Lloyds fill gap by Government cuts for sixthformers aiming for university

Sixth-form students in London’s East End have been preparing for university with a special programme run by City businesses filling the gap left by government education cuts.

The youngsters from Cambridge Heath Sixth Form College in Bethnal Green have just completed a 12-month series of talks and workshops run by Lloyd’s Community education charity and Tower Hamlets Education Business Partnership—with 32 university hopefuls ready for a new life on campus.

Sessions during the year covered research skills, preparing personal statements, interviews and a visit to Birmingham University.

Ex-Cambridge Heath student Bessey Karadag, who has started a psychology degree at Coventry University, urged the youngsters to take the plunge and study away from London.

“It is really, really scary at first,” she admitted. “You have to do everything yourself—but it’s good to make mistakes and learn from them.”

Bessey gets a �5,000 annual Lloyd’s University bursary on top of her student funding to pay her rent, which makes a big difference—she told them to “apply for whatever finance is available.”

The Lloyds course was developed to help plug the gap left by the Government withdrawing its ‘Aim Higher’ programme in the summer. The Lloyds course continues with this year’s Year-12 Cambridge Heath student intake of youngsters from Morpeth, Oaklands and Swanley secondary schools.