4-day residential. This year the summer school saw 7 subject streams: Mathematical Sciences, Law, Education & Psychology, PPE, History & Politics, Life & Health Sciences and Classics, Art History, Film & TV!
Thu 08 Aug 2024, 11:13 | Tags: Summer Schools, Sutton Trust, WPnewsletter

New education centre to open in Birmingham thanks to The University of Warwick and University College Birmingham partnership


This Autumn, a project in collaboration with The University of Warwick, University College Birmingham, and education charity IntoUniversity will launch a new learning centre in one of the UK’s most disadvantaged areas, to help local young people overcome barriers to higher education and professional careers.

IntoUniversity Birmingham East represents an exciting partnership between The University of Warwick, University College Birmingham, and the education charity IntoUniversity. The collaboration is driven by a shared commitment to addressing the challenges faced by children growing up facing disadvantage and a belief in the transformative power of education.


Paul Blagburn, Head of Widening Participation at The University of Warwick said, “The launch of this new centre in the city marks a landmark moment to advance social mobility. We have a proud record of working with national charity IntoUniversity, through our existing centre in Coventry, where we have just celebrated its five-year anniversary.

“This new innovation will harness life-changing opportunities for young people to consider their future and builds on the Warwick-UCB partnership vision to support change in the region.”

East Birmingham has the highest levels of deprivation in the city, with 61% of the population living in the most deprived decile and 38.8% of children living in absolute poverty.

The learning centre will work closely with local schools, universities, and businesses to provide a comprehensive range of support services, including academic support, pastoral care, one-to-one mentoring, and practical advice, all designed to foster aspiration and ambition for higher education among local students.

Professor Helen Poole, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching, Learning and Digital) at University College Birmingham said: “University College Birmingham is proud to collaborate with IntoUniversity and The University of Warwick. This new learning centre will inspire young people to achieve their potential, providing them with enriched experiences and life-changing opportunities that will drive their successes in life.

“We are proud to be in the heart of Birmingham with a diverse student population, and this project will continue our commitment to ensuring we widen access for all, building a positive impact in the communities we serve.”

IntoUniversity has a proven track record of improving access to and attainment in higher education for students facing disadvantage, and currently supports over 50,000 young people each year at their 43 centres nationwide. 61% of students who attend IntoUniversity centres go on to progress to university, compared with 28% of students from similar backgrounds nationally.

Dr Rachel Carr, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of IntoUniversity, says: “We are delighted to be opening this new centre in East Birmingham, alongside our partners The University of Warwick and University College Birmingham. We thank our university partners for making this new centre possible.”

Birmingham is one of the twenty local authorities in the UK where residents are most likely to experience destitution (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2022). Notably, 43% of the city's population lives in the 10% most deprived areas nationally (Birmingham City Council, 2022).

Poverty significantly impacts educational attainment, with disadvantaged students falling behind their peers at every educational stage. In Birmingham, the educational attainment gap is stark; disadvantaged young people are almost 13.6 months behind their more advantaged peers by the end of secondary school (Education Policy Institute, 2022). Furthermore, there are vast disparities in higher education progression rates within the city, ranging from 92.8% in central Birmingham to just 10.3% in the east (Office for Students, 2023).


ENDS
Notes to Editors
About IntoUniversity
IntoUniversity is an Education Charity Registered Charity Number 1118525 (England and Wales) and SC049776 (Scotland) which runs local learning centres that are inclusive of all academic abilities and help young people facing disadvantage to achieve a university place or another positive post-school destination.

IntoUniversity currently runs 43 centres in many of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods across England and Scotland. IntoUniversity centres have a strong track record of improving outcomes for young people. In 2023, 61% of IntoUniversity students secured a university place compared with 28% of school leavers from similar backgrounds.
Find out more: www.intouniversity.org

Thu 25 Jul 2024, 15:45

StandAlone Legacy Pledge

The University of Warwick is sorry to hear that the Stand Alone charity is closing. As a university that made the Stand Alone Pledge in 2022, the University of Warwick will continue its commitment to supporting and advocating for estranged students, by taking the Stand Alone Legacy Pledge.

Wed 27 Mar 2024, 15:15 | Tags: Estranged Students, StandAlone, Undergraduate, Warwick Scholars

Sutton Trust Summer School Applications are OPEN!

Sutton Trust Summer School applications are open for Year 12 students!

Tue 23 Jan 2024, 14:16 | Tags: Summer Schools, Sutton Trust

School of Modern Languages and Cultures - Schools Christmas Card Competition

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures organised a Christmas Card Competition for schools and delighted to share some of their entries.

Tue 19 Dec 2023, 16:42 | Tags: Modern Languages and Cultures

Experience Warwick Partnership Launch

Tuesday 5th December marked the official launch of the Experience Warwick Partnership.

The Widening Participation and Social Mobility team were thrilled to welcome senior leaders and careers leads from Experience Warwick Schools in Coventry and Warwickshire as well as many internal contributors who joined us for this momentous occasion.

The partnership aims to develop and maintain strategic relationships with targeted local schools and external partners to ensure long term engagement with a sustained programme of activity. It offers a variety of in-school and on-campus activities for local state primary and secondary schools in Coventry and Warwickshire aiming to inspire and inform local young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to progress to Higher Education. The partnership provides information, advice and guidance, in addition to exciting opportunities to enable learners to make informed decisions at key milestones throughout their educational journey. The activities are informed by the needs of the schools and tailored to support the progression of learners whose peers and family have limited knowledge or experience of HE.

During the event there were insightful talks from Paul Blagburn, Head of Widening Participation on the importance of partnership working and setting the context of widening participation. The Experience Warwick team also provided an overview of the aims and objectives, as well as the impactful programme of activity that lies ahead. Schools were formally recognised with a partnership plaque to display in school and had the opportunity to network with a variety of internal partners including Warwick Arts Centre, WMG, Student Funding and Esports.

Alex Parsons-Moore, Director of Achievement at Nicholas Chamberlaine School said, “the key takeaway from today’s event is that there are a great range of opportunities for our students and a real desire to assist them at a far earlier point, in a more targeted way.”

For further information on Experience Warwick please visit https://warwick.ac.uk/study/outreach/whatweoffer/experiencewarwick/ or contact experiencewarwick@warwick.ac.uk

Mon 18 Dec 2023, 14:56

Stitch in Time Project for Primary Schools

The Stitch in Time project is aimed at primary school students in years 5 and 6.

It links maths, computing with design and technology. WMG created this project to celebrate Coventry, City of Culture, and we continuing to offer this project to local primary schools.

Mon 09 Oct 2023, 17:43 | Tags: Primary

UniTracks Applications are open!

Applications to be part of our UniTracks programme are still open.

Do you have pupils in Year 8 and/or Year 9 who are:

  • interested in arts and humanities subjects?
  • curious about university?
  • wanting to gain skills and make friends?

Then the UniTracks programme could be just the thing! Please visit our webpage to find out more and apply

Mon 09 Oct 2023, 17:41 | Tags: UniTracks, Key Stage 3

Sutton Trust Summer School Video Essays

Participants on the Classics & Ancient History, Film & TV Studies, History of Art stream at the Sutton Trust Summer School have the opportunity to make short video essays for their group project.

The academic team who lead this stream are always impressed with the quality of work the participants produce, given the short timeframe they have in which to produce them.

Tue 22 Aug 2023, 16:25 | Tags: classics, Summer Schools, Sutton Trust

The Fully Electric Challenge

The Graduate Engineers have put together a weeklong outreach event with WMG Catapult, Smallpeice Trust and the Faraday Institution for Year 11 students

Mon 19 Jul 2021, 12:06

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