Annual Report Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach 2020 Annual Report 2020 | Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach | 1 Contents Who We Are Chair’s Foreword In parts of East Anglia, young people are less likely to access further and higher education than in other areas and 2020 overview of the country despite similar GCSE results. The Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach (neaco) is one of In a year like no other, the Network for East Anglian Collaborative 29 partnerships across England that have been funded by Outreach (neaco) partnership was challenged to adapt and the Government through the Office for Students (OfS) as overcome extreme circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 part of the Uni Connect programme. The national aim is to deliver outreach in these low participation areas in order pandemic and the wider impact on the education sector. I am to increase the proportion of students progressing into enormously proud of the continued passion and commitment higher education and higher apprenticeships. These local shown by our fantastic collaborative teams, in their support partnerships provide guidance, increase aspiration, and and largely virtual delivery to our region’s schools, colleges and support young people in planning their future education. young people across the Take Your Place programme. neaco is a local partnership of five universities and We started 2020 similar to previous years, adhering to to help us deliver a sustained level of support, and nine further education colleges in Norfolk, Suffolk, our mission of supporting under-represented young positively impact our target communities. We saw a total Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. We work closely with people across East Anglia progress into further and of 13,102 students engage 1,358 online activities and the schools, local enterprise partnerships, local authorities and higher education, providing aspirational workshops number of Take Your Place website users increased by other key stakeholders. and mentoring across our schools and colleges. Our 52% in 2020 compared to 2019. commitment continued, supporting our parents and neaco is taking a non-prescriptive approach to widening local communities, hardworking teachers, education Evaluation and impact participation, intuitive to the needs of students, staff and staff and young people in over 100 institutions. In January Our programme remains committed to a thorough local communities. At the centre of this approach is our 2020, we were proud to attend the launch of the Office evaluation process. Tracking students’ engagement with Take Your Place framework, a fully funded programme for for Students Uni Connect programme, replacing the the Take Your Place programme is key to monitoring the underrepresented students. It includes several strands, previous National Collaborative Outreach Programme impact of our work. Our 2020 analysis concluded that each addressing our target students’ identified needs (NCOP). the neaco programme; “is positively supporting young in order to increase progression to further and higher people to make the best possible decisions about their education. COVID-19 response higher education”. In addition, there was found to be a From March 2020, we recognised the significant substantially higher rate of higher education participation The framework focuses on improving our students’ challenges the pandemic would cause young people for the most disadvantaged group (39.9% for our understanding and preparedness towards applying for nationally, particularly those from disadvantaged areas. students compared to 27.3% nationally). further and higher education, developing their passion and This year, we have seen the biggest adaptation of the The year ahead ambition towards where further study may take them, as Take Your Place programme since we began in 2017. It Looking ahead, 2021 continues to present similar well as making informed choices to enable progression. has been a challenge, but one we have faced head on, with all staff pulling together in a time of unprecedented challenges to 2020, with the potential for further change and uncertainty. With a mass movement to disruption to schools and colleges. We remain home working and study, we continued to support committed to continue to develop our support offering schools where needed, whilst moving our programme across East Anglia in the year ahead, as we move into delivery almost entirely online. Our continued creative phase 3 of the Take Your Place programme. While and collaborative approach has led to an exciting we hope to soon be able to return to face-to-face new chapter for Take Your Place. Our website was re- engagement and delivery, we will continue to apply launched in response to the need for increased online creative and innovative solutions to fulfil our ambition to support. It has been tailored to the specific needs of our support under-represented students and help them to students, parents and teachers, with guidance pathways, take their next steps in their education journey. free educational resources and information on events. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to our team and Our partners: Our teams across the region have been delivering online the young people, teachers and parents we work with for workshops in close collaboration with teachers and their patience and flexibility throughout the last year. tutors during national lockdowns and local restrictions. This enhanced collaboration has strengthened our Tom Levinson partnership relationships and virtual offerings. We have Chair of the Steering Group built a targeted and effective range of online resources Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach Annual Report 2020 | Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach | 3 Mission and Values OUR VALUES OUR MISSION Each of our values aligns Take Your Place activities with our mission and framework. We support students in making Collaborative Impartial informed decisions about their future. We work in partnership We promote all available with target educational pathways, further institutions, organisations and higher education Our vision is one of equal rates of and initiatives which have providers within and missions aligned to neaco. beyond East Anglia. progression to further and higher education and higher apprenticeships, between students living in target and Sustainable Learn non-target wards across East Anglia. We deliver and support We undertake research activity which embeds to inform practice and We work towards this through: systemic change in schools better understand decision Information, Advice and making of target students; Guidance (IAG); we prioritise we thoroughly monitor and Delivering and coordinating outreach initiatives which are scalable and could evaluate impact; we develop staff. 1 activities that raise aspirations and be sustained post-neaco. support target students to make informed choices. Responsive Supporting the development of We operate within an 2 ‘Information Advice and Guidance’ (IAG) agreed framework, while related systems and infrastructure and supporting and responding Continuing Professional Development to the needs of target (CPD) for staff in target schools and schools and students. colleges. Evaluating our approaches to ensure 3 we learn which interventions work best. 4 | Annual Report 2020 | Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach Annual Report 2020 | Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach | 5 Total number of activities delivered The year in review Total number of Further Education Colleges engaged with 2,889 Website users Total number of Total number of schools and 9 students engaged 2019 sixths forms engaged with 88 23,451 3,252 7,014 Total number of targets East of England All students engaged 2020 9,800 Norfolk Easton College Norwich 4,323 10,660 Easton University Stamford College of the Arts WE HAVE Stamford College of Norwich East of England All West Anglia WORKED WITH King’s Lynn University Centre City College University Peterborough Norwich of East Anglia East Coast Peterborough Norwich Cambridgeshire Norwich College & PeterborougH Great Yarmouth Proportion of Peterborough All Students: 6,391 Anglia Ruskin College online activities University Peterborough Peterborough Uni Connect Target East Coast 1% College Students: 2,305 Cambridgeshire & Lowestoft online Peterborough 47% online NORfolk Cambridge College Regional of West All Students: 7,579 SUFfolk College Anglia Cambridge Cambridge Uni Connect Target Anglia West Suffolk University of College Students: 3,291 Ruskin 1531 Bury St Edmunds Cambridge University 1358 Cambridge Cambridge Suffolk New 3616 College University of SUFfolk Ipswich Suffolk All Students: 9,481 Ipswich 39 Uni Connect Target 2019 2020 Students: 4,204 Online In person 6 | Annual Report 2020 | Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach Annual Report 2020 | Network for East Anglian Collaborative Outreach | 7 Total number of target our work with students students engaged When the world changed in March, our partners quickly adapted, and by moving all student support provision online and using innovative online delivery platforms, it has been possible to continue to successfully deliver our outreach activities to students. All online resources are designed to encourage student participation and 9,800 engagement, develop understanding and ultimately support progression to higher education. Our Higher Education Champions organised the 2020 sessions from a variety of employers helped students