Alice Davies 13th March (guest speaker)

In the lecture with Alice Davies who was from Widening Access Wales, she came to speak to use about the program and what their roles in education are. The program Widening Access is about increasing opportunities for people from different and diverse backgrounds, for example people with disabilities, ethnic minorities and people from low income families.
‘We want to see a country where every individual is given equal opportunity to fulfil their potential, maximise their earning potential and contribute to society’. (Jane Davidson Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, March 2002).

The programme is supported and funded by the higher education funding council for Wales (HEFEC) it is split up into;
- WA premium
- Fee planning
- WA strategy funding
- Reaching wider
Their aim is to;
-Encourage progression to higher education
-Assist with enhancing achievement
-Work with severe relative social disadvantage
-Focus on underrepresented communities

In schools the widening access programme will help children at different ages in different areas of learning.

Their programme is as followed;
-Primary School = Art Arts in Action and STEM workshops
- Year 7 = Literacy support
- Year 9 = ACE days, mentoring, saturday clubs and techno camps
- Year 10 = Spring School, STAR days, taste of university or college life, saturday clubs
- Year 11 = GCSE Revision, college taster days, study skills, mentoring

By having schemes it encourages students to try new things and to feel they always have help there if they need it. Also by having different programmes the students will learn something new every year because they are not the same from year to year. It brings variety to the school and the students will benefit from each programme.

There are a lot of measurable outcomes to the programme;
-GCSE results
-Attendance
-Retention in further education
-Progression to higher education
-Impact Measurement

This shows that the widening access programme is very successful and is helping students of all ages and backgrounds.

Some strategic context;
-A 10% rise in the proportion of all Welsh domiciled students studying higher education courses at higher education institutions and further education institutions in Wales who are domiciled in the Welsh Communities First Areas from 15.6% in 2008/09 to 17.2% in 2012/13.
-A 2.7%% rise in the module completion rate for undergraduate enrolments in Welsh higher education institutions from 87.6% in 2008/09 to 90% in 2012/13. (www.hefcw.ac.uk)