We recognise that your role is crucial in supporting your learners to access Higher Education and we want to help.

You can use our website to book a wide range of events and activities for your learners, as well as to find out more about our programme and how we can support your school/college.

Our programme was developed in consultation with teachers, advisors and other stakeholders. It is designed to be collaborative, impartial and targeted. Please take a look at our Core Programmes (further down this page) to find out more about events and activities for your learners as well as CPD opportunities for staff.

Bookings can be made via our Events & Activities page.

 

University lecturer and learners working in a science lab

Take a look at our core programmes

Pre-16 NCOP Programme

Download Pre-16 NCOP Programme PDF

Post-16 NCOP Programme

Download Post-16 NCOP Programme PDF

Pre 16 All Schools Programme

Download Pre 16 All Schools Programme PDF

Targeted Learners Programme

Download Targeted Learners Programme PDF

Gatsby Benchmarks

As careers aspirations play a significant role in decision making about higher education, we are working to embed careers related content into our activity (with a higher-level skills focus).

All of our activities support Gatsby Benchmark 7 ‘Encounters with further and higher education,’ but some activities such as our 1-2-1 HE guidance interviews and Industry Insight events map across multiple benchmarks.

We have highlighted which activities support which Gatsby Benchmarks in each of our Core Programmes.

More information can be found in our GM Higher and Gatsby guide

Regional Progression Framework

Greater Manchester Higher has developed a Regional Progression Framework (RPF) to support the delivery of NCOP targeted outreach activities. The idea being that individual activities build up over time into a coherent package of engagement for each learner.

The RPF supports:

  • A planned, integrated and progressive approach to supporting learners towards higher education
  • Schools and colleges to meet their Gatsby benchmarks
  • Individual needs and aspirations of learners regardless of where they are based

More information can be found in our Regional Progression Framework

We have highlighted which activities contribute to which learner outcomes in our Core Programmes.

FAQs

NCOP target schools and colleges will be supported by a linked Hub Manager who will facilitate a structured needs analysis and planning process.

All schools/colleges can use our Regional Progression Framework as a tool to help map activity across the learning outcomes for their learners.

If you require additional support with planning your engagement or have questions about any of our activity please contact your linked Hub Manager or the central team at gmhigher@mmu.ac.uk

Our NCOP targeted programme is for year 9-13 learners only. If you are an NCOP school/college please review our core programme brochures for Pre-16 learners and Post-16 learners.

We have a smaller offer open to all state schools in Greater Manchester, which includes activity for year 8-11 learners (please see Pre-16 all schools) as well as tailored activity for targeted learner groups (looked after children, care leavers, disabled learners, young carers) and their key influencers (please see  targeted learners programme).

Please review our Event Booking Checklist.

Please also be aware of our Cancellation Policy.

 

Find the events you would like to book onto via our Events & Activities page.

You can use the search tool, or filter by selecting your school name.

For more information, please see: event booking guidance doc

All of our activities are fully-funded, therefore, there is no charge to schools, colleges or learners.

We need schools and colleges to support the monitoring and evaluation of our work so that we can evidence impact and comply with our funding requirements. The standard requirement is to provide learner registers prior to all activities and complete activity evaluation.

A requirement of our Office for Students funding is to track learner destinations so that long-term impact can be measured.

We ask learners to opt-in to the collection and processing of their personal data for tracking and evaluation purposes via our Destination Tracking forms. We require Destination Tracking Forms to be completed for all learners who take part in our activities.

All processes are fully GDPR compliant. Further information about our data collection & GDPR compliance can be found GMH Data Collection & GDPR Compliance document 

The National Collaborative Programme (NCOP) is a targeted programme, which aims to support the government’s social mobility goals by increasing the number of young people from underrepresented groups who go into higher education.

Target wards are identified by areas where higher education participation is lower than might be expected given the GCSE results of the young people who live there.

Our work must focus on providing intensive activities with learners from these wards, therefore 2/3rds of learners on any intervention must be from the target wards (with the exception of activity delivered to a whole year group or activity for targeted learners). Our Postcode tool will help you determine which of your learners are from our target wards.

We can provide CPD sessions for teachers and advisors to provide impartial information around key higher education themes.

We can deliver sessions ranging from 30 minutes to 2 hours either as a twilight session or as part of an INSET day.

This activity is available on request and can be tailored to your school/college requirements. Please email gmhigher@mmu.ac.uk for more information.

If you have a question, you can find out more by contacting us!

GM Higher FAQs Illustration

Resources for teachers

GM Higher documents

School Postcode Tool - to help you to quickly identify NCOP target learners within your learner cohort and collate activity registers for engagement
https://gmhigher.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GMH-Postcode-Tool-Activity-Register-Creator.zip

Schools Partnership Agreement - a document outlining expectations and key policies
https://gmhigher.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Schools-Partnership-Agreement-v2.docx

Event Booking Checklist
https://gmhigher.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Event-Booking-Checklist-v2.pdf

GM Higher and Gatsby: How to make the most out of your engagement - a useful guide to how GM Higher can support schools/colleges with implementation of the Gatsby Benchmarks
https://gmhigher.ac.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/gatsby-guide-brochure-for-web.pdf

Regional Progression Framework - a useful tool to inform your planning of HE progression support and outreach activity for your learners
https://gmhigher.ac.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/RPF.pdf

Classroom Resources and Lesson Activities


https://university.which.co.uk/teachers/use-which-university-in-class

https://www.ucas.com/advisers/post-16-resources/classroom-resources

https://www.manchester.ac.uk/connect/teachers/teacher-events-resources/resources/

Information for advisors


https://www.ucas.com/advisers/guides-resources-and-training/guides-and-resources/adviser-newsletters

https://russellgroup.ac.uk/policy/publications/informed-choices/

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apprenticeships-resources-for-teachers-and-advisers

Care Leaver resources
https://gmhigher.ac.uk/resources-care-leavers/

Student Finance


https://www.gov.uk/get-undergraduate-student-loan

http://www.ucas.com/sfe

See what's available for your school / college

Events & Activities

Teacher CPD that you may be interested in