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Please note: registration for 2024/2025 is now available, please complete the registration form at the bottom of this page. If you have any queries, please email us at cl_estranged@wlv.ac.uk (with your student number).
A guide for students applying to University: Supporting Care Experienced and Estranged Students
Information and useful links
Specific support for your individual needs:
A care leaver is someone who has previously lived with foster parents, in a children’s home, orphanage, or sheltered accommodation. The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 defines a care leaver as someone who has been in the care of the Local Authority
The University is delighted to be a founder member of the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL)
Which aims to transform the progression of young people in or leaving care into and through further and higher education, by championing the continuous improvement of local practice, multi-agency partnerships and national collaboration.
WHAT IS THE CARE LEAVER COVENANT?
The Covenant is a promise made by private, public or voluntary organisations to provide support for care leavers aged 16-25 to help them to live independently.
In July 2016, the Government published ‘Keep on Caring’ to support young people from care to independence. A key policy commitment in the paper is a strategic pledge to introduce a Care Leaver Covenant.
Find out more about what the Covenant could mean for you by having a look at their website at www.mycovenant.org.uk and you can also read our commitment to be part of the extended network who are supporting care leavers in England at https://mycovenant.org.uk/signatories/university-of-wolverhampton/.
For students who do not have a family support network, who are 18 to 24 and have no communicative relationship with either living biological parent, or often their wider family, coming to university can be a huge life choice change. We are here to help and support your university career from pre-entry all the way through to graduation.
Stand Alone is a charity that supports people who are estranged from their families and can provide advice and support.
They also offer support groups across the country that provide a non-judgemental space where you can share thoughts and experiences with others in a similar position together.
The University is proud to have signed the Standalone pledge in 2016 and to be recognised for its ongoing support for estranged students in the 2020 year’s Stand Alone Pledge Awards.
Read more at: Support for estranged students recognised nationally
Information and personal journeys
Useful resources, additional information and what some of our students have said.
The University can offer:
Donna-Louise Harvey, Head of Operational Safeguarding (Students) and Institutional Lead for Care Experienced and Estranged Students, is our named contact for care leavers or students who find themselves estranged from their family and will be able to provide ongoing support, advice and guidance throughout your student journey, from making an application to Wolverhampton through to graduation.
Donna can also provide a link between the University, your local authority and/or your Care Leaving Team.
Finance advice to help you apply for all you are entitled to and work out a budget to suit your needs.
For general budgeting advice have a look at our Funding and budgeting webpage. It has a lot of tips and links to free online budget planners
Care Leaver/Estranged Bursary
Once you have completed your registration and consent form (this will need to be completed every year to ensure all consent details are up-to-date in line with GDPR) your bursary will be automatically released. All payments will be made via your WLV Wallet account. For more information on the WLV Wallet itself and how to use it please see WLV Wallet
Access Bursary
You may be eligible for one of our Access Bursaries. Please check our Scholarships page for further information on this and our other scholarships/bursaries.
Dennis Turner Hardship Fund
Through the Fund the University is showing its continuing commitment to supporting students who find themselves in genuine financial hardship that might impact on their ability to continue on a course at the University especially during this current crisis.
You apply every year via your e:Vision.
For full information on the fund itself, including a step-by-step guide to applying go to www.wlv.ac.uk/fund.
Staying in student accommodation is often an exciting part of the university journey, We have student accommodation across three of our Campuses, City Campus, Walsall Campus and Telford Campus. We guarantee an offer 52-week contracts for care-experienced students to make the gap between academic years easier for you by letting you stay in your accommodation over summer and other holiday periods.
There are also many private accommodations in the surrounding areas of each campus, we encourage all students to look at all options and discuss with a trusted person or your local authority before agreeing in to contracts with any accommodation should this be private or our university accommodation.
Moving In
If you would like help and support settling in during your move, we are happy to support you with this. You will also receive a goodie bag with essentials to help get you started, we will also ensure that you are fully up to date with what’s happening in and around the university.
All students have access to Student Life - a range of teams that are here to support your time throughout University. These teams can be access through the following pages. Student Life is also based in the Harrison Library on City Campus. The teams include: Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion; Mental Health and Wellbeing; Student Money; Support to Study.
Online External Support
The University of Wolverhampton has invested in a newly developed student support platform in collaboration with Care First called WLV Student Life Connect. This is a counselling, information and advice service offering support for issues arising at university, home, or work.
This is a FREE, CONFIDENTIAL, INDEPENDENT, and IMPARTIAL source of support for you, as an undergraduate, post graduate taught, post graduate research student, or an apprentice learner. Here you can access advice, guidance, and support on a wide range of care issues, health issues, benefits and entitlements, relationships, childcare, anxiety, depression and more.
Naresh Patel (FEHW, Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing) – n.patel9@wlv.ac.uk
Suneeta Duroch (FABSS, Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences) – s.duroch@wlv.ac.uk
Amy Knott (FSE, Faculty of Science and Engineering) – a.knott2@wlv.ac.uk
