Supported Progression

About Supported Progression

What is Supported Progression?

Supported Progression is a programme for talented students studying in the North East, Cumbria and Yorkshire who have the potential to study at a university like Durham and who will benefit from additional help and support to reach their full potential. Supported Progression offers a two-year coherent, structured programme of events and information. Events include a full day for you and a parent/carer, a two night residential event, and a five night residential summer school, which is assessed. Information provided throughout the event includes topics such as applying to university and UCAS, student finance, studying abroad, and a variety of skills workshops such as presentation skills, teamwork, time-managent.

Why apply to Supported Progression?

Guaranteed, conditional offer -

In addition to the opportunities and information above, those who successfully complete the programme and perform to the required standard in the assessed summer school project at the end of Year 12 will be recognised as having achieved a qualification equivalent to 16-32 UCAS tariff points. This will contribute towards meeting the entry requirements for a programme of study within the academic department with which they completed their assessment at Durham University. Students will then receive a guaranteed, conditional offer for that particular course should they apply to Durham University during Year 13. Offer conditions usually stipulate the grades that must be achieved, including any subject specific requirements. You can find out more about how SP offers work, which subjects are available (and their respective entry requirements) by reading the additional subject information.

Financial support -

Successful students may also be eligible to receive additional bursaries towards university costs. Further detail will be available in due course. Any such bursaries are conditional on Supported Progression students passing their assessed summer school and subsequently choosing that Department as their Firm choice when they make their UCAS application in Year 13. For reference, the the Access Agreement for 2018/19 states that such students for 2018 entry will be eligible for £2,000 p.a. for the duration of their first degree at Durham University.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

Our eligibility and selection criteria for the 2017-18 Supported Progression programme have yet to be confirmed. We will publish the criteria here when the 2017-18 programme opens for application in September 2017.

In the meantime, you may find it useful to review the criteria for the 2016-17 programme, below. The following criteria will form the basis of the criteria for 2017-18 and so it could be worthwhile exploring this further.

Typical essential criteria:

• Applicants must be in Year 12 or equivalent.
• Applicants must be attending a state school or college in the North East, Cumbria or Yorkshire (please see our website for a full list of eligible schools/postcodes).
• are under the age of 18 at the time of the summer school.
• applicants must be currently living in the UK and have been for a minimum of three years prior to the time of application as well as having UK or EU nationality or indefinite leave to remain in the UK, except where residence in the UK is wholly or mainly for the purpose of full-time education.

Additionally, we typically look for applicants meeting all or most of these criteria:

• will be the first generation in their family to attend university
• have achieved at least 5 As or A*s at GCSE or equivalent (including a strong level of achievement at GCSE for relevant subjects).
• are taking subjects in relation to the subject stream they are applying for (we advise students to research subject specific entry requirements on our website (below) prior to application)
• attend schools or colleges with a low overall GCSE and/or A-Level, Higher/Advanced Higher (or equivalent) point score and/or schools or colleges with low progression rates to higher education*
• come from neighbourhoods with low overall progression rates to higher education or high levels of socio economic deprivation**

These criteria are used to identify students with merit and potential who are currently under represented in higher education. Additionally, as black and minority ethnic (BME) applicants are underrepresented at Durham University, we particularly welcome applications to Supported Progression from BME students.

Durham University is proud to hold the Buttle UK Quality Mark in recognition of our support and commitment to care leavers. We welcome applications from care leavers and those who have had experience of care. Durham University have a designated care leaver co-ordinator, Ashley Callard, who can offer advice and guidance relating to support on offer at Durham University. To contact Ashley or to find out more, please head over to our webpage for care leavers.

Supported Progression also welcomes applications from disabled students and makes reasonable adjustments to facilitate access to all Supported Progression events and the University.

Further details can be found on our website: www.durham.ac.uk/supported.progression/

* Please see http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/index.html

** Please see http://www.hefce.ac.uk/analysis/yp/POLAR/POLAR3/ and http://acorn.caci.co.uk/.

The Application Form gives you the opportunity to outline your motivations for wanting to be part of the scheme, and your teacher will have an opportunity to complete a section demonstrating your potential, motivation to succeed and any personal circumstances which may have affected your performance so far.

Apply for Supported Progression 2017-18

Applications for the 2017-18 Supported Progression programme will be accepted in the start of the new academic year. Application forms will be available here from September 2017. If you have any questions about the programme or the application process in the meantime please don't hesitate to get in touch with the team. You can call us during normal office hours on 0191 334 9126 or email us (supported.progression@durham.ac.uk) and we will aim to reply to you as soon as possible, normally within two working days.

Information for Teachers

Information for teachers for the 2017-18 programme will be available here soon. We are currently developing more up to date resources for SP teachers and we would be glad to hear from you if there are any resources you feel would be of particular use to you or your students. If you would like to get in touch with the team about this or if you have any other SP related queries, please contact us on 0191 334 9126 during office hours or email supported.progression@durham.ac.uk.

Thank you for your patience as we develop the revised content.

Request an SP talk for Autumn 2017

As in previous years, we are happy to try and accommodate requests from schools. If you would like a member of the SP team to come to your school to talk to your Year 12 students about SP then please feel free to complete the form below. It is not possible to accommodate all requests due to the high volume of visits carried out, however we will ensure you are equipped with all the necessary information in the event that we are unable to visit.

Contact the SP Team

To get in touch with the Supported Progression Team please contact:

Email: supported.progression@durham.ac.uk

Tel: 0191 334 9126

Access and Student Recruitment Office