Over 1,000 students supported and inspired as Great Yarmouth education centre celebrates first anniversary

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One year on from its official opening celebration, Great Yarmouth's newest children's education centre has supported over 1,000 students from some of the most underprivileged areas of the town.

Back in 2023, IntoUniversity Great Yarmouth's celebratory opening event saw students, teachers and parents from seven local schools visit the home of the education centre in Market Gates shopping centre at the heart of the town. Guest of honour for the event was TV presenter and musician Myleene Klass, a former pupil, Cliff Park Ormiston Academy in Gorleston-on-Sea, one of the seven schools involved.

Twelve months on, 1,448 local students between the ages of 7-18 have accessed the service, with 881 involved with the centre in 2022/23 and a further 567 enrolling this academic year.

IntoUniversity Great Yarmouth is a partnership between university access charity IntoUniversity, the University of East Anglia (UEA) and Trinity College Cambridge, which aims to provides local learning centres where young people are inspired to achieve through an innovative programme of support. It's UEA's second learning centre in partnership with IntoUniversity, with the other based in Earlham, Norwich.

"Now I know I have options"

Students using the centre get the benefit of after-school academic support, mentoring local university students and professionals, in-school expectation raising workshops, work experience opportunities and, in some cases, residential trips.

Of the students from the 2022/23 cohort, 85% said they were enjoying their time at the centre, and 54% said they were more likely to go to university as a result of having attended.

One student who has benefitted from using the centre is Isabella Giangregorio, a local Year 9 student.

Isabella said: "I've completely changed my idea about what I want to do and now I know I have options. Having a mentor allows me to develop my social skills and improve my knowledge of the different courses I can study when I'm older.

"I have definitely improved my confidence. I used to struggle being creative but now I know I can try something new and it will be okay! And that will help me when I'm older because I want to become an actor."

According to an Office for National Statistics report published in 2023,26% of people in Great Yarmouth had no qualifications, ranking it as the sixth worst performing local authority area in England and Wales.

Tripling higher education prospects

Amy Rust, Great Yarmouth Centre Leader, said: "Our aim is for the students who use the centre to enjoy and see the value in education, improve their confidence and maybe even discover a career path they want to pursue, with the wider goal of improving grades and the prospect of continuing into further education for the wider Great Yarmouth area.

"For the centre to get off to such a great start with the number of young people we've had through the door, and the positive feedback that we're getting from both the students and their parents, is really gratifying."

IntoUniversity has a proven track record of improving attainment into further education for students facing disadvantage, and currently supports over 46,000 young people each year at their 41 centres nationwide.

66% of students who attend IntoUniversity centres go on to progress to university, compared with 26.6% of students from similar backgrounds nationally, meaning students are effectively three times more likely to enter higher education through attending.

To celebrate the success of the Great Yarmouth IntoUniversity centre, an upcoming episode of the CivicUEA podcast, recorded at the centre, will feature the stories of a number of young people who have benefitted from it.

Amber Silk, Outreach Coordinator at Trinity College Cambridge, said: "This is an exciting partnership because students benefit from both institutions from early on in their school journey and have accessible examples of what university could be like. Secondary and sixth form students who attend visits at Trinity College are always engaged and ask our ambassadors questions about life at university. Applying to a university like Cambridge should be on their radar."