A Generation of Transformation

Sophia – Year 5, IntoUniversity Kennington

Sophia first started attending Primary Academic Support at IntoUniversity Kennington, when she was in Year 3, after her mum signed her up having heard positive things through family friends who also attended the centre. Sophia has an incredibly supportive family, but her busy home environment and a lack of access to technology make it hard for her to do school work at home.

“I feel like there’s a magic trick that the adults are speaking to the children to help them be good. Everyone is so kind and caring and understanding; no one judges you. That’s something I really like. Everyone always listens and tries to understand.”

James – P6, IntoUniversity Craigmillar

James first became involved with IntoUniversity when he attended a ‘Sustainability’ Primary FOCUS Week with his class. Soon after the FOCUS Week, James signed up to Primary Academic Support and is now a regular attendee. James was initially very reserved when he first started attending the centre but the staff team has seen developments in James’ confidence each week.

“My favourite part of IntoUniversity is learning new things each week. The sessions are really fun. The classroom is open and there is lots of space for us to be free and learn. It is a really fun community club. I have made lots of new friends as well as seeing people from school.”

Lexie – Year 10, IntoUniversity Bow

Lexie first attended Academic Support in 2014. Since then she has been a regular attendee, becoming a member of the centre’s Student Council and benefiting from one-to-one support through the Mentoring programme. Lexie has sometimes struggled with motivation in the past but recently, the centre team have seen her drive improve.

“IntoUniversity has helped me think about my future a lot. When I was younger I had no idea what I wanted to do, but since I started Mentoring I was able to explore things that I am interested in. With my mentor we decided to do baking at least once or twice because I mentioned I quite like baking. That was when I decided I either wanted to become a chef or something similar. IntoUniversity has given me the opportunity to explore things that I am interested in.”

Nate – Year 13, IntoUniversity Clacton-on-Sea

Nate first started coming to Secondary Academic Support, shortly after he moved to Clacton and was introduced to IntoUniversity by another student in his year at school. Since attending the centre, his confidence has improved greatly and he has made the most of all of the resources available to him to ensure that he is well-prepared for university.

“A few years ago I had to take a step back in Year 11, so I thought that going to a different school and the knock back in confidence was going to make things really difficult, but coming here has helped me with that transition both socially and academically. When it came to creating my UCAS application, I was one of the first to do it in my year because of IntoUniversity. They really helped me with researching my options, finding different types of universities and with writing my personal statement, which is why I got an unconditional offer from Anglia Ruskin University, which I’m really looking forward to.”

Tendai – age 22, IntoUniversity Nottingham West

Tendai first started attending Academic Support during her first year of A-Levels after finding out about it from friends who already attended. At the time, she was struggling academically and was uncertain about her chosen A-Levels and what she wanted to do in the future. She was assigned an academic mentor to help her with Chemistry A-Level and, since then, Tendai has gone on to graduate from the University of Birmingham and now works as a social worker. 

“IntoUniversity has helped me in so many ways. Academically, it helped me realise my potential and I was able to change my A-Levels to subjects that I was naturally good at and ended up achieving [the grades] BBC. The staff at IntoUniversity helped me to really perfect my personal statement for UCAS and also did mock interviews with me for my actual university interviews. I was able to do a wide variety of activities such as attend a meet and greet with the Editor-in-Chief for Vogue at one of the IntoUniversity centres in London. I also did a three-week paid internship with an investment bank in London as well as a one-week work experience at a magic circle law firm. After studying Sociology at A-Level, I’m able to recognise that IntoUniversity offered me a form of cultural and social capital that I wouldn’t have been able to acquire on my own and my views of the world, my ambitions and successes wouldn’t be the same.”

Download aspire here