HE Can

HE Can is a sustained multiple intervention programme for Year 9, White British boys who are eligible for Free School Meals and predicted to achieve grade 4+ in GCSE English and Maths. The activities on this programme will specifically focus on increasing knowledge of the potential benefits of HE, as well as increasing a sense of belonging in that environment.

Students will take part in a series of events shown to contribute to addressing common barriers such as lack of knowledge of HE options and negative perceptions of HE. This project will give them the opportunity to reflect, think about their future pathways and goals, increase their confidence to access higher education and make the best use of resources and other opportunities open to them.

At the beginning of the programme the students will assess their view of their skills, knowledge of HE and aspirations/expectations. The programme is designed to increase their confidence around this and will allow them to reflect in the reflection workshop to continue to identify gaps/strengths with these. We will repeat the evaluation at the end of the programme to assess progress against this.

The essential skills icons will be included on all resources for the programme.

By design, students are given the opportunity to attend two different HE settings with two different cultural activities and workshops. This gives space to reflect on skills and continue to use them/improve across the multi interventions.