We love to keep our followers up to date with our latest news. Read more below.
New Partnership with UNITE
February 2012
IntoUniversity is excited to be beginning a new partnership with UNITE, the UK’s leading developer and manager of student accommodation. UNITE has launched a charitable trust, the UNITE Foundation, that will support widening access to university for disadvantaged young people and the integration of students within communities. In addition to significant funding, IntoUniversity will benefit from volunteer engagement by UNITE employees.
The UNITE Foundation will also be offering 21 bursaries, with a priority on care leavers, which will include free accommodation in a UNITE property for the duration of study and up to £4,000 per year towards living expenses. It is UNITE’s ambition to extend the number of bursaries offered each year so that by 2016 they are supporting 140 students within the scheme.
Read the blog post here.
New IntoUniversity Films!
January 2012
We are delighted to share with you two brand new films about IU! Take a look at the work we do with primary schools and secondary schools and hear the views of teachers on what it's like to work with IntoUniversity and how our programmes make a difference to young people's lives.
Dr Rachel Carr made OBE
January 2012
We are delighted to announce that our CEO Dr Rachel Carr has been made an OBE. This richly deserved award recognises her services to Education. Read the article published in The Kensington & Chelsea Chronicle.
“I am surprised and delighted to receive this honour and it feels very special that it comes at the start of the year which sees the 10th anniversary of the founding of IntoUniversity.
It’s also really positive for my staff – they are all incredibly dedicated to our charity’s mission of raising young people’s aspirations and I think this honour reflects everything we have achieved.”
Dr Rachel Carr, Chief Executive, IntoUniversity
Many congratualtions, Rachel!
Gary Barlow Concert
December 2011
IntoUniversity were delighted to be invited to a Gary Barlow concert held at The Royal Albert Hall in aid of The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry and The Prince's Trust. Sophie (15) from IU North Kensington and Karen (17) from IU Hackney South were honoured to have the opportunity to meet The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during the interval, and to share with them their experiences of IU.
Santa Fun Run 2011
December 2011
Seven intrepid IntoUniversity staff members set off on the 5km Santa Fun Run at Greenwich Park on Sunday December 4th, and all made it back in one piece! The team joined hundreds of other Santas raising money for charity on the frosty winter's morning, but were the only group who managed to run the whole course carrying the 5ft blade banner aloft! Thanks to our runners for taking part, and to everyone who has sponsored them and helped raise money for IntoUniversity.
IU wins Children and Young People Now Award
November 2011
We are thrilled to announce that IntoUniversity has won The Children & Young People Awards 2011 Learning Award. The award recognises IU's contribution to improving educational achievement, particularly the work we do with children from disadvantaged backgrounds and children with special educational needs.
IU CEO wins Charity Times Award
October 2011
We are very proud to announce that Dr Rachel Carr, CEO of IU, has won the Charity Times Award 2011 for Charity Principal of the Year. The award recognises Rachel's outstanding leadership and management skills in the running of our charity.
Judges said: “Inspirational leadership, dedication, professionalism and a personal touch are evident as the charity continues to really expand at an impressive rate.”
Congratulations, Rachel!
IUNK at the Notting Hill Carnival!
August 2011
The team at IU North Kensington took part in the Notting Hill Carnival parade on Sunday 28th August with a group of young people. The students chose the theme ‘Be the Spice – the Music is Right!’ and enjoyed a range of activities including steel pan workshops, soca dance, choreography and calypso song-writing in the run up to the main event. All of the young people looked fabulous in their costumes on the day of the parade, and for some it was their first public performance!
An exciting new partnership
July 2011
We're really excited to be joining forces with The University of Nottingham to launch three new centres over the next three years in the city.
Find out more about the new partnership here.
IU Mentoring Graduation
June 2011
The annual IU Mentoring Graduation took place on a sunny Saturday in June. Around 250 IU mentors, mentees, family members, supporters and staff attended the day, which included activities such as Origami and Taekwondo.
After a delicious BBQ, the mentoring pairs were presented with a certificate and given the opportunity to have a ‘Graduation Photo’. Congratulations to our team for puttting on such a fantastic event, and especially to our mentoring pairs for all their achievements over the past year!
The IU mentoring programme will begin again in September 2011. Find out more about volunteering as a mentor here.
The Superheroes Fun Run 2011
May 2011
IntoUniversity had around 30 people taking part in the Superheroes Run in Regents Park, including lots of volunteers from White Stuff and their families. Bartek, one of our past students who is now studying Law at Kingston, ran with two of his friends, and collectively they raised nearly £500! And Bella, who at age 6 must be our youngest ever fundraiser, raised well over £1000 in sponsorship – and she looked pretty tired by the end of it all! Thanks to all who took part, and to those who came and supported the runners.
IU Bow meet Jon Snow!
April 2011
A group of secondary students took part in a ‘Stage & Screen’ FOCUS Week with IntoUniversity Bow.
Activities included a radio drama workshop, a set design workshop, a tour of RADA and a graduation at UCL, as well as a visit to the Channel 4 news studio, where the students met Jon Snow and Nina Hussein!
Jon Snow tweeted to his followers (all 68,000 of them) about the event the next day, saying “@IntoUniversity a fabulous crew of eager youngsters visited our studios yesterday: they are being enticed to think University [is] for them”
Congratulations to the Bow team for putting together such a great week.
IntoUniversity chosen by Royal Wedding couple
March 2011
Prince William and Miss Middleton have set up a charitable gift fund for those who very generously may wish to donate to charity to help the couple celebrate their wedding. Having been touched by the goodwill shown them since the announcement of their engagement, Prince William and Miss Middleton have asked that anyone who might wish to give them a wedding gift consider giving instead to a charitable fund. IntoUniversity is delighted to have been chosen by the Royal couple as one of the 26 charities they wish to see supported in this way.
Donations can be made to www.royalweddingcharityfund.org.
Download our full press release here.
IntoUniversity achieves QISS recognition
February 2011
The IntoUniversity team had much to celebrate when the Lambeth, Bow and Brent centres achieved Quality in Study Support (QiSS) recognition (Emerged).
QISS has developed quality assurance frameworks for Study Support and Extended Services. Achievement of these quality marks demonstrates excellence in a variety of areas. The report from QiSS stated that "IntoUniversity has a clear ethos, a strong set of values and a rounded service of provision. All staff clearly ‘live’ the values and volunteers are used effectively and committed to the programme."
IntoUniversity North Kensington has already achieved Advanced QiSS recognition.
Guardian Appeal raises £311,000
January 2011
We were delighted to hear that The Guardian Christmas Charity Appeal has raised over £311,000 for its ten chosen charities. We are incredibly grateful to New Philanthropy Capital and The Guardian for selecting IntoUniversity, and of course to all those who donated.
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Please contact Hugh Rayment-Pickard at our Head Office on 020 7243 0242 or by email on hugh@intouniversity.org.
IntoUniversity in the news
Article in The Guardian in response to the Royal Wedding Gift Fund, 28th April 2011
'The [Royal] couple have asked wedding guests and members of the public to dip into their pockets to support 26 organisations that comprise the couple's charitable gift fund, covering a range of impeccably liberal causes such as mentally ill ex-servicemen, young offenders, former gang members, bullied youngsters, refugee students, homeless people, teenage drug addicts and children in care.'
Article in The Guardian as part of Christmas Charity Appeal 2010, 26th November 2010
'Enter the IntoUniversity centre and your are infused with hope, aspiration and a can-do attitude, nurtured by smiling undergraduate and professional volunteers, willing to add the word "university" to the lexicon of those whose circumstances, in different ways, have conspired to omit it.'
Letter from our Trustee, Patrick Derham, printed in The Times, 25th July 2009
‘At Rugby School we work closely with IntoUniversity, an educational charity identified in Milburn’s report. It provides the critical values many middle-class families take for granted .’
BBC News item first aired on 16th June 2009:
‘Almost half of all children in London are now getting extra help from private tutors to get them into the best schools, a leading education charity study has shown.’
Letter from the Chief Executive, Rachel Carr, printed in The Guardian, 7th October 2008:
‘We welcome the advice... that every primary school should devote more time to raising student aspirations to take up a place in higher education... For IntoUniversity this concept is nothing new; we have been working with schools for the past six years to introduce disadvantaged children as young as eight to the concept of university.’
Article in The Times, 12th June 2008
‘There is nothing wrong with middle-class parents wanting the best for their children and going all out to achieve it. The left-wing response, led by Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has been to penalise these parents by introducing school lotteries and banning selection by interview. Rather than dragging them down, though, would it not be better to try to equalise the chances of less privileged children?
IntoUniversity, a charity with three centres in inner-city London, is trying to do just that.’
Feature on the BBC Education webpage, 25th April 2007
‘The NFER study was into a scheme called IntoUniversity, launched five years ago and funded by the Sutton Trust educational charity.
Based in North Kensington, it is aimed at children most at risk of failing to meet their potential to go to university due to economic, social, cultural or linguistic disadvantage.’
Feature in The Times Higher Education Supplement, 21st July 2006
‘IntoUniversity is four years old and caters for about 850 children a year from the most deprived schools in Kensington and Chelsea. The project offers focus weeks to secondary and primary-school students. These involve a week of intensive study on one subject, introducing them to how people might study at university.’