| Subject | Higher Education |
| Type | Skill |
| Audience | Young Person |
| Location | In-School |
| Year Group | Year 9, Year 10, Year 11, Year 12, Year 13, L3 Y1, L3 Y2 |
| Gatsby Benchmark | 7 |
| Term | Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter |
| Academic Year | 23/24, 24/25 |
| Sign Up | Teacher |
Future Forward runs in a select list of our partner schools where we know we can have the most impact. If you’re working at City Academy Norwich, Hewett Academy, Open Academy, Ormiston Victory Academy, Sewell Park Academy or The Thetford Academy then we’d love to talk to you more about Future Forward.
The benefits of Future Forward can be seen in the classroom and beyond. You can expect to see increased confidence, higher motivation and, ultimately, better outcomes for your students. With sustained engagement, students can earn a contextual offer from UEA if they chose to study with us, too. We believe success is whatever your students define it to be. Through a combination of mentoring and events over the course of two to four years, our team will work with your students to develop skills covering:
Sessions are tailored to your students’ individual needs and wants and, like all of our outreach activities, everything is totally free. We need your help to select the students who would benefit the most from taking part.
How can my students take part?
You need to nominate students who fit the eligibility criteria below, and who you think would benefit from dedicated mentoring support. Nominations are open now and your dedicated Student Learning Mentor is on hand to discuss more about Future Forward and answer any questions you have. Then it’s as simple as 1, 2, 3…
Nominations are open for students who will be in year 9 or year 12 at the start of the 2024/25 academic year.
What is the eligibility criteria?
Students need to attend one of these schools: City Academy Norwich, Hewett Academy, Open Academy, Ormiston Victory Academy, Sewell Park Academy or The Thetford Academy.
Students must meet the following criteria:
And one or more of the widening participation criteria:
To ensure that your students get the most from Future Forward, there must be a high likelihood of positive and sustained involvement e.g. attendance and engagement with mentoring and events.
We’re always happy to chat to help you choose the students best suited to our activities, just get in touch with your Student Learning Mentor or drop us an email.
How many spaces are available?
Getting a place on Future Forward starts with a teacher nomination – you need to let us know which of your students would be best suited to take part.
You can nominate up to six students, with an additional three as reserves. Places will be randomly allocated based on the eligibility criteria, and we’ll use a waiting list if there are more nominations than places available.
Nominations are open for students who will be in year 9 or year 12 at the start of the 2024/25 academic year.
Sounds great, how do I nominate my students?
We will share a simple form with you, just let us know when you have consent from the students and we’ll do the arrangements via email.
For year 9 students, you have until 9.00am Monday 13 May to make your nominations.
For year 12 students, you have until 9.00am Monday 30 September to make your nominations.
Places for Year 9 students will be confirmed in June 2024, and for Year 12/L3 Year 1 students in October 2024.
Where do sessions take place?
Fully flexible to fit into your students’ timetable, students will meet with their Student Learning Mentor in person every three weeks.
Sixth form and college students can be mentored in free or study periods. For Year 9 – 11 students, we work collaboratively with you to identify classes that can be missed and caught up with later.
Events will take place at UEA or at other organisations – events change each year but Student Learning Mentors will be able to share all the details with plenty of notice.
What impact does Future Forward have?
Our previous work has shown significant impact. For example, 86% of Year 13s who took part in Future Forward applied to university in 2021 versus national average of 43.2% of 18 year olds domiciled in England (source: UCAS).
Our young people have progressed to a wide range of universities across the county and overseas – from the University of Cambridge to Radboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands) to the University of York. And lots in between! And it’s not just about university, lots of our students have successfully secured higher apprenticeships at Aviva and other similar organisations.
Don’t just take our word for it…
“I have found mentoring to be very helpful at finishing tasks, talking about problems and discussing ideas” Year 11 student
“It gives me a chance to reflect on the things I’m doing and to focus on anything I’ve got questions for.” Year 13 student
“My son has enjoyed it and received a lot from his time on residentials.
The fact that this has been at no costs to parents has been fantastic. We have really appreciated the input from UEA. Thank you!” Parent of student
Got more questions? Chat to your Student Learning Mentor or contact our team – we’ll find the answers you’re looking for.
