Widening Participation Fair 2024

Ashton Sixth Form welcomed education providers from across the country to support our annual Widening Participation Fair.

Widening Participation Initiatives and Access Schemes aim to help level the playing field for students who may face barriers progressing into Higher Education, apprenticeships or certain career paths. The Fair showcased a variety of programmes and opportunities students can get involved in externally in Year 12 and 13.

The event enabled students to ask questions to a number of institutions and organisations, gain an insight into opportunities to support their next steps and find out the support they could receive post college.

A huge thank you to the exhibitors that supported the event, including:

• Edge Hill University
• Lancaster University (Access to Lancaster)
• Loughborough University (Access to Loughborough)
• MMU (First Generation Scheme)
• Newcastle University (PARTNER Programme)
• UCFB
• UCLAN
• University of Bradford (Progression Scheme)
• University of Chester 
• University of Huddersfield (Headstart)
• University of Hull
• University of Leeds (Access of Leeds, Realising Opportunities, Reach for Excellence)
• University of Manchester (Manchester Access Programme)
• University of Nottingham (Ambition 16-18)
• University of Oxford (OxNet)
• University of Sheffield (Access to Sheffield)
• University of York (Next Step York, Black Access)