SOAS partners with charity to boost student success at Midlands school
9 February 2021
Students in a West Midlands town with hopes of going to university are to get extra support thanks to a new initiative between education charity The Access Project (TAP) & SOAS University of London. The two organisations are launching a new four year partnership to help disadvantaged students at Wood Green Academy in Wednesbury, West Midlands.
The Access Project runs a programme of personalised tuition & in-school support at Wood Green Academy, helping young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds improve their grades and gain the skills they need to apply for top universities. UCAS data shows TAP’s students are four times as likely as similar peers to attend top universities.
The university partnership will help build a strong relationship between Wood Green Academy, TAP, and SOAS, which is the world's leading institution for the study of Asia, Africa and the Middle East. It will help to raise attainment and student aspiration at a time when disadvantaged students need more support than ever. Even before the COVID pandemic young people from affluent areas were six times more likely to get places at the most selective universities, according to the Office for Students.
China Hutchinson, was a year 13 student on the TAP programme at Wood Green Academy last year. She achieved an A* in her tutored subject English and now attends a top university: “My TAP tutor was incredible, I would never have been able to pay for a tutor myself. My support from my mentor provided such great value, I was encouraged to apply to university, helped with my personal statement, and guided through the application process.”
The initiative aims to reach students who may feel selective universities aren’t accessible to them. “Wood Green Academy is a perfect school for SOAS to work with,” said Marva de la Coudray, Head of Access, Participation and Student Success at SOAS: “The partnership will enable us to reach out to students who might otherwise not consider a selective university such as SOAS. We are looking forward to working in partnership with the Academy and The Access Project to help students realise their dreams and aspirations."
Over the next three years SOAS will help The Access Project deliver tutoring and mentoring support to GCSE & A-Level students at Wood Green Academy. The university will facilitate visits to SOAS (currently virtual tours), provide volunteer tutors & help to resource the charity’s core programme.
James Topham, Headteacher at Wood Green Academy, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to build a strong relationship between Wood Green Academy and SOAS, one of the UK’s top universities. It will help raise the academic expectations of our students and enable them to see a successful pathway from the school to university.”
TAP Chief executive, Nathan Sansom, believes the new university partnership will make a profound difference to students at the school: "It will be a wonderful opportunity for SOAS and Wood Green Academy to provide opportunities for our students to have contact with staff and students at a top university and see it as a realistic destination for them."
Find out more about the work of The Access Project.
The Access Project (TAP) is an innovative education charity that helps talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds go to top universities. TAP provides 14 to 18-year-olds with a unique programme of free personalised tuition, in-school support & university admissions guidance. This year TAP is supporting 1500 pupils across London, Birmingham & the Black Country, the East Midlands, and Bradford. The Access Project programme supports 40 students from year 10-13 at Wood Green School each year.