Our strategy – The Access Project

Accelerating Ambition: Our growth strategy 2024-2029

Since 2008, we’ve supported 10,000 young people to find their pathways to higher education. But now, young people are facing new barriers to education.

The long-lasting effects of the pandemic and increasing financial pressures in the wake of the cost of living crisis puts the country’s most vulnerable and under-resourced young people in a precarious position.

Our mission to help young people make the most of their education has never been more important. By increasing the scale of our programmes, our bespoke mentoring programmes will reach 20,000 young people across the country each year by 2029.

We will launch…

167

programmes in schools across the country.

We will reach…

20,000

young people who need our support.

We will achieve…

1,200

top university placements every year.

Accelerate: Our new programme

Accelerate is our exciting new programme developed alongside top education providers and future employers. Accelerate supports young people to develop essential life skills needed to succeed in higher education and the workplace, through bespoke mentoring and life-coaching sessions.

Through Accelerate, we will support 1,200 young people to place at top universities each year by 2029.

Explore our programme

Expanding our reach across the UK

Currently, we work with more than 40 schools across England, spanning Greater London, the West Midlands, the East Midlands, Cumbria, Lancashire, and West Yorkshire.

We will grow our programme by entering all major urban areas of the country, establishing ourselves in areas of high school and population density. Alongside expanding in our existing regions, we will seek partnerships with schools in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Durham and Tyne and Wear.

Map of The Access Project’s partner schools 2024-2025

Our strategic pillars

Amplifying student voice

We will improve our organisational voice, growing our networks and student voice channels and putting student perspective at the centre of our growth. We will take clear, informed stances on the issues affecting young people on our programme and build sector engagement through greater focus on research, policy, and maximising our impact.

Sustainable fundraising

We recognise the constraints on school budgets nationally and aim to reduce the pressure on school financial contributions to our programme. We will grow our income streams, strengthening our relationships with existing partners and building new relationships with potential funders.

Investing in our people

We will build strong working structures and empower our diverse workforce to thrive, upskilling our colleagues and placing increased emphasis on the importance of school relationship management, efficient systems and equitable and flexible approaches to meeting the needs to communities across the country.

Growing our partnerships

Our mission would not be possible without the support of our corporate, university and charity partners. As we expand into new regions, we’re looking for new partners to support our cause, sharing our vision to create a fairer future.

If you or your company are interested in partnering with us, please email partnerships@theaccessproject.org.uk and we would be delighted to set up a meeting.

Email us