How it started

Alex Kelly was 21 when he started teaching at Highbury Grove School on the Teach First scheme. The inspiration for The Access Project came in his second year of teaching: he was given one particularly bright group of 12-year-olds and realised that their prospects of winning a place at a top university were low, despite the fact that they clearly had the potential to succeed.

A child on FSM is 22 times less likely than a privately educated pupil to enter a highly selective university¹

Alex and the Year 12s visit Cambridge University

55% of Highbury Grove students are in receipt of free school meals: children from this background are 22 times less likely than privately-educated pupils to enter a highly selective university. Alex refused to accept this inequality and resolved to develop a scheme to help the students fulfil their potential.

One of the reasons often given for the gap between rich and poor in university admissions is aspiration. But Alex noticed that aspiration was not the issue – students were aware of what a good career might be, or which universities are seen as “the best”. The problem was that they weren’t making the grades to get into these institutions.

Alex says: “It was easy to get students work experience at big corporate firms and take them to open days at Oxbridge colleges. But the real issue was how to make sure 14 year olds would do their homework on a Wednesday evening.”

“…the real issue was how to make sure 14 year olds would do their homework on a Wednesday evening…”

Alex and Year 13 visit the Olympic Site

This was how the idea for the tutoring came about. Our students are matched with one-to-one tutors for an hourly tutorial each week at the tutor’s workplace. This started as a small venture, but snowballed in popularity as volunteers’ colleagues sought to participate; we now have the support and input of senior partners at various local firms.

Alex also noticed that many of the students lacked confidence and had difficulty expressing their thoughts. Almost none of them had a history of Higher Education in their families, and around half spoke English as a second language. To help them to work on this and gain experience of speaking in front of an audience, he arranged a series of after-school confidence and articulacy activities, including debating and creative writing clubs. Students choose these according to their interest, but all these workshops focus on encouraging young people to formulate and express their opinions. Some are run in partnership with other charities, including Debate Mate, First Story and Headliners.

We are now in the process of taking the model into other schools in disadvantaged areas across London.

Students whose parents did not go to university, and who may not be familiar with the English education system, also need extra help in navigating the UCAS application process. Alex therefore added a series of UCAS and careers guidance workshops to the programme, enabling our students to make informed decisions at every stage of their careers. This includes access to personal statement mentoring and mock interviews, facilitated by volunteers from our corporate partners.

Alex now runs The Access Project full-time, and has big plans for its expansion beyond its original school. We are in the process of taking the model developed at Highbury Grove into other schools in disadvantaged areas across London.