Following its initial launch in 2017, GHWY has completed the Care Leaver Covenant’s second update.  This follows input from partners developing their own offer and refining details that will help us to continually improve care leavers’ access to information on their entitlement to support in HE.

This year we have seen a number of partners add to their offer, in particular by:

• Developing a dedicated webpage and URL for care leavers
• Offering improved bespoke experiences on-campus to prospective students
• Providing staff with training to better understand care leavers’ needs

We are also delighted to add Leeds College of Music to the Care Leaver Covenant in 2019/20 with its newly developed offer.

The way GHWY presents this information online is getting a makeover.  The delineation of the details of each offer at each partner is being restructured and refined to add clarity and consistency.  This will support young people’s – and their influencers’ – understanding of each offer and how it could benefit them.

2019/20 will also see the development of wraparound materials to support use of the Care Leaver Covenant as a local resource.  We envisage this will enable sustained and reflective conversations to take place, supporting informed decision-making and preparedness for higher education.  This will be supplemented by a new approach to evaluating the impact of the Covenant as we aim to track the usefulness of the resource over a sustained period of time.

The refreshed Care Leaver Covenant will be launched during National Care Leavers Week (28 October-1 November).  This will include online promotion as well as dissemination to Local Authorities across the region.  In addition, we will be sharing care experienced young people’s aspirational messages to their future selves on our Instagram page.

Read the Covenant.