Outreach Activities Widening Participation Initiatives. The University of Liverpool provides a range of widening participation activities and works with over 8,000 young people a year, from Years 5-12. These activities are targeted at schools where there is not a strong tradition of progression to higher education, and includes residential and non-residential summer schools, study skills and revision sessions, and visit days. The majority of this work is with entire year cohorts of young people in primary and lower secondary schools and becomes more targeted, with smaller numbers of individual learners, in older school year cohorts. The University of Liverpool has a specific programme of activity aimed at Looked After Children and has been awarded the Xxxxx Xxxxxx Trust Quality Mark for its Plan of Commitment to Care Leavers. In order to support the delivery of outreach activities associated with this Access Agreement the University currently funds 5 staff posts within the Educational Opportunities Team. The total salary costs for these staff posts are £173,153. In February 2008, the University re-located its Educational Opportunities Team to the newly opened Victoria Gallery and Museum. This provides office, training space and a small science laboratory for the Team and is complemented by a School Science Laboratory based in the Department of Chemistry. This facilitates work with groups of young people on campus, using the science laboratories and the museum exhibits to support a progression curriculum with local schools. In addition to its self-funded outreach work, the University works closely with Aimhigher Greater Merseyside and, from August 2008, will be the lead higher education institution for the Aimhigher partnership. As part of its contribution to Aimhigher Greater Merseyside, and in line with the plan agreed with HEFCE, the University will provide in-depth support to 12 local schools to develop and deliver a progression curriculum designed to support entry to HE for non-traditional entrants. These schools will be identified by the Greater Merseyside Borough Co-ordinators. The University of Liverpool has developed, and is delivering, the National Primary Network which is supporting universities and colleges across the country to deliver aspiration-raising activities for primary age young people, their families and teachers. The University of Liverpool is committed to ensuring that all its students complete their studies and are successful in their progression on to further work or study. A peer mento...
