Posted 15 July 2025

I attended Go Higher West Yorkshire’s (GHWY) Working Together for Access and Success in Higher Education: Teachers’ and Advisers’ Conference at the University of Bradford on 8 July 2025. It proved to be an insightful and productive day of discussion, collaboration and shared learning. 

The day began with a warm welcome from Kirsty Lunn (University of Bradford) and Helen Sykes (Head of GHWY). Helen’s introduction set the tone perfectly, highlighting the importance of our shared mission to support young people in making informed choices about Higher Education (HE). 

This was followed by an engaging keynote from the Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture team. Rhiannon Hannon and Andra Chelcea gave an inspiring overview of their work and the cultural opportunities the programme will bring to the city and region. It was encouraging to hear about the links being built between culture, participation and education. 

Later in the morning, I had the opportunity to facilitate a breakout session led by Helen Linyard (University of Leeds), focusing on the upcoming changes to UCAS personal statements and the growing role of generative AI. The session sparked a genuinely thought-provoking discussion among attendees, with a range of perspectives shared around how AI tools could support – or potentially complicate – the personal statement writing process. 

One of the highlights of the day for me was the student panel session, chaired by Ammarah Pandor (Leeds Trinity University). Hearing directly from students about their lived experiences and the challenges they’ve faced on their HE journeys was both powerful and grounding. Their honesty and insight will certainly stay with me. 

Over lunch, I took part in the marketplace event, where I hosted a stall sharing information about our Care to Go Higher CPD course and our broader work supporting care-experienced young people. I had some very productive and positive conversations with practitioners keen to engage further with this work. 

In the afternoon, I co-delivered a breakout session with Susan Darlington (GHWY Partnership Assistant), where we presented our range of resources for supporting care leavers. These included our common definition of care experience, the Care Leaver Transition Pack, our Care to Go Higher CPD course, and our collaborative Care Leaver Covenant and Estranged Students Pledge. The session was well attended and prompted a number of insightful questions and reflections. 

The day concluded with remarks from Sarah Thomas (Leeds Beckett University), Chair of the GHWY Access and Participation Strategy Group. This was a fitting end to a full and inspiring day. 

Overall, the conference was a valuable opportunity to connect, reflect, and re-energise our collective efforts to widen participation in HE across West Yorkshire. Many thanks to the GHWY team, our hosts at the University of Bradford, and all involved in organising such a well-run event. 

 

Rob Scott, GHWY Training Delivery Officer 

 

Evaluation and next steps  

The Conference had evaluation at its heart from the outset with a Theory of Change. There were learnings from 2024’s conference with longer sessions (35 minutes instead of 30 minutes); welcome from Head of GHWY to raise awareness of the partnership; and GHWY having a marketplace to promote our resources. The delegates were invited to complete a pre- and post-evaluation survey. There was also an opportunity to provide qualitative feedback. 

One delegate said: “Everyone who presented were brilliantly engaging and super knowledgeable. The content of the sessions was relevant and useful; and the timings, organisation and catering were fab!” Another delegate said: “Good to see HE institutions working together.” Many delegates said they loved the student panel. 

In terms of next steps, we have signposted delegates to our CPD newsletter so they can stay informed of training opportunities and updates about the 2026 conference (date TBC). There has also been a debrief with our 13 partners to reflect on learnings and to make changes to ensure that next year’s conference will be even better.  

We are looking forward to seeing many of you at the 2026 conference! 

 

Tahera Mayat, GHWY Collaborative Outreach Officer