Opening Doors: How Villiers Park and Trinity College, Cambridge Are Tackling Barriers to Higher Education
Villiers Park is delighted to continue its collaboration with Trinity College Cambridge, a partnership which supports hundreds of young people from under-represented backgrounds every year, breaking down barriers into higher education.
Tackling barriers to social mobility in Hastings and Bexhill
Today, across the country, where a young person grows up and their socio-economic background continues to play a critical role in defining their future. At a national level, the disadvantage gap has become more entrenched post-Covid.
In 2023/24, 28.9% of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) entered higher education by age 19, compared to non-FSM eligible pupils, for whom the rate was 49.0%, a percentage point gap of over 20%. For high-tariff universities, the gap is even greater. Just 4.9% of FSM-eligible pupils entered high-tariff education by age 19, more than 50% less than non-FSM peers (DfE 2024).
This is compounded by the uneven access to opportunity across the country, as highlighted in the Sutton Trust’s Opportunity Index. Hastings is ranked in the bottom 10 of all 543 constituencies across England for social mobility. Not only is the free school meal eligibility rate above average, but a pupil on free school meals is statistically far less likely to progress into higher education, complete a degree or be in the top 20% of earners than their peers from other parts of the country.
Hastings Celebration Event 2025
That’s why targeted interventions, such as this partnership between Villiers Park and Trinity College Cambridge, are vital. The Future Leaders Programme in Hastings and Bexhill supports over 150 young people from under-represented backgrounds each year. One-to-one coaching, skills workshops, insight days and residentials help students build confidence and strengthen their personal, academic and employability skills. The programme breaks down barriers to higher education, empowering young people to make informed choices and pursue their goals.
Alex Grant, Villiers Park’s Assistant Director for Hastings and Bexhill, explained:
“The Future Leaders programme helps young people to develop pathways, personal to them, which shift talk of university away from being an aspiration to becoming a future that seems realistic and attainable. Working in partnership with Trinity College supports our Future Leaders to see that some of the world's most competitive courses and institutions are a part of their reality.”
Through feedback from our residential and university insight days, we know, that early interactions with universities builds confidence and belonging. 83% of Future Leaders attending a university insight day in 2024 said they were more likely to consider higher education as a pathway. Working with Trinity College Cambridge, our partnership co-creates and delivers information sessions for young people and their parents and carers, as well as CPD for our partner schools embedding knowledge of ambitious pathways in our community.
Abdul at the House of Commons Residential in 2023
©UK Parliament Jessica Taylor
“I'd just like to say thank you for all the support over the years. I don't think I would have got as far as I have without the support. It's definitely helped to develop me as both a person and a student. My confidence has certainly developed and I'm more emotionally mature than I was before the programme.”
Abdul, Hastings and Bexhill Alum
With Trinity College Cambridge, we also run a dedicated Early Entry programme, to prepare students for applications to highly competitive universities including Cambridge and Oxford, as well as courses such as medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry. In the 2024-25 academic year 58 young people took part in the programme, benefiting from expert coaching, mock interviews, mentoring from student ambassadors on academic challenges and invaluable application support from the Trinity College Outreach Team.
The outcomes of this programme can be transformative, with a number of young people currently awaiting decision on their Cambridge applications. Many more have begun their higher education journeys at high-tariff universities where they are studying a range of courses including Engineering, Law and Theology.
Arona, a Year 13 participant and now studying Neuroscience at Kings College London, summed up the experience:
“It was an amazing experience to be part of the Villiers Park coaching programme and having continuous support with my early entry applications.”
In Hastings and Bexhill, where the disadvantage gap is becoming more entrenched and access to higher education continues to fall well below the national average, this partnership is driving change and making a transformative impact on young people’s futures.
Amber Silk, Outreach Partnerships Manager said:
"Through working directly in areas needing the most support, Villiers Park are able to understand the young people they work with and the barriers they face. We have been able to co-develop a programme which is really tailored to these students’ future ambitions, answers their questions and gives them skills that will support strong applications."
Are your school interested in signing up for the Early Entry Programme?
