Host an Advancing Access conference in your school or college
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Host an Advancing Access conference in your school or college

Frustrated that we never seem to host an event near where you live? Rather than wait until we happen to arrive at your neck of the woods, why not suggest that we host an event at your school or college?

Advancing Access events are free to host, so if you think that you have the perfect venue for us then why not tip us off?

Advancing Access in-school conferences provide a full day of CPD for attendees. We typically focus on how teachers and advisers can support their students in making the right choices about Higher Education and we have a particular interest in the most competitive universities. Our CPD events usually include:

An introductory keynote speech
"Breakout sessions" where delegates take part in sessions on particular topics. These are delivered by members of staff from our university partners
An exhibition hall with stalls staffed by our university partners
Lunch and refreshments
The chance to network with other professionals

We can consider a request for an event from any state school or college in the UK, but unfortunately we don't have the capacity to say yes to everyone.

Find more details about the process in the FAQs below. To request an event, please contact us.

We tend to target schools and colleges in areas which have a lower than average progression rate to competitive universities. We also prioritise schools and colleges which don't have easy access to the outreach work which is delivered by our Russell Group university partners.

It helps if a fair number of staff at your school are willing and able to attend. There will also need to be a fair number of teachers and advisors at schools within the surrounding area who would like to take part too.

We would need a large space where all of the attendees could be addressed at once and where we could set up our marketplace exhibition hall. We typically would wish to accommodate between 50 and 100 attendees. We'd also need some large classroom spaces for breakout sessions.

You would need to have the facility to provide refreshments and lunch for the attendees, although we can reimburse you for the cost of this.

Ample free parking and/or easy access by public transport are essential.

From time to time our Project Manager will draw up a shortlist of possible venues for events. These venues are then presented to the project's governing steering group committee before a decision is made. The decision of the committee is final.

We are funded by university outreach teams and do not charge for our events. We will also reimburse you for the cost of providing lunch and refreshments. There are no hidden costs, such as paying staff travel expenses.

Unfortunately we can't pay for the cost of supply or cover teachers to free up staff to take part.

Yes. We will work with you to tailor the event to best meet the needs of teachers and advisors in your area. You can see examples of the sorts of sessions which have been delivered in the past on our event resources page.

Not necessarily.

We don't host events during school holidays. A term time INSET day where the school is closed for pupils is ideal, although we understand that this isn't always possible and we are still willing to host events on days when the school is open to pupils as long as this doesn't cause too many logistical difficulties.