College leads the way in social mobility once again

Birkenhead Sixth Form College’s commitment to social mobility and widening participation to students from all backgrounds has once more been highlighted, with nearly 50 first year students gaining places on a leading university and careers programme.

The Pathways Programme, run by the University of Liverpool and the Sutton Trust, provides the skills, knowledge, experience and opportunities to help young people from less advantaged backgrounds progress to top university places and exclusive graduate careers.
Some 45 first year students at the College have been accepted onto the Pathways Programme, which covers three different professional areas: Law, Engineering and Bank & Finance.

Activity across the programme, which is completely free for students who meet the entry criteria and make a successful application, involves participating in mentoring sessions, relevant work experience, university visits, workshops and attending national conferences.

This programme opens doors for less privileged students to access careers that are traditionally potentially out of reach due to limited opportunities because of social background, and plays a huge part in levelling the playing field for all young people to have aspirations for a successful profession.

The cohort of students from Birkenhead Sixth Form College on the three different Pathways Programmes amounts to between 30 – 40% of the total number of students taking part, and each student that applied from the College for the Engineering and Banking & Finance courses was successful in gaining a place.

A spokesperson for the Pathways Programme from the University of Liverpool said: “In total, we have 45 students from the College across all three Pathways Projects, and another 22 within our year 13 Law project. We really appreciate the support that the College has provided for the Pathways Programme. We really value the access the College provide to its students: they are all very high-achieving students who meet our Widening Participation criteria. We’re looking forward to working with these students and supporting them into university.”

Director of Student Development and Careers Leader at the College, Jo Wood, said: “Opportunities for our students like the Pathways Programme sit alongside the already superb careers support every one of our students is provided with, from specialist support from their pastoral tutors with plans and applications to the next steps after College, to our trained in-house Careers Advisors being able to help students access further projects and openings outside of College.

“Students have been making applications for places on programmes with the Social Mobility Foundation, the Aspiring Professionals Programme and the Scholars Programme next year – all of which enhance career opportunities exponentially. All students deserve the chance to access the best possible professions, and this College leads the way in making sure that those chances happen.”

For more on the award-winning careers programme at Birkenhead Sixth Form College, click here.