Head of GHWY’s round up of the year 

I wanted to start this round-up of 2023-24 by covering the significant and unexpected funding cuts to Uni Connect which hit the team in the latter third of this year and have dominated Go Higher West Yorkshire (GHWY) for the past few months.  

The cuts came very soon after a positive external review of the national Uni Connect programme, alongside high performance by GHWY’s Uni Connect programme in particular. The cuts are in no way a reflection of the hard work from across the teams.  

It has been particularly difficult to have to lose our dedicated team of Progression Officers (POs) because of these cuts and a movement from the funders away from the work they undertook. The PO role is one which I personally championed because I know how impactful it can be, and the work of our programme will be more challenging without this team in post. I send my thanks to all across the teams for their flexibility, commitment and compassion whilst we have navigated this very difficult process together. 

A few highlights for me from the past year include the delivery of some highly successful activities: a bespoke version of our Care to Go Higher programme, in partnership with the National Youth Agency; our Empowering Boys’ Voices conference, which brought together key stakeholders to look at how we can address the significantly poorer outcomes seen for males on free school meals; six impactful ‘Go Higher In…’ Days, which showcase to young people the range of roles in particular sector areas alongside the education routes towards them; and the latest iteration of the Uni Connect Attainment Raising programme, which works with young people to boost their attainment and consequently broaden their range of future options.  

In addition, across all our member institutions, we held our inaugural collaborative Teachers’ and Advisers’ Conference, for which we received excellent feedback from attendees. 

I also had the opportunity to see first-hand how committed staff are to developing and honing their own practice through such engaged participation in our Advance HE ‘Collaborative Development Fund’ (CDF) project.  

Our CDF project sought to support access and outreach professionals to reflect on the approaches they take to developing and delivering activities for a range of audiences – and whether these are designed in a way that takes into account the actual wants and needs of participants from their perspective, rather than from our own or from an assumed perspective. This is something that the team genuinely embraced, thought about and reflected on in relation to their own roles. 

Facilitated by the excellent programme leaders Nathan Ghann (The Educate Group) and Shames Maskeen (Leeds Trinity University’s Race Institute), I saw how much individuals took on-board the learning from the CPD training. They were also open to and honest in thinking about where improvements could be made in day-to-day activities. 

As always, it is wonderful to be part of a team which is so focused on supporting great outcomes for others. Wishing everyone a restful break at some point over the summer.

 

Helen Sykes, Head of GHWY