Currently the potential outcomes for children in care are "terrible", according to Ruth Kelly, Pro Vice-Chancellor of St Mary's University in Twickenham.
Ms Kelly, former Secretary of State for Education in Tony Blair's government, has launched a radical new educational programme at St Mary's aimed at changing this.
In a video interview with The Tablet, she explained: "Pope Francis has told us to go and find those people on the margins of society, and work with them and educate them. That is what this programme is about."
St Mary’s is the first UK university to offer the programme which is aimed at improving the outcomes of children in care and boosting social mobility. The first intake has already gone through a month-long summer school.
Under the First Star programme, children in care aged 14-18 receive tutoring and life skills training as well as experiencing campus life, with a view to helping them access university. Ms Kelly hailed the benefits of the programme as a new approach to tackling “the virtually intractable problem” of improving outcomes for children in care.
The Academy will see 30 young people (aged 14-18) currently living in foster care or children’s homes in several London boroughs spend four residential summers and monthly sessions during term-time at St Mary’s University Twickenham campus with the joint objectives of helping them to sustain their academic progress and succeed in their exams. The four year scheme has emerged from the United States where it has achieved impressive results: 99 per cent of First Star Academy pupils who have completed four years of the programme have graduated from high school, and 91 per cent have enrolled in higher education.
In the Sir John Cass’s Foundation annual lecture, Ms Kelly told leaders in the field of education and social care that the First Star Academy programme could provide a new approach to addressing the personal and academic development of the UK’s 72,000 looked-after children: “The life chances of youngsters who have been brought up in care are significantly worse than for young people as a whole. We know that educational attainment is closely linked to life outcomes. If we can find a way to provide children in this group with a little more stability and a little more ambition, then we can open new doors for their future that otherwise remain locked.”
First Star Director at St Mary’s, Nick Turk, added: “It is shocking that only six per cent of young people in care in the UK go on to study at university, compared to 45 per cent of their age group peers. He said the initial response from the first cohort of academy participants has been extremely positive: “By the time the current participants are of university application age they will have been in the programme for four years and will have developed a profound sense of comfort and belonging in a Higher Education environment. No one will be able to tell them that they don’t belong in university just because they were in care.”
PICTURE: Ruth Kelly pictured at St Mary's University Twickenham by @RuthieGledhill
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