Tuesday 5^th 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