Care To Go Higher CPD: 2024-25 review
Care to Go Higher is a flagship programme in Go Higher West Yorkshire’s (GHWY) work to support care-experienced young people.
The CPD-certified training gives the key influencers of these individuals the tools they need to support informed decision making in relation to Higher Education (HE). Delivered nationally, it has a West Yorkshire context to share good practice in support that is available to care-experienced students.
The programme is constantly reviewed to ensure it meets the needs of its target audience. Two of our staff members reflect on its successes this academic year.
Tahera Mayat, GHWY Collaborative Outreach Officer
Care to Go Higher was CPD-certified through the CPD Certification Service at the start of the academic year 2024-25. It was described by the organisation as, “An informative training, with clearly defined learning objectives, and participatory opportunities for delegates.”
Certification means those who attend all six sessions can count it towards their CPD-certified hours and attendees can be sure of the quality of the content.
The autumn cohort was the first CPD-certified delivery of the programme. This saw 20 attendees join, with a third of those achieving CPD-certification.
In February 2025, we ran a CPD session ahead of Care Day about supporting care-experienced learners on their Higher Education journey. As part of this, there was a section about the common definition of care-experienced that is used across the GHWY partnership and is drawn from the UCAS definition. One of the ways we promote this definition is through our Care to Go Higher programme.
Rob Scott, GHWY Training Delivery Officer
Since stepping into the Training Delivery Officer role at the end of February, it’s been a busy and rewarding few months delivering Care to Go Higher.
Since I joined, we have successfully run two full cohorts of the course. Feedback so far has been incredibly positive. One attendee said: “I feel far more confident that I am giving the right advice and that I can signpost young people to lots of support.”
Complete feedback is currently being reviewed to help identify what’s working well and where we can make improvements to strengthen the course even further.
In addition to the full course, I delivered a condensed version of the training to Wakefield Virtual School. This bespoke session was designed to offer the core learning and tools from the full course in a shorter format. It was very well received, and we hope to deliver more of these to other partners in the future.
I have also developed a new 30-minute taster session, which aims to provide an insight into the course for professionals who may not be ready to commit to six weeks whilst still providing practical tools and insights they can apply to their work immediately. I have delivered one of these sessions already and have received expressions of interest for more, with dates still being confirmed.
It’s been a fantastic start, and I’m looking forward to growing the course further and continuing to support professionals working with care-experienced young people.
If you’d like to find out more about the Care to Go Higher course or arrange a taster session for your team, please email me at [email protected].
