19-20 Development of Soft Skills for School Year 10 - Aspire to HE

The University of Wolverhampton holds the Aspire to HE (Higher Education), National Collaborative Outreach Programme (NCOP) contract with the Office for Students which funds the NCOP programme - 'the Project' or 'Programme'. 'Aspire to HE' is a partner-based consortium which will deliver sustained, progressive, intensive outreach activity to targeted cohorts of learners (years 9 to 13) in identified Wards to increase the numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds entering Higher Education. The measure of success is the progression of young people onto courses of prescribed Higher Education. The key aim is to increase the rate of young participation in HE in the target Wards: 'young participation' is defined as the proportion of the cohort that enters HE at both 18 and 19 years of age.

This Contract provision will be offered to all year 10 pupils, across up to 39 partner schools who are based in the Black Country and Telford and Wrekin, within the academic year 2019/2020 (September 2019 - July 2020).

The intervention that is delivered will provide pupils with an opportunity to develop in a range of soft skill areas this may include; communication skills, critical thinking, positive attitude and is to support pupils in the development of soft skills and build their confidence towards making an informed ambitious decision for their future and sustain their place on that pathway.

There were a number of Mandatory Requirements as part of this tender process, the Contractor met all mandatory requirements.