Resources for School Advisors

Resources for School Advisors

BBC Outreach

This website is all about letting you know how the BBC delivers beyond broadcasting to support people in a range of different ways – from helping students with their revision to assisting adults in becoming internet savvy.

The BBC aims to encourage people to develop new skills throughout their lifetimes. We have a dedicated BBC Learning department that uses the best of the BBC – its content, talent and creative skills – to offer resources and opportunities for learning. The department supports formal education, often curriculum-related, and also encourages active participation in learning in a much wider sense. BBC Bitesize Revision offers school pupils the chance to revise subjects from Key Stage 1 all the way to GCSE.

BBC Outreach
4171, White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS
outreach@bbc.co.uk 

BBC Vision Intake Pool

The BBC Vision Intake Pool offers a clear, merit-based route into the production and content teams of the BBC. BBC Vision Production makes programmes such as Blue Peter, Watchdog and Top Gear. It offers the entry level roles of Runner and Production Management Assistant. The former acts as general support to a production team while the latter provides administrative support.

Numerous work experience places are also available here.

For more information email careers@bbchrdirect.co.uk

Birmingham University - Junior

The Birmingham University Junior prospectus offers advice on everything to do with going to university. It has information on choosing your options in Year 9, making choices about what to do after you finish your compulsory education, what courses you can study in higher education and what careers these might lead to, how to finance your studies and deal with debt, what university life is like qualifications and pathways into higher education, how some of our current undergraduates made their journeys from school to university and how former Birmingham University students (alumni) – some of them famous – have made their journeys from university to where they are today.

Contact information:

The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
United Kingdom
+44 (0)121 414 3344

Further contact details are available here.

Become a Teacher

Become a Teacher has all the information you need to know if you wish to apply for teacher training. There is information on routes into teaching, pay, choosing which subject to teach, information about Education degrees, all you need to know about CRB checks, FAQs as well as an invaluable list of teaching resources compiled by TSR members. There is also top advice on the application and interview process for PGCEs and a discussion thread for getting teaching course interview tips plus information from current teachers about what teaching is really like, what routes they took and the things they find most enjoyable.

Visit TDA site for more info here.

Brightside 

Brightside is an education charity using online technology to connect, inform and inspire people to achieve their potential through education. 

Brightside create, develop and manage ementoring schemes connecting individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds with an online mentor who can help them develop skills, gain confidence and explore their education and employment options.

Brightside also provide free online resources –

  • Bright Knowledge – the essential guide to careers, education and student life
  • Student Calculator – an interactive budgeting tool helping students prepare to manage their money at university

Bristol University

The University of Bristol aims to maintain the high academic standards for which it is known, create a student body that is balanced and diverse in terms of background and experience, with all the educational and cultural benefits that this brings, and recruit students who will engage with and contribute to the intellectual and cultural vitality of the University community.

The University will achieve these aims by encouraging applications from all those with the motivation and academic ability to thrive at Bristol, whatever their background, assessing each application carefully and fairly and offering places to applicants who have the potential to do well at Bristol.

The Principles and Procedures through which the University assesses applications and offers places are designed to be easily understood by candidates, transparent, fair and based on principles that are applied consistently across the University.

Durham University

The Durham University admissions policy prides itself on being fair and transparent. They seek to recruit the most able and most motivated students who can best benefit from a Durham University education. Every application is important and they welcome applications from all students irrespective of background.

Even though entry to Durham University is competitive, the most able students from all schools are strongly encouraged to apply and compete for entry based solely on merit.

The University interprets “merit” as the positive attributes of an applicant seeking to study at Durham, which is based on the evidence of prior achievement. Mindful of the context of prior achievement, the University judges “potential” as the scope for a student to benefit from what Durham has to offer, and the promise for future achievement and contribution to the University.

The University closely monitors the diversity of its student body and admissions process more generally to ensure that barriers do not exist for applicants of any type regardless of social, cultural, ethnic, educational or economic background. At any one stage in the assessment process, all applicants will be given an equal opportunity to demonstrate their skills, achievements and potential.

Tel: +44 (0)191 334 6128
email: admissions@durham.ac.uk

Exeter University

The University of Exeter believes that a diverse community is an essential part of its core values, and that diversity amongst their student body enriches learning, teaching, and research.

The University’s Undergraduate Admissions Policy sets out the means by which the university will encourage and welcome applicants with different educational and social backgrounds.

The University is committed to ensuring that no student with potential to meet their entry requirements is deterred from applying. All applications are considered and evaluated on the basis of individual potential.

Main switchboard:
+44 (0) 1392 661000

Other contact details available here.

Future Morph

Future Morph is designed to show you just some of the amazing and unexpected places that studying science, technology, engineering and maths can take you.

Divided into 3 age groups 11-14, 14-16 and 16-19+, Future Morph provides links to job profiles, quizzes and games about potential careers in science, technology and maths.

“My Future Finder” gives broad career suggestions before providing numerous alternatives in the same area. The links then provide more information on those specific careers from Connexions Direct such as what they do, salaries, what sort of person you should be, what qualifications you need and opportunities for progression.

The 11-14 section is more games focused and gives advice about studying maths and science at school.

The 14-16 section gives more advice about applying for courses and work, possible next steps, advice of placements and work experience, potential next steps as well as stories from real people.

The 16-19+ section gives advice about what to do beyond school, finding careers advice, getting experience and more experiences from real people.

Contact Future Morph by email at futuremorph@sciencecouncil.org

Into University

IntoUniversity is a centre-based service offered free of charge at specialist facilities located in London.

The vision of IntoUniversity is to provide a national network of high quality, local learning centres where young people are inspired to achieve. Each local centre IntoUniversity will offer an innovative programme that supports young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to attain either a university place or another chosen aspiration.

IntoUniversity works with children and young people with talent and potential who are at risk of underachieving and are seeking, with our help, to improve their life chances. The majority are from ethnic minority backgrounds and other social groups currently underrepresented in higher education.

Internships available for the summer and also at graduate level.

For further information please contact Gemma Fagbadegun with any general enquiries on 020 7243 0242 or via email at gemma@IntoUniversity.org.

Investors in Families

Investors in Families is a new accreditation scheme for school and other settings working with children and families and has been established to recognise and promote the importance of family-friendly approaches, which many schools have already developed.

IiF has established the national standard and works with local authorities to deliver the scheme to local schools and other settings. IiF is building a comprehensive database of good practice to enable participating schools, locally and nationally, to share ideas for working with families. IiF is now being rolled out in unitary and county authorities across England. IiF aims to value and support the role that families play in the life of the child, support families in developing their children's achievement and self-esteem, help families participate in raising their children's achievement and self-esteem and promote social inclusion and a sense of well-being through positive participation in family life.

T: 01494 890801
E: info@investorsinfamilies.org.uk 

King's College Extended Medical Degree Programme

The Extended Medical Degree Programme (EMDP) is a six-year medical degree programme designed for students attending non-selective state schools or FE colleges in designated boroughs in London and the south east which have high levels of social disadvantage. The number of places available is approximately 50.
 
EMDP students cover the same topics, at the same level of detail, sit the same examinations and are required to achieve the same pass mark as the students on the standard MBBS programme.

The first two tears of the course is taught over three years in order to allow the students additional time to cover medically related aspects of chemistry, numeracy and writing skills, together with the more difficult concepts in the medical course itself. In their final three years, EMDP students experience the clinical parts of the course at exactly the same pace as the conventional students and will be indistinguishable from them.

The medical qualification obtained by EMDP students at the end of their course will be identical to that obtained by students on the five-year course.

Click here for further information on the programme, the application process and entry requirements.

Click here for information on fees.

Lifelong Learning Network

The Lifelong Learning Network is a portal to numerous other sites for information about qualifications, post 16 learning, older learners, family learning, financing learning and a number of other topics.

A contact form is available here.

MED-VIEW King's College London

MED-VIEW, at London's King's College, is a course where AS-level pupils with medical aspirations but no family history of higher education are encouraged to shadow a GP or hospital consultant and get a taste of medical school life before applying.

Pupils will get the opportunity to attend taster lectures from leading medical researchers, take part in an anatomy class and practice clinical skills workshops, participate in small group tutorial discussion groups, visit various clinical departments and talk to doctors working in a range of specialist areas and gain advice and guidance on strengthening their application to medical school as well as survival tips for medical students.

Contact details for Medicine Department available here.

Contact details for Access to Medicine available here.

National Careers Service

The National Careers Service is the government provided website which offers a wealth of valuable careers resources, including job profiles and information, advice and guidance to help you make decisions on learning, training and work opportunities. The service offers confidential, helpful and impartial advice, supported by qualified careers advisers.

Pathways to the Professions – Edinburgh University

The University of Edinburgh's Pathways to the Professions project provides information and guidance to school students interested in studying Law, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine or Architecture. At the present time, the project is open to students from all 46 state schools in Edinburgh and the Lothians. If you are in S4, S5 or S6 and are interested in studying Law, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine or Architecture at University, you can register with the project by clicking here. Once registered, students will receive invitations to attend a number of events.

This ground-breaking project encourages progression by under-represented school students into professional courses in Law, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Architecture, and subsequently into the professions themselves, who play an active part in many of its activities. Certain elements of the programme are available only to Pathways Plus students who are students whose parents or carers have not previously attended university.

The Pathways to the Professions Project will work with you, your school and family to give you information on how YOU can apply for a Medicine degree.

E-mail: sra.enquiries@ed.ac.uk
Telephone: on 0131 650 4360

Pure Potential

Universities are some of the most diverse institutions in the country with students from all types of background. However research has shown that students from private schools are nearly twice as likely to get a place at the UK's top universities as their state-educated counterparts.

Pure Potential is an independent organisation which aims to reverse this trend by raising the aspirations of thousands of sixth-formers every year, encouraging them to apply to and helping them to achieve offers from excellent universities and leading graduate recruiters.

Some students and their families still don't realise that their claim to a university place is as strong as anyone else's. Pure Potential aims to change this mindset and help them fulfill their potential. For some students that will mean inspiring them to consider a wider range of courses and institutions, for others it will involve discussing the benefits of higher education.

Their events are aimed at bright students from state schools, particularly (although this does not affect the selection process) students who have gone to schools with a poor record of getting students into a wide range of universities; who have parents with little or no experience of higher education; who come from an inner city school; who are in receipt of EMA or who have little support in general with regards to university applications.

In addition to events they offer a huge range of free information and tools on this site, as well as a magazine distributed free of charge, which tells you more about the events and various employer opportunities.

Phone: 020 7122 1220

Marc Zao-Sanders - Managing Director
Email: marc@purepotential.org

Sibyl Zao-Sanders
Email: sibyl@purepotential.org

Binda Bhudia
Email: binda@purepotential.org

Push Schools Tour

The Push Schools Tour provide highly entertaining talks that deliver all the necessary information about HE at the same time. This fun (and funny) delivery is one key advantage over, say, getting an admission officer from the local uni. The talks are independent (Push is not tied to any institution) and expert. It helps to get everyone motivated to make well informed choices.

For further information contact johnny@push.co.uk or call 078 1111 4292.

Rathbone

Rathbone is a charity offering training and guidance to young people who are having difficulties in accessing education or employment. Their programmes include:


Social Mobility Foundation

The Social Mobility Foundation is a registered charity, with the objective of making a real improvement in social mobility for bright young people from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.

We work with students from Year 12 and provide them the inter-related supports of E-Mentoring, Summer Internships and University Application sessions. We believe that these supports empower the students to make informed decisions about Higher Education and future careers.

Our aim is the creation of a nationwide framework whereby all academically-talented disadvantaged students have access to complementary supports which help them plan their professional future.

To join the Aspiring Professionals Programme, students must be in Year 12, in receipt of Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) or Free School Meals, in possession of at least 5 ‘A’ grades in five different subjects at GCSE and predicted to obtain at least an ‘A’ grade and 2 ‘B’ grades at A-level.

Eligibility is also assessed on the basis of the quality of their completed application forms, their school/college context, family history of higher education and teacher references.

Contact by telephone on 0207 953 4007 or by email at info@socialmobility.org.uk

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Ambassadors

The STEM Ambassadors programme brings illumination to the classroom and switches on the minds of young people to the potential of STEM subjects and careers.

STEM Ambassadors are everyday people from real working backgrounds who volunteer their time for free to act as inspiring role models to young people. Anyone who has a desire to inspire children and young people in STEM subjects can become an Ambassador. The main qualities that all Ambassadors share are enthusiasm and commitment, along with a passion for what they do.

They provide a refreshing change to regular lessons and activities and open the door to a whole new world for young people, helping them to see STEM subjects and careers with a fresh perspective and engage their interest and imagination in new ways.

Volunteering as a STEM Ambassador is your chance to promote your skills to young learners, actively encourage them to enjoy STEM subjects, and inform them about the unique career opportunities that are available to them. By volunteering as an Ambassador, you could be opening up life-changing opportunities for many young people in your area.

Each Ambassador is registered, trained and CRB checked.

Phone: 0203 206 0450
Online query form available here.

Sutton Trust

The Sutton Trust challenges educational inequality and the subsequent waste of talent. It is particularly concerned with breaking the link between educational opportunities and family background, and in realising a system in which talented young people are given the chance to prosper, regardless of their background, the school they happen to attend or the area in which they live.

As disadvantage starts before young people are born and continues through to the workplace, the Trust's interest covers parenting and early years projects, primary and secondary schooling and access to university and the professions.

The Sutton Trust Summer Schools offer an opportunity for over 800 young people each year to try university life. The one week taster courses consist not only of lectures, seminars and tutorials, but also a varied programme of social activities, to give participants an accurate idea of life as an undergraduate at a research-led university.

More information is available here.

Contact details are available here. 

The Brokerage Citylink

The Brokerage Citylink is an independent not-for-profit organisation working in partnership with City employers to create a pathway to the City for young residents of London’s inner-city boroughs.

They work with local schools and colleges enabling City firms to engage with students from 14 - 18 years old with a view to raising their future career aspirations. Through internships and direct hire programmes The Brokerage Citylink enables employers to gain access to a diverse group of talented young people.

They provide access to City employers and internships for London based students who aspire to a career within the financial services.

They have long established links with many of the best known companies within the City who see participating in their programmes as a good way to engage with the diverse set of talented students registered with The Brokerage Citylink.

In partnership with City supporters they offer a range of workshops designed to help you understand the finance sector and its component parts a little better. CV and interview support services help to give students the best chance in a very competitive environment.

Contact by telephone on 020 7628 9904 or by filling out a contact form, available here.

UCAS

UCAS provides information to help Career Advisors assist someone to apply to university. It also runs training events.

University of Southampton BM6

The University of Southampton's BM6 programme aims to widen access into the medical profession. It involves studying for an extra year on a specially designed year zero course before joining students on the BM5 programme.

It is aimed at students with circumstances such as being a first generation applicant to higher education, being looked after young people living in supported accommodation, living in an area with a postcode which falls within the lowest 20 per cent of the Index of Multiple Deprivation (authenticated by the University), or being a member of a travelling family.

Student on the BM6 programme will receive extensive tutorial and pastoral support as well as being eligible for a Year 0 bursary of £1,000 for their first year of study.

The BM6 timetable is structured across three days per week which allows students an opportunity to carry out part-time work in order to support their studies.

Students will go out on a day placement every other week, usually as part of a pair or a group of 3/4 students looking at both primary and secondary care around the Southampton area.

List of contacts available here.

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