NNECL Annual Conference 2022: Achieving More Together

The order form will ask you to choose a workshop option for each of the 2 workshop sessions in our programme. The options are as follows:

Wendy Price OBE, University of Sunderland.

The award-winning We Care Team at the University of Sunderland provide a single point of contact for all care experienced students which spans the entire student lifecycle. During this workshop Wendy will share their support structure, transition points and practical tips to supporting care experienced students. Learn about the support provided from their initial applicant communications through to their graduation support package. Using student case studies and feedback from their recent We Care Annual Student Survey, find out what their students value most about the support provided. This is an interactive session for new practitioners where we can share emerging practice, developments and ideas.

Melanie Harris, University of Wolverhampton

A study undertaken by NNECL reported 12 percent of care leavers entered HE by the age of 23 and although this has increased from previous estimates of 6 percent, it is still considerably lower than other young people (42%). A2U is a progressive programme specifically targeting children in care to make informed choices about HE as their educational pathway. Working in partnership with five local authorities, it supports young people from KS3 to KS5 to view university as a viable route to achieve their potential and increase life chances.

This presentation will explore:

• Some of the issues care leavers face and how A2U is endeavouring to address these to remove potential barriers to learning and progression.
• The four strands of the A2U programme and how they support the young people holistically throughout the key stages.
• Why effective partnership working is considered to be one of the key strengths of A2U

Sam Dyer and Natalie Bracher, University of Exeter

Effectively supporting under-represented or vulnerable students, especially care leavers, is often about taking a joined-up approach. However, most practitioners will say that this can be hard, sometimes messy and can slow down progress. The University of Exeter will present their experiences of putting in place governance and informal support structures to support their delivery of the NNECL Quality Mark, and other commitments for under-represented groups, to deliver efficient support and ensure this work is high up on the institution’s strategic agenda. We will explore the challenges as well as the positive aspects and encourage reflection of your own structures with a focus on some practical take-aways that can be applied within your own institution, as well as peer discussion and question and answer opportunities with the facilitators.

Hannah McGowen, National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum, and Kent Council

Joint working between higher education institutions and local authority leaving care teams is essential to effectively supporting care experienced young people as they engage with higher education. Hear from Hannah McCowen, Manager at the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum and a representative from Kent Council about the work leaving care teams are doing to support care experienced young people into Higher Education. They will be highlighting examples of good practice where Higher Education bodies and local authorities are working together to support young people considering university, at university and as they transition into employment. Kent has recently been recognised as an ‘Outstanding’ Local authority by Ofsted who highlighted the higher number of young people going onto Higher Education, than other areas. The National leaving Care Benchmarking Forum is made up of 129 Local authority leaving care teams in England and works to share good practice and improve services and support for young people leaving care.

Beth Taswell and Lydia Ansong, Kingston University

This session will provide an overview of the KU Cares programme at Kingston University which supports groups including care-experienced students. We will explore the concept behind our newly created KU Cares Connector initiative, the formation of the project, including an honest reflection of what has been successful, and what aspects of the programme didn’t deliver the expected outcomes. At the time of this workshop we would be in our second year of delivery, and we can discuss how we have implemented learning from the pilot year and feedback from our students. The Connector programme offers care experienced students paid work opportunities to share their knowledge, skills and lived expertise with incoming students to help ease the transitional period on entry to the university. They worked with staff and students across the university to raise awareness of these student groups and how as a University we can better support them. After receiving comprehensive training, the Connectors are invited to ad hoc opportunities throughout the year. These are wide ranging and include working with Kingston’s Development, Alumni Relations and Engagement Team, designing materials for upcoming university Equality, Diversity and Inclusion campaigns, and supporting university open days. KU Care connectors programme, Kingston University

Morag Duffin, University of Law and Victoria Edwards, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Join the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and The University of Law to find out how small and specialist (and very different) institutions work with care experienced students, the benefits of applying to and how they approached the NNECL Quality Mark.

The Department for Education

The workshop will provide an overview of the recommendations and Missions set out in Josh MacAlister’s review of the Children’s Social Care system, with a particular focus on Mission 2: to double the number of care leavers going to university, by 2026; and provide an opportunity to discuss ways in which care-experienced young people can be supported to access and succeed in HE.

Vanessa Conman and Fran Hornsby (Dedicated Contacts for Care Experienced and Estranged Students)

Working in partnership with external organizations and internal partners is crucial when developing a strong support package for care experienced people, and raising awareness of this group. The University of York has developed several successful partnerships and collaborations in recent years which will be highlighted in this workshop. The University has developed strong partnerships with its two nearest local authority partners over the past 6 years and more recently has developed links with local authorities from across the country, setting up the Achieve HE Partner Network. This network is currently made up of 52 different local authority partners (both Virtual Schools and Leaving Care Teams). Internally, the University has an Independent Students Working Group which meets monthly, with representation from across the university, our student union, and current independent students. In May 2021, the University created a staff training session entitled ‘Supporting Our Care Experienced and Estranged students’ which any University of York staff member can book on to. The training session has been delivered 5 times so far and received excellent feedback. This workshop will provide more detail and insight into these collaborations.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Friends' Meeting House, 6 Mount Street, Manchester, United Kingdom