Aimhigher: Higher Education and Employment

Encouraging and enabling more young people from Barking and Dagenham to access higher education and to take up professional work opportunities.

The Aimhigher programme helps to open doors and raise aspirations by supporting students to find the right pathway for them.

The programme includes:

• Professions Mornings for years 8 and 9 expose younger students to the breadth of employment and study opportunities available across sectors, including healthcare, STEM, creative and cultural industries, and higher and degree apprenticeships.

• Pathways sessions give year 12 students practical information on university applications, courses and study models, and related career progression pathways. Covering a broad range of professions aligned with the demands of the current and future labour markets, including Pathways to: engineering, law, medicine, media and marketing, games design, fashion, cyber security, nursing and midwifery, teaching, psychology, pathways to Oxbridge and pathways to higher and degree apprenticeships. We are supported in this work by universities including City University, Coventry University, London South Bank University, Middlesex University, Queen Mary University, UCL, UEL, and Universities of Cambridge, Kent, Oxford and Southampton.
• Aimhigher Coordinators meetings bring school staff and university outreach teams together to network, collaborate and share ideas, developments and best practice.

In 2021/22 the programme will be delivered using a blend of face-to-face and online sessions for young people, with the balance shifting to respond to any Covid-19 related challenges.