Care Leavers

We appreciate that there are practical concerns for young people leaving care and entering Further or Higher Education.

To help you make the transition into either further or higher education, we have four designated members of staff (DMS) for students who may need additional support. The DMS is there to support you if you are:

• A looked after child or a young care leaver aged 16-24. This means that you will either be currently subject to a care order or have previously been registered in the care of a local authority for a period of at least 13 weeks under the age of 16 years.
• A young carer. This means you are caring for another person and taking on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult.
• Estranged from your family or have limited family support.

We seek to support you by providing a seamless support process from an initial enquiry through to your graduation. This includes:

• Information and guidance on courses and returning to education.
• Information on paying for your course, help accessing this and other sources of financial help.
• Help and advice on completing application forms for courses, student loans/bursaries.
• Help getting your accommodation in place, including liaising with our accommodation department, external agencies and landlords.
• Help putting additional support in place ready for your course, such as disability and specific learning support difficulties, as well as help accessing other services available including study support, counselling and careers advice.
• With your permission, working with other professionals supporting you.

Further information on how we can support you can be found in our Support for Care Leavers leaflet. 

All shared information remains confidential.

If you would like the responsible local authority, trust or charity that you have contact with to be able to talk to us about you, with your agreement, this can be done by using our referral form.