“I was sobbing, and I remember my headteacher saying: ‘Stop crying – you got into Oxford!’ No one at social services believed me.” As a care leaver, the odds of Hall making it to university, let alone Oxford, were very slim. As of 31 March 2018, 75,420 children were living in the care system in England. This found that 12% of care leavers in England had entered higher education at that point. With so few care leavers going to university, what makes the difference for those who do attend? “Our first cohort of 30 pupils from the care system are thriving,” Kelly says.

Source: The Guardian May 22, 2019 09:01 UTC