The findings of the Social Mobility Commission, in regard to Derby City, are stark. The report found that the local authority’s Key Stage Four (KS4) outcomes are amongst the worst in England and in regard to the Social Mobility Index (Social Mobility Commission 2017); which ranks all 324 local authorities in England; in terms of the social mobility prospects of its young people from a disadvantaged background, Derby City is ranked 316th.

In terms of the progression rates to higher education of the most socio-economically disadvantaged young people, you are still twice as likely to go to university if you are from a more advantaged neighbourhood.  When including additional signifiers such as gender and ethnicity, that number rises to up to 5 times more likely, and 15 times more likely for entry to more selective universities (Office for Students briefing 2019).  As recently as 1 May the Office for Students has called for higher education providers to be more considerate of context when considering applications (Office for Students briefing 2019).

It is against this backdrop that the University of Derby’s Widening Access team, works intensively with 19 partner schools across Derby City (and 14 in Derbyshire).  The team delivers outreach activity designed to raise awareness of opportunity and attainment levels, and provide the young people that engage in our programmes with the information they require in order to make well informed decisions regarding their futures.

We work closely with our partner schools to identify their widening participation (WP) students and those judged to be most in need of outreach interventions.  Delivering not just a general outreach offering, we also deliver activity designed for particular WP target groups.  

The Bemrose School in Derby is a school which offers primary to post-16 provision.  Its secondary provision is rated ‘Good’.  The school performs well despite a number of challenges. The pupil population in 2017/18 included 53% of pupils whose first language was not English (compared to a national average of 21.3%), 53.3% of pupils who were eligible for free school meals (FSM)[i]  (compared to a national average of 24.3%) and 24.6% of pupils who required special educational needs (SEN) support (compared to a national average of 12.2%).

The school has worked closely with the University over a number of years, including in 2016 co-designing a Year 10 (14-15 years old) white working class boys outreach programme, which is now in its third year of delivery to three schools.  Following on from that pilot the school is now collaborating with the University to deliver a longitudinal outreach project specifically designed for high attaining WP pupils.

The programme is an intensive, multi-interventional ‘drip feeding’, outreach programme engaging 15 students from Year 7 (aged 11-12 years) through to Year 11 (aged 15-16 years).  It will run from 2018/19 to 2023/24.  Regular awareness raising and attainment raising activity will be delivered, and through the programme participants will be exposed to the progression and careers opportunities that will be available to them in the future. Participants will also acquire knowledge, skills and cultural capital through their experiences which are expected to serve them throughout the whole of the student lifecycle and early careers.

The aim of the intervention is to inspire participants to maintain high levels of engagement with their learning and ‘aim high’. In addition it is intended that the programme will counter any negative attitudes towards education and ability that they may experience currently within their habitus.

Activity will take place 4 times a year and will be delivered by a range of University and school staff, employers and third party organisations.

Participatory methodologies derived from Participatory Action Research have been, and will continue to be, applied to the development of the programme’s content, the intention being to ensure that the participants’ voices are heard and that the programme is not ‘done to’ the participants but instead empowers them. But there are other stakeholder’s voices which must be heard in the programme’s development too. Due consideration must also be given to the aims of the school, given the investment of their time and the time of their pupils, which has been entrusted to the University to be made good use of. The University’s needs will also be a consideration.

Participants have been identified by the Year 7 Pupil Progress Lead (PPL) using a number of common WP signifiers including POLAR4 postcode data[ii], ethnicity[iii], eligibility to free school meals[iv], pupil premium[v] , the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)[vi] and a supplementary index, the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI)[vii].  The group’s profile is demonstrated in the graphs below.