AccessLeicester: STEM

You must meet all of these essential criteria:

• You must be a Year 12 or equivalent (lower sixth) student at the point of application and must be studying at least one of these subjects at A-level – Biology, Human Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Physics. If you are studying other level 3 qualifications (not A-levels), please email progression@le.ac.uk to discuss your eligibility before you apply
• You must currently attend a non-selective state school/college/sixth-form (i.e. you do not pay for your education)
• You must have attended a non-selective state school for your secondary education (11-16)
• You must be living permanently in England and be under the age of 18
• You must have achieved a minimum of grade 4 in GCSE (or equivalent) Maths and English Language.

If you meet all of these essential criteria, please look at the priority criteria below.

You must satisfy a minimum of one of the criteria below to be considered for AccessLeicester: STEM. Places on the programme will be offered to students that satisfy the most of these criteria, so please complete that section of the application form carefully, and select all criteria that apply to you.

• You are currently living in or have experienced local authority care for a period of at least three months in the last ten years
• You are a Young Adult Carer
• You have a disability/long term health condition and are in receipt of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• You are living independently of your parents (for at least the last 6 months) due to situations of family breakdown or 'estrangement'
• You are in receipt of, or entitled to Pupil Premium and/or discretionary payments/16-19 bursary at school or college
• You received free school meals during secondary school
• You would define yourself as being one of the priority engagement groups which include students from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, refugees and children of military families
• You live in a ’low participation’ neighbourhood or an area of high financial, social or economic deprivation. This is defined by your home postcode
• You come from a home where neither parent/carer attended university in the UK or abroad
• You have attended a secondary school where the Key Stage 4 (GCSE) performance is lower than the national average (based on Attainment 8).

For each priority criteria you match, we will need you to provide supporting documentary evidence. For a full list of the evidence required for each criteria please see the 'priority criteria - supporting evidence' section below. Evidence will be submitted as part of the application process, so please be ready to provide copies of these documents upon request.

For each of the priority criteria you match, you will need to provide supporting documentary evidence as part of the application process. Please be ready to submit these upon request.

1. You are currently living in or have experienced local authority care for a period of at least three months in the last ten years.
   Please provide supporting documentary evidence from one of the following (on headed paper):
• Social Services/Local Authority
• A statement from your care worker
• A statement from your school/college.


2. You are a Young Adult Carer.
   Please provide supporting documentary evidence from one of the following (on headed paper):
• Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Carer’s Allowance statement/letter
• Carer’s support group
• Social Services/Local Authority
• Your relatives NHS or Private Support Worker
• A letter from your GP.


3. You have a disability/long term health condition and are in receipt of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
   Please provide supporting documentary evidence from one of the following:
• Confirmation of your receipt of the ‘enhanced’ rate in either the ‘daily living’ and ‘mobility’ components, OR the ‘standard’ rate in both components
• A statement from your school/college.


4. You are living independently of your parents (for at least the last 6 months) due to situations of family breakdown or 'estrangement'.
   Please provide supporting documentary evidence from one of the following (on headed paper):
• Estranged student support group/network, such as StandAlone or the Unite Foundation
• Social Services/Local Authority
• A letter from your GP
• A statement from your school/college.


5. You are in receipt of, or entitled to Pupil Premium and/or discretionary payments/16-19 bursary at school or college.
   Please provide supporting documentary evidence by a statement from your school/college.


6. You received free school meals during secondary school.
   Please provide supporting documentary evidence by a statement from your school/college.


7. You would define yourself as being one of the priority engagement groups which include students from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, refugees and children of military families.
   Please provide supporting documentary evidence by a statement from your school/college.


8. You live in a ’low participation’ neighbourhood or an area of high financial, social or economic deprivation. This is defined by your home postcode.
   You can check to see if you live in an eligible postcode by using the postcode checker on the Office for Students website. An eligible postcode will return "quintile 1" or "quintile 2" for ‘POLAR4' in the 'Measure - quintile' table (just to the left of the map).


9. You come from a home where neither parent/carer attended university in the UK or abroad.
   If one or more parent is currently studying their first degree, or graduated from their first degree within the last five years, an application will still be considered):
   • Higher Degree (eg MA, MSc, PhD, PGCE)
   • First Degree (eg BA, BSc, BEng)
   Please provide supporting documentary evidence to confirm this by downloading the 'parent/carer confirmation form (PDF, 625kb)' and asking your parents to complete it.


10. You have attended a secondary school where the Key Stage 4 (GCSE) performance is lower than the national average (based on Attainment 8).
    We will assess this on your application using school performance data available on the Gov.uk school performance website. You do not need to submit any evidence for this item.