The Access Project (TAP) was established in 2008 to help talented young people from disadvantaged backgrounds gain access to an education at one of the UK’s top universities.  Through a unique programme of in-school mentoring and personalised tuition, we aim to help our teenagers unlock their potential and transform their future prospects.

Since then we have grown quickly and are now working in 33 schools, with over 1,000 tutors supporting 1,400 students across London, Birmingham and the Black Country and the East Midlands towns of Ashfield, Mansfield and Shirebrook.

Volunteer tutoring

Every year we match over 1,000 volunteer tutors with a 14 to 18-year-old student from one of our partner schools to support those students to achieve their potential at GCSE or A-Level. In weekly tutorial sessions across the school year, tutors address the topics that students’ teachers think they need most help with.​ The weekly sessions not only raise grades but improve a young person’s confidence and aspirations.

The Access Project is regularly cited as a sector leader in improving university access:

• Highly Commended, 2018 CSJ Annual Award for Education, Employment and Skills
• Validated at Level 3 on Nesta’s Standards of Evidence (2016)
• Cabinet Office Best Outreach Programme for our partnership with Slaughter and May (2013)

“We know that there are areas in our city that can be neglected where, in some cases, working class students have not been able to enter the top flight universities. The aim of The Access Project is to correct that historic imbalance. I have heard first-hand the testimonials from students in Birmingham and the Black Country whose lives have been transformed as a result of the support they received.”

Colin Diamond CBE, Corporate Director, Children and Young People, Birmingham City Council