Bursaries
Thanks to our generous partners and donors, we can offer a range of financial bursaries. These bursaries enrich our students’ learning and allow them to carry on studying after sixth form. For Year 13 leavers going onto higher education, we offer bursaries ranging from £3,000 to £50,000 to help with the financial costs of university life.
Professional Pathways
Professional Pathways is a unique and innovative programme of study for Ark BTEC students aged 16-18. Teachers are trained to develop a high-quality vocational curriculum that is directly relevant to the workplace. The BTEC curriculum is enhanced through a series of student facing events with employers and a bespoke work readiness curriculum which teaches students key employability skills.
This programme would not be effective without the support of leading corporations and charities, who support in delivering curriculum masterclasses and conference workshops.
Professional Pathways students are 13% more likely to achieve top grades in their BTEC qualification and their progression top third universities and top 100 apprenticeship providers is 15 times the national average.
Project Oxbridge
Project Oxbridge is an admissions programme to help support young people in Ark Schools make competitive and confident applications to Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
The free programme supports students beyond just their grades and helps them prepare for interviews, assessments and admissions tests through ongoing mentoring, guidance and university visits.
Year 12 students, selected for their academic potential, are invited to apply for the programme in consultation with teachers and sixth form leaders. Across the year, they gain skills, experience, confidence and knowledge that will not only be useful for their university application but will also help them succeed at school and in their future careers.
Ark is collaborating with businesses, universities and other third sector organisations to provide students with the additional support they need to make competitive applications to Oxbridge.
Find out more about how and why we developed the programme in this blog.
Project Healthcare
Project Healthcare is a programme that supports Year 12 and 13 Ark students to learn about the range of healthcare courses and careers available to them and to make well-informed decisions about their first steps into the healthcare sector after school. The programme also supports Medicine and Dentistry applicants from Ark schools to prepare for interviews and admissions assessments.Medicine and Dentistry are among the most competitive university courses in the UK and we want to ensure that Ark students with ambitions to pursue these pathways have the support they need to realise their potential.
Access to Apprenticeships
We support mentoring and coaching programmes which are delivered by corporate partners including Bloomberg, Capgemini, EY and British Airways. These programmes help Ark students explore their career options, choose the right apprenticeships to apply to and prepare for interviews, assessment centres and reasoning tests.
Ark Alumni Network
Ark’s alumni network ensures that the support we offer students doesn’t stop once they leave our schools. We aim to support students throughout university and/or their early career, continuing to provide opportunities and a network that they may not have access to otherwise.
Ark Alumni are provided with a variety of opportunities, resources, events, and support from our partners and have access to an online platform exclusive for our alumni where they can access these opportunities and connect with one another.
Jeremy's story
Former Walworth Academy student Jeremy Ogunleye, who has just completed a degree in English Language and Literature at Oxford, says: “It’s been a life-changing experience and a challenge that was made possible with help from Ark and the Reuben Scholarship.”
Jeremy was one of the first recipients of The Reuben Scholarship Programme at Ark – securing £10,000 per year to help fund his studies. Awarded to talented Ark students, the scholarship is designed to ensure that those from disadvantaged backgrounds can take up places at top universities.
“Because of the Reuben Scholarship, I never had to worry about money, which was lucky because they don’t let you have a term-time job at Oxford. It went towards my living and course costs – for instance, if I needed a book and all the library’s copies were out, I could buy a copy.
“Oxford has been sensational – I’ve had three of the best years of my life.”