From: aimhigher [mailto:aimhigher@trimediahc.com] 
Sent: 24 January 2007 15:23
To: aimhigher
Subject: Aimhigher Practitioner Bulletin - January 2007

Welcome to the January edition of the Aimhigher practitioner bulletin, designed to provide all those working for Aimhigher with relevant programme news and details of national resources.

If you have any comments or suggestions on the content of the practitioner bulletin or website, or any other communications enquiries, please contact the National Communications Resource Team (NCRT) on 0117 929 7096 or email aimhigher@harrisoncowley.com.

January contents:

1.	Roadshow funding confirmed for 2007-08 
2.	National Partnership Board meeting 
3.	Aimhigher, school improvement plans and partners 
4.	Targeting the Aimhigher and Widening Participation Resource Task Group – terms of reference 
5.	Student Finance advertising campaign 
6.	Aimhigher Topic Paper – template press release now available 
7.	Aimhigher portal to migrate to Directgov 
8.	Aimhigher practitioner website – image library expanded 
9.	Summer Schools seminar 

1. Roadshow funding confirmed for 2007-08
The DfES has confirmed funding for the Aimhigher roadshow for the 2007-08 academic year, which will continue to promote the benefits of HE to Year 9 and 12 students in areas with traditionally low levels of participation. As in previous years, the allocation of days to Aimhigher regions will be based on HEFCE's funding formula for Aimhigher, taking into account information such as educational attainment and HE participation rates.

The team at Geronimo Communications, which facilitates the roadshow, will shortly be in contact with Regional Directors to confirm the number of days that have been allocated to their region, and work with them to identify the schools and colleges that they would like the roadshow to visit. Geronimo will also be looking to recruit five roadshow presenters – young people from Aimhigher backgrounds who will share their own recent experience of HE with around 500 young people each week. 

The roadshow is currently one third of the way through the 2006-07 tour and has made over 332 visits to schools and colleges, reaching approximately 20,000 students. Evaluation forms collected from tutors and teachers reveal that 98% of teachers gave the facilitators the top ratings of ‘very good’ or ‘good’ for both their knowledge and their effectiveness in relating to the target cohort.

Further roadshow feedback is available by clicking on the link below:
www.aimhigher.ac.uk/practitioner/programme_information/roadshow/evaluation.cfm

2. National Partnership Board meeting
The National Partnership Board (NPB) held its first meeting of 2007 on 12th January. Key areas discussed included the review of annual monitoring reports for 2005-06, the Action on Access report of partnerships’ activities since the start of the 2006-08 period, and evidence strategy developments. The NPB was joined for part of the meeting by a number of Aimhigher representatives who had been invited to discuss best practice approaches to monitoring and evaluation. HEFCE will shortly be asking those partnerships that participated to summarise their presentations – and these will be posted on the practitioner website.

HEFCE has produced a report on the outcomes of this meeting, which is available to view by clicking on the link below:
www.aimhigher.ac.uk/sites/practitioner/news/index.cfm

3. Aimhigher, school improvement plans and partners
School engagement in the Aimhigher programme continues to be a key priority for the funders. Area Steering Groups devolve Aimhigher funds to schools in non-ring fenced allocations and also provide a variety of other interventions ‘in kind’.

Partnerships are continuing to devise methods for monitoring the impact of the Aimhigher resource upon the target cohort in schools. One way of assessing this is to look at the extent to which Aimhigher features in school improvement plans or in the dialogue between schools and their School Improvement Partners (SIPs). Further information on SIPs is available by clicking on the link below:
www.aimhigher.ac.uk/sites/practitioner/programme_information/about_aimhigher/working_with_schools.cfm  

4. Targeting the Aimhigher and Widening Participation Resource Task Group – terms of reference
The Secretary of State for Education, Alan Johnson, has re-emphasised the Government’s strategic priority on widening participation in his annual grant letter to HEFCE. The letter makes reference to the work the Council is doing to improve the targeting of Aimhigher and other outreach activities. A copy of HEFCE’s annual grant letter is available by clicking on the following link:
www.hefce.ac.uk/news/hefce/2007/grant/letter.htm
 
As reported in the November bulletin, the Minister for Higher Education and Lifelong Learning, Bill Rammell, has asked HEFCE to produce a report setting out practical recommendations for Aimhigher partnerships and higher education institutions on how better to target outreach activities. HEFCE is currently convening a short term task group to consider these issues. The outcomes of these discussions will feed into a report, due to be submitted to the Minister in April, with a series of dissemination seminars to be completed by the end of May 2007. The Task Group would be particularly interested to receive brief case studies or examples about the way in which individual schools and/or colleges target Aimhigher resources and activity. Please send examples to c.leonard@hefce.ac.uk. 
 
Draft terms of reference for the project and the work of the task group are available by clicking on the link below:
www.aimhigher.ac.uk/sites/practitioner/news/index.cfm

5. Student Finance advertising campaign
The second phase of the Aimhigher-branded Student Finance advertising campaign is now underway combining radio, online and media partnership activity. This phase will run throughout January with an emphasis on non-repayable support in the form of maintenance grants. The advertising will direct people to either the DfES order line (0800 587 8500) or the campaign pages within Directgov at www.direct.gov.uk/studyfirst. 

In addition, ongoing PR activity will continue over the next three months, with an emphasis on bursaries and money management.
 
Aimhigher Student Finance will also be represented at the UCAS conventions which run from January to July. For further information on the campaign, click on the link below:
www.aimhigher.ac.uk/sites/practitioner/communications/national_campaigns/student_finance/advertising.cfm 

6. Aimhigher Topic Paper – template press release now available
As reported in the December bulletin, the DfES has published a topic paper to answer key strategic questions about the impact of the Aimhigher programme. The paper, which draws together evidence from a range of evaluation reports, paints a positive overall picture, and is therefore a good opportunity for practitioners to speak to their local media about partnership activities. 

The NCRT has drafted a template press release which can be adapted for use by regional and area partnerships. The press release leads on the topic paper’s publication, and gives space for practitioners to add in details of current activities. The NCRT is also on hand to provide advice and support on any aspect of media relations. Click on the link below to download a copy of the press release:
www.aimhigher.ac.uk/practitioner/communications/communications_resource_pack/media_relations/template_media_materials.cfm

7. Aimhigher portal to migrate to Directgov 
As practitioners may already be aware, the government announced earlier in January that it is to close more than 550 of its websites in order to make access to information easier for citizens and businesses. Information of continuing relevance will be moved under key umbrella websites, and as such, content from the Aimhigher portal is now to be incorporated within the Directgov website (www.direct.gov.uk).

User figures for the Aimhigher portal have increased year-on-year since the site was launched in 2003, and HEFCE has already begun working with Directgov to further raise the online profile of Aimhigher and ensure that Aimhigher-branded content continues to reach even wider audiences.  

The Aimhigher practitioner site will remain a separate site and is unaffected by these developments.  HEFCE will keep practitioners updated as and when further information becomes available. 

8. Aimhigher practitioner website – image library expanded
The online image library, which was uploaded to the practitioner website last year, has been expanded to include a range of photographs which are available to practitioners free-of-charge.  

The updated library has been organised into categories, which include Sports, Healthcare and Tasters & Workshops. To request a particular image, practitioners should email the NCRT (aimhigher@harrisoncowley.com), specifying the image code and where it is intended for use. 

The NCRT would like to thank Karen Mandefield from Aimhigher West Midlands for providing these images. To view the images available, click on the link below:
www.aimhigher.ac.uk/sites/practitioner/communications/resource_materials/image_library.cfm 

9. Summer Schools seminar
Action on Access is organising a Summer Schools seminar to take place in Birmingham on 6th March. The event will look at the effectiveness of summer schools as a widening participation intervention – as well as addressing evaluation and targeting issues. Attendees will have an opportunity to discuss and exchange good practice on different summer schools programmes. ESF funding for 2007-08 and planning for 2008 and beyond will also be discussed.

The seminar is open to all practitioners involved in organising summer schools. Email Action on Access at events@actiononaccess.org for further information and a booking form. 

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