Aspiration raising and attainment Sample Clauses

Aspiration raising and attainment. The University of Portsmouth is situated in an area with a historically low continuation rate into higher education. Progression to HE is under 26% in much of our local area, with progression from some local wards as low as 8% (HEFCE POLAR3 data). Hence, our commitment to widening participation has a strong focus on raising aspirations and awareness of higher education. Our strategy for outreach aligns with the recently published Office for Fair Access Strategic Plan 2015 – 2020 and the National strategy for Access and Student Success (NSASS). We deliver a coherent, incremental and progressively intensive progression package, from Year 5 to Year 13, which systematically develops interest in and motivation towards higher education. Central to this is the maintenance of successful and sustained partnerships with schools and colleges. All of our widening participation work is targeted at institutions where progression to higher education is low, deprivation is high or where there are significant proportions of under-represented groups continuing to further or higher education. We work with local children in Year 5 and Year 6 from 32 targeted local primary schools with the aim of changing their perceptions, and their families’ views, about the importance and accessibility of higher education. In line with the NSASS, we have chosen to maintain investment in early intervention and our work with primary schools has been cited as an example of good practice within the national strategy. Aspiration-raising is essential in a city with Portsmouth’s history of comparative educational under-achievement and exceptionally low progression rates to HE in some areas. At secondary level and beyond our focus is on continuing to raise aspirations, combined with collaborative work with schools, aimed at improving attainment. The proportion of 16 year olds in Portsmouth gaining five GCSEs has historically been low (in 2014 Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight were near the bottom of the league table of 151 Local Authorities – for attainment of five GCSE at A-C including Maths and English). By working with target schools to improve this, we aim to make progression to post-16 education and on to higher education a viable option for more local children. In addition to activities provided by our Education Liaison and Outreach Team, our academic departments run a range of subject- focused conferences and workshops for our target schools and colleges. As well as supporting attainment at G...