IntoUniversity and the Universities of Hull and York
Working in partnership to support young people in Humberside and North Yorkshire to transform their futures.
Three new IntoUniversity learning centres will help children growing up in East Hull, Bridlington and East Marsh Grimsby to stay on track at school and realise futures they may never have dreamed possible.
The centres will be located in areas where typically over 50% of children grow up in poverty but as few as 10% go to university, we will support low-income students to defy the odds stacked against them.
The pandemic has made the challenge tougher, with young people experiencing months of lost learning and missed opportunities for work experience and skills development.
In the least advantaged communities, poverty is getting worse and the hill now to be climbed is even steeper than before.
Three new neighbourhood learning centres in high-need communities
From Autumn 2022, an IntoUniversity centre in Hull will provide students with a safe, friendly place to study after school, with access to the resources, help and encouragement their better-off peers often take for granted. In Autumn 2023 two further centres will launch in Bridlington and Grimsby.
As two universities with a strong social purpose, York and Hull are delighted to join forces with IntoUniversity, which brings its distinctive passion and expertise to work that serves the region’s most disadvantaged young people. Through this new partnership with IntoUniversity the Universities of Hull and York will have an even deeper impact on the lives of children living in Hull, helping some of our most disadvantaged young people in our region.
Working together with local schools, families, businesses and the two universities, the centres will offer academic support, one-to-one mentoring, enrichment opportunities and employment support for 3,000 students aged 7-19 per year. There for children throughout their school journey, and beyond, the IntoUniversity centres in Hull, Bridlington and Grimsby will offer long-term support on their doorstep.
We are seeking to raise £4.5m to fund the centres through to 2028.
The need for IntoUniversity centres
Too many young people in Hull, Bridlington and Grimsby have the odds stacked against them, and are growing up in circumstances that limit their life chances. Children from low-income homes are more likely to leave school with results that do not reflect their true potential, and restrict their opportunities to succeed in adult life.
The educational consequences for disadvantaged young people can be measured in how many months they have fallen behind in their learning by age 16. In all three locations, disadvantaged young people are more than a year and a half behind other pupils nationally. (EPI, 2021.)
In some parts of Hull 56% of children are estimated to be living in poverty.
Inevitably, school underachievement closes down other opportunities including university. Disadvantaged students in the centre locations in Bridlington, Hull and Grimsby are significantly less likely to go to university than all other categories of students nationally.
With few educational assets behind them, young people in these areas to not have a fair opportunity to compete for better-paid employment and the doors are closed to a wide range of careers.
Many families are caught in a vicious cycle, where the disadvantages of one generation are passed on to the next. This creates neighbourhoods where for decades, poverty and educational underachievement have gone hand in hand. These communities often feel isolated from the success and affluence that is taken for granted in better-off areas.
Hull and our people have dealt with some huge challenges in the past, and we have always overcome them, but, on this occasion, as has too frequently been the case in the past, we seem, once again, to be the forgotten city.
Stephen Brady, Hull City Council Leader, in a letter to Boris Johnson, 2020
Even before the pandemic, child poverty levels in Hull were rising, up year on year to over 18,500 in 2019.2 Too many children in the city are growing up in circumstances that limit their life chances. Children from low-income homes are more likely to leave school with results that do not reflect their true potential and restrict their opportunities to succeed in adult life.
In the Preston Road area of Marfleet, only 1 in 10 young people will benefit from a university education, compared to 43% nationally.3
As a result, many remain locked out of secure, well-paid employment, and the chance to escape the financial struggle.
This is what IntoUniversity Hull will work hard to address.
The situation facing the most disadvantaged young people in Hull is not only unfair: it is a waste of their talents. There is a mismatch between their abundant potential, and the shortage of opportunities within reach. They don’t get a fair chance to succeed, where others do. The odds keep being stacked against each new generation. We want to help change this.
1 The English Indices of Deprivation 2019’ (IoD2019), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. 2 Households below average income: 1994/5 to 2018/19’, Department for Work and Pensions, March 2020. 3 Office for Students, POLAR 4; ‘Widening participation in Higher Education Academic Year 2018/19’, DfE, 2020
The impact of Covid
Young people need support now more than ever
The causes of educational underachievement are complex, but poverty is a major factor. Homes are often overcrowded spaces where young people have nowhere to study. Parents have also missed out on educational opportunities and lack the skills to support learning. Laptops are shared between siblings, and hard-pressed families do not have spare cash for tutors and after-school activities.
Even before the pandemic, child poverty levels in Hull, Bridlington and Grimsby had been rising above national averages, up year on year since 2015.
The current economic outlook is also worrying: The Resolution Foundation has warned that an additional 730,000 children in the UK will be living in poverty by 2024. (The Living Standards Outlook 2021). With more parents struggling with financial hardship the future looks bleak, with reduced employment prospects for young people and already deprived neighbourhoods sinking deeper into poverty.
‘The extent to which disadvantaged pupils lost learning by the summer term appears to be equivalent to undoing a third of the progress made in the last decade on closing the gap in primary schools.’
The impact of COVID restrictions on the poorest families has been immense with school closures leading to a widening of the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers (The Impact of COVID-19 on Learning: A review of the evidence’ The Education Endowment Foundation May 2022) According to the Education Policy Institute, children in Yorkshire and The Humber suffered an average of 5.6 months’ learning loss.
There has never been a more important moment to invest in young people to ensure that they stay on track to achieve their ambitions.
2 Households below average income: 1994/5 to 2018/19’, Department for Work and Pensions, March 2020 3Office for Students, POLAR 4; ‘Widening participation in Higher Education Academic Year 2018/19’, DfE, 2020 4 Resolution Foundation, The Living Standards Outlook 2019
How IntoUniversity centres will help
Strengthening existing work with young people
IntoUniversity has an excellent track record of working with schools and universities to support young people to succeed at school and beyond.
IntoUniversity centres provide the local support that can break cycles of disadvantage and open up new opportunities including university. At each centre we provide the support and guidance that are taken for granted in better off homes: academic support; mentoring; careers support and programmes that inform young people about options including university.
Young people in Grimsby, Hull and Bridlington already benefit from the excellent work taking place through the combined efforts of university outreach teams and third sector organisations such as the Children’s University. The new IntoUniversity centres will complement these programmes, so that more young people gain the support they deserve to realise their potential.
Proposed location: Marfleet and Southcoates
IntoUniversity’s teams will seek to work closely with others to ensure our impact is stronger together. This project will bring IntoUniversity’s neighbourhood centre model of support to some of the young people in greatest need. The three new IntoUniversity centres will provide high quality support to young people who often have not had the opportunities they deserve to make the most of their talents.
5 Institute of Fiscal Studies, 2020 annual report on education spending in Engl and: schools, Luke Sibieta
Hull
The new Hull centre will be based at The Freedom Centre, Preston Road, and will serve young people predominantly from the Marfleet and Southcoates wards in East Hull. The loss of Marfleet’s industries and the heavy bombardment of Southcoates during the Blitz mean these areas of east Hull have long been familiar with economic hardship. In national analysis, they rank among the most deprived ten percent of areas (IoD 2019). There is a dense cluster of schools with a high percentage of pupils receiving free school meals, including a primary with one of the highest proportions of disadvantaged students in the country.
Young people in the city are contending with some of the toughest circumstances in the UK. Generations of families have experienced hardship after the decline of Hull’s maritime industries, with government figures ranking Hull as the fourth ‘most deprived’ city in England. 45 percent of neighbourhoods in Hull fall into the most deprived 10 per cent in the country. (‘The English Indices of Deprivation 2019’ (IoD2019), Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.)
Hull’s proud heritage has been rightly celebrated, but despite its City of Culture legacy, the city continues to battle high unemployment rates, set to increase in coming years.
‘Hull and our people have dealt with some huge challenges in the past, and we have always overcome them, but, on this occasion, as has too frequently been the case in the past, we seem, once again, to be the forgotten city.’
In the communities near to the new centre, only one in ten young people will benefit from a university education, compared to 43% nationally.3 As a result, many remain locked out of secure, well-paid employment, and the chance to escape financial struggle.
This is what IntoUniversity Hull will work hard to address.
Bridlington
Bridlington is a wonderful seaside town, but like many coastal communities has not benefited from the prosperity enjoyed by better-off parts of the UK . According to the latest Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) Bridlington was ranked 85 out of 32,844 in England, where 1 was the most deprived and 32,844 the least.
Young people in Bridlington schools are very much more likely to be growing up in homes facing economic hardship. In some schools there are twice as many young people receiving free school meals than the national average.
The new Bridlington centre, opening in Autumn 2023, will be based at The Key Centre in the town centre. The Key Centre was created in 2006 with grants from Europe with a view to serving the young people of Bridlington. Funding cuts now mean that the premises are underused.
'The Key Centre was created in 2006 with grants from Europe with a view to serving the young people of Bridlington. Funding cuts now mean that the premises are underused.
The new IntoUniversity centre will complement the range of services at the Key Centre by providing vital support for 1000 young people each year.'
University is not the right for every young person, but IntoUniversity believes that the opportunity for post-school education should be open to everyone. As things stand, parts of Bridlington have some of the lowest levels of university participation in the UK. The table below shows the percentage of school leavers progressing to university in Bridlington compared with other young people in England.
Grimsby
Once the largest fishing port in the world, Grimsby has seen a decline in its industry and a shift towards low paid, unstable jobs. Disadvantaged young people in Grimsby are nearly 20 months behind their more advantaged peers by the end of KS4. (EPI, 2020).
The new Grimsby centre will be located in the East Marsh, an area of significant need and among the 1% most deprived wards in England (IMD, 2019)
‘In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s Grimsby was a flourishing fishing port, and many of the people from the East Marsh Area had connections with the fishing industry. However, the area has not changed a great deal in many ways. Back-to-back terraced housing, with streets such as, Guildford Street, Kent Street, Garibaldi Street, Rutland Street and Hope Street, all of which have been partially demolished or have been in decline for many years.
Statistically, East Marsh Ward is one of the most deprived wards in the whole of the United Kingdom. Life expectancy is lower than in other areas of the Borough, there are high rates of unemployment, high rates drug misuse, high levels of crime and anti-social behaviour, low levels of educational attainment and low levels of young people going onto university.’
North East Lincolnshire performs particularly badly for youth indicators and is the third worst ranking local authority for the percentage of young people eligible for free school meals progressing to higher education.
6 Karoly, L.A., M Rebecca Kilburn and Cannon, J.S. (2005) Early Childhood Interventions: Proven Results, Future Promise, Pittsburgh: RAND Corporation
IntoUniversity’s approach
An IntoUniversity learning centre provides a safe and supportive environment for young people of all abilities to learn and explore their future ambitions.
Start early
Studies have shown that early gaps in cognition widen over time into attainment gaps which continue throughout a young person’s school life. These gaps are more prevalent in children from disadvantaged backgrounds6. Being certain about Higher Education by age ten means a child is 2.6 times more likely to attend a more competitive university than someone who decided to apply in their late teens (UCAS, 2016). IntoUniversity’s programmes run from age seven, in order to engage students in thinking about their futures, and to offer timely academic support.
There for the long term
Social inequality is deep-rooted and requires ‘a long-term, sustained commitment’ that needs to be built on ‘consistently over time to have a transformative impact’ (DfE, ‘Unlocking Talent’ 2017). IntoUniversity offers personal and academic support throughout a young person’s school journey and beyond. Stability and continuity are crucial for young people experiencing difficulty and change at home or at school.
Part of the community
Each IntoUniversity centre is based at the heart of its neighbourhood, and offers young people a place that brings them together. Young people flourish best within a support network of lasting relationships and IntoUniversity’s work with universities and other partners allows them to connect young people to a wider world, and make real their future possibilities.
Impact matters
IntoUniversity has 19 years’ experience of supporting young people, but their philosophy is that there is always more to learn. IntoUniversity seeks to understand and maximize the impact of their programmes through systems of monitoring and evaluation, and robust analysis of data and insight.
IntoUniversity’s support programme
IntoUniversity’s programme, developed over nearly 20 years:
Academic Support
After school Academic Support sessions in the learning centres offer a safe, quiet place for students to do homework and revision, with resources and trained support on hand. As well as help with literacy and numeracy, students can gain one-to-one support with GCSE, A Level and degree options, coursework, revision, exam techniques, UCAS forms, interview techniques.
FOCUS
Delivered in partnership with local schools, the FOCUS programme encourages young people to think about their future. For Years 3-6 this includes fun, immersive learning experiences and FOCUS Weeks. Years 7-13 have interactive, practical workshops, with Careers in FOCUS bringing to life different future paths. Visits to the Universities of Hull and York, cultural institutions, and corporate offices give students experience of the world beyond their classroom, deepened by Holiday FOCUS activities and Extending Horizons weekends away.
Mentoring
IntoUniversity students will be paired with students from the Universities of Hull and York or volunteers from the corporate sector. Mentors provide one-to-one personal as well as academic advice and support, offering a friendly role model and helping build students’ interpersonal skills, such as confidence, communication and working with others.
Student Enrichment
IntoUniversity connects students with work experience and internship opportunities, and runs insight workshops which explore first-hand what different professions involve. This brings to life future career options, and breaks down the steps to accessing them. Students gain CV-building experience and develop fundamental skills for work. They also develop their own network of friendly professional contacts, which more advantaged students often benefit from.
‘IntoUniversity has allowed students to open their eyes to what they can achieve… Some of our students thought that they had already blown their chances, but at IntoUniversity they have learnt that there is still time to turn things around.’
Impact
IntoUniversity tracks post-school outcomes to monitor how we are making a difference.
66% of IntoUniversity students who finished school in 2021 achieved a university place, compared to 43% of all students nationally. Students do considerably better with our help than other students eligible for free school meals, which was 26% in 2019.
It’s a huge task, trying to change perception. Firstly, my perception of myself as a student about where I can go, and then other people’s perception of myself as a student. I’m now at one of the top universities in the country. Nobody in my family knew how to make that happen.’
One Student’s Story : Mat, 16, Clacton-on-Sea
‘Until coming to IntoUniversity I wasn't doing great at all at school. Not paying attention, so I wasn't really doing much. The teachers weren’t my biggest fan, so they never really told me that I had potential. But going to IntoUniversity turned it around for me and I noticed there was an opportunity for me, so I knuckled down.
IntoUniversity told me about university, and the grade boundaries and how easy it can be, and that they will be there for extra support should I need it, and the extra support definitely helped.
My teachers want to help me now. I have the motivation that I can do it, so I just sit down in class and listen instead of mucking about like I used to.
I got an A*in Design Engineer Construct and a Level 2 distinction in Business. Now I want to go to Essex University and study Business Management and Accounting.’
Why this matters to the Universities of Hull and York
Both the University of Hull and the University of York are committing equal time and resources to develop this new partnership. The two universities have a track record of collaboration and partnership, most notably through the Hull York Medical School (HYMS), which also has a deep commitment to widening access to students from underrepresented backgrounds through the Gateway into Medicine programme.
The University of Hull is a civic university. Founded in 1927 through community philanthropy as a ‘centre of light and culture’ for Hull, the University plays a leading role in the educational, social, economic and cultural development of this unique city and region.
This entails a strong commitment to the local community and a determination to widen participation in the region. More than any other university in the UK, Hull's students reflect the national spread of deprivation versus wealth. Enabling students to fulfil their potential whatever their background and whatever the obstacles, is paramount to the institution. A 2018 policy paper produced by Professor Iain Martin for the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) which analysed every UK university’s undergraduate admissions ranked Hull as the top university for class equality.
Over a number of years, the University has worked with the Children’s University, which is a national charitable scheme that aims to raise children’s confidence, attainment and attitude to learning by rewarding them for engaging in extracurricular learning.
The University of York was founded on the belief that opening up the opportunity to go to university matters more than almost anything else. The University is deeply committed to encouraging talented young people, regardless of background, to meet their full potential. With public good at its core, and a commitment to raising aspiration, York has a long track record in supporting students to realise their potential and sees opening up the opportunity to go on to higher education as a key priority.
York's access and outreach programme is at the heart of this priority. Working closely with teachers, advisers and other partners, York's approach is to enthuse and inspire talented young people from all backgrounds about higher education and support students for a fair chance to gain a place at York through access programmes. Once at York, students from underrepresented backgrounds are helped with bursaries and scholarships, and can access alumni mentoring to support progression and career aspirations.
As two universities with a strong social purpose, York and Hull are delighted to join forces with IntoUniversity, which brings its distinctive passion and expertise to work that serves the region’s most disadvantaged young people. Through this new partnership with IntoUniversity the Universities of Hull and York will have an even deeper impact on the lives of children living in Hull, helping some of our most disadvantaged young people in our region.
Funding IntoUniversity Hull
The Centre will cost £1.3m to operate over a 5 year period, and a detailed breakdown is available. IntoUniversity Hull will work with 1,000 young people per year by its third year of operation.
The cost per student will be approximately £3247
7 Based on a target of 4,350 students worked with over 5 years
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