First Campus has been asked to support Looked after Children who may be aiming for Higher Education.   We have made contact with the Social Services departments in our area and have built links that will enable us to respond to requests for extra support for individual children, and to handle each case in a unique and appropriate way.  To date, First Campus has made student mentors available to looked after children and have also issued special invitations to events that are focused on raising aspirations to HE.  If you work with looked after children and there is something that First Campus could do to support you, please contact us to discuss this.

Cardiff University, the University of Glamorgan and the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff have been awarded the Frank Buttle Trust Quality Mark for Care Leavers in Higher Education in recognition of their commitment to supporting care leavers at university.
 
For more information on the support they have available, please contact;

Cardiff University:
WideningAccess@cardiff.ac.uk
Tel:  029 2087 0071

University of Glamorgan:
Support for Care Leavers 

University of Wales, Newport:
The University of Wales, Newport offer Access/Hardship Funds to care leavers who identify themselves as in specific need.  They also work with Accommodation to support students who may only have campus accommodation over vacation periods, students should contact Student Services for more information.  

University of Wales Institute Cardiff:
Visit Student Services for advice.


Food for Thought -Education Statistics for Wales

• 40% of young people in the care system enter care between 10 and 15 years old. Research shows that the majority of these are already disadvantaged.  
• A report by the Office of National Statistics showed that 49% of young people in the care system aged between 5 and 17 years had some form of mental disorder or learning disability.
• •Pupils who are looked after by the local authority have a high level of non-attendance compared with their peers and rate of exclusions for LAC remains high at 6.5% per 1,000 compared to 0.9% per 1,000 across the total school population (2002/03).
• Over a third of looked after children had 2 or more school places in the latest year, with 1 in 7 having 3 or more.
• At the time of the Utting report in the late 1990’s, 75% of looked after children left care with no academic qualifications.
  
  National Assembly, March 2006
  

• There were 4,668 children ‘looked after’ in the year ending 31st March 2005 – an increase of 1.7% since 2004 and almost 400 young people left care in 2004/5.
• 37% of those leaving care in 2004/5 had at least one GCSE or GNVQ vi and 83 young people had five or more GCSEs at grade A+ to G.
• The National Assembly does not set targets for tracking the attainment of looked after children in Wales, but Welsh local authorities are the only ones in the UK which have to report their performance each year with regard to the educational achievement of looked after children.
• Studies of long term overall trends show that on average throughout their childhood, looked after children in Wales are still under half as likely to achieve expected test and exam results as other children. vii
• The Welsh Assembly has just announced a review of the arrangements to strengthen duties for looked after children and are seeking to issue statutory guidance specifying functions local health boards must undertake in discharging their duties to improve the education, health and wellbeing of looked after children.ix The Assembly has also introduced the RAISE programme for 2006/7, providing £16 million part of which will be used for learning support for looked after children.

Contacts and Useful Links

Voices from Care Cymru
http://www.voicesfromcarecymru.org.uk
An organisation set up to help young people who are or have been looked after by local authorities in Wales, run by people who have experienced the care system themselves.  

The Who Cares Trust
http://www.thewhocarestrust.org.uk
A UK national organisation which produces the guide ‘Who Cares? About going to University.’

Frank Buttle Trust
http://www.buttletrust.org
For children and young people, providing grant aid to children and young people in need.

Information on support for Looked After Children across Wales
English Language :   http://www.lac-education-wales.org.uk/

Welsh Language :     http://www.pdg-addysg-cymru.org.uk/