💬 'UCAS’ decision to waive the application fee for pupils on free school meals is great news.'

For those from less wealthy backgrounds, there are a number of barriers in place to accessing higher education.

A welcome announcement UCAS Corporate today ⤵️

🚨 Essential living costs are higher the maximum maintenance loan available for 57% of students, we have found.

Many students are having to take up paid work in order to make ends meet throughout their studies.

Here's how the government can help ⬇️

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💬'The erosion of schools funding coupled with rising costs is having a major impact on the ability of schools to provide the support that low-income students need.'

Our latest research highlights the growing pressure on school budgets ⬇️

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💬 'Now is absolutely not the time to be abandoning one of the few educational interventions in recent years with the prospect of truly addressing longstanding educational inequality.'

Our thoughts on the National Tutoring Programme 👇

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🚨 Students from deprived areas are more likely than their more affluent peers to have missed deadlines or asked for an extension in order to take up paid work.

More on the impact of the cost of living on students ⤵️

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💬 “We made the decision to implement a new over-subscription criteria. We decided to add a criteria, which is applied before distance, for pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium.'

Hear how to make school admissions fairer directly from a school leader ⬇️

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Did you know?

Britain's most influential people are 5x more likely to have gone to private school than the general population.

Syed attended a state school in London, and benefitted greatly from one of our programmes 🚀

It gave him invaluable exposure to the field of law through work experience at city law firms, helping propel him to his current role at Latham & Watkins!

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Our research has found that more pupils are going hungry but aren't eligible for Free School Meals.

We can help them by:

1️⃣ Widening FSM access to cover all families on Universal Credit
2️⃣ Taking a broader look at how well FSM covers poverty & if it reaches all pupils in need

✍️ 'We live in a rich country. We should not have any children going hungry, or not having a warm coat in the winter - let alone it being widespread in the way these figures suggest.'

School budgets are being stretched. More support is needed ⬇️

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Last weekend, we held our annual Alumni Leadership Board residential meeting in Manchester 🤩

It was a great chance for the group to share ideas, ask questions and feed into our strategy.

A big thank you to our friends at Squire Patton Boggs for generously hosting us 👏

💬 'It is one of the most directly effective educational interventions in recent years aimed at closing the attainment gap.'

The government has failed to commit to funding the National Tutoring Programme next year.

More on why this needs to change ⬇️

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🚨 Large disparity in levels of debt between students 🚨

Since maintenance grants were scrapped in England, students from less wealthy homes have been graduating with much more debt than their wealthier peers.

Our briefing on student maintenance ⬇️

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🚨 Accent prestige in the UK 🚨

Our research has found that a hierarchy of accent prestige remains in Britain 🗣️

Accents associated with industrial cities and ethnic minority accents are considered the least prestigious.

Received Pronunciation is ranked the highest.

🚨 Three quarters of primary school headteachers have had to reduce teaching assistants this year.

Teaching assistants play a key role, supporting pupils and assisting teachers in lessons.

Worryingly, we have found that a large number of primary schools are having to cut them.

🗨️'50% of schools are now cutting trips and exchanges, rising to 68% in deprived areas.'

Great to see our research on school funding cited by Baroness Coussins in a House of Lords debate on school trips and exchanges⤵️

🚨 Three quarters of primary school headteachers have had to reduce teaching assistants this year.

Teaching assistants play a key role, supporting pupils and assisting teachers in lessons.

Worryingly, we have found that a large number of primary schools are having to cut them.

Our alum Molly, who grew up in a single-parent household on a council estate in Leicester, has won awards for her work to improve social mobility.

Read about her journey from our Cambridge summer school to becoming a qualified solicitor ⤵️

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