Wednesday 18 January 2017
NCFE is delighted to support the Helena Kennedy Foundation’s DISCOVER project, which ensures that all learners are able to progress to higher education, no matter what their background is. As NCFE is committed to helping learners to succeed, we’re proud to help HKF to do the important work that benefits so many learners .
After a successful pilot scheme in 2013, the DISCOVER project has continued with further education learners receiving financial and pastoral support via the Foundation during their studies.
The learners are overcoming many barriers whilst studying at college and a bursary of £1,000 from NCFE has made a huge difference to their lives. Award winners have used their bursary for a range of support, including essentials such as food, travel to college, buying a computer and other study-related equipment, help towards a work placement and much more.
One learner who has benefited from the DISCOVER award, Andrew, commented: “The bursary was useful in several ways. For example, I used it on private maths tuition three times a week since I needed to pass my maths exam in order to qualify for university. Since maths tuition is very expensive it would not have been something I could afford. I also spent the bursary on a new, faster PC for college since my old one was much slower and this made it incredibly difficult to do work. This PC will be helpful for university later on. In addition, the applications I needed to complete certain assignments were not compatible with my outdated PC so this would mean that I would not have been able to do my work properly.”
Another learner, Cameron, said: “A portion of my bursary was used on travel and accommodation to Brighton for a work placement. This was to take part in the 'Great Escape Festival', in which I was in the 'Venue Tech Assistant' role. This is a great role to learn from, based on what I am currently studying in college. I spent 5 days in Brighton, 4 working on the festival – and despite the lengthy journey, it was very enjoyable and I learned a lot. I received a couple of offers from venues to return for work. I am planning to return to Brighton and more of the bursary money will be used for this and any technical equipment I require.”
For a list of colleges participating this year and to apply, please click here.