Latest from the blogs

Starting a small online business whilst you’re a University student is a great way to start your journey into entrepreneurship and gain some first-hand experience on how the world of business works.

You don’t need vast amounts of financial backing to start a small online business, I started Protein Package with £300 of savings during my first year at University. We allow customers to pick and mix healthy snacks without needing to order large quantities of protein bars and be stuck with the same flavour for weeks on end.

Pick a niche that interests you

Firstly, the best place to start with your online business is to select a...

Creating an early talent pipeline through degree apprenticeships isn’t simply valuable, it’s the future.

With the government’s 2021 Skills for jobs white paper we have a strong indication that apprenticeships will play a key role in filling the digital skills shortage – and that employers will lead the way.

‘Training and qualifications must meet the needs of employers. We will achieve this by aligning the vast majority of post-16 technical education and training to employer-led standards by the end of the decade.’

We know the funding is there ...

The Care Leaver Covenant is a national inclusion programme for care leavers between the age of 16-25 in England. The Covenant is a promise made by the private, public and voluntary sectors to provide support for care leavers through 5 key areas: independent living; education, employment and training; safety and security, mental and physical health and finance.

The Covenant team works with organisations such as John Lewis, Amazon, Barnardo’s, Metro Bank and many others to find (or in some cases develop) and promote a variety of opportunities direct to the care leaving community.

These opportunities could take the shape of internships and employment, work experience or taster days, specialist bank accounts and access to employment support or CV workshops, for example. The Covenant may also be a resource to direct someone to an independent...

Our Tick the Box campaign is a week of exciting online activity, taking part in Care Leavers Week, from 25 to 29 October 2021. 

The campaign aims to encourage care experienced students to tick the box on their UCAS applications to say they have spent time in care when applying to higher education. By ticking the box, the colleges and universities students are applying to become aware that they are in care, or have spent time in care, ensuring they can get access to the support they are entitled to. 

The week is all about raising awareness, but also celebrating the educational achievements of care experienced people, sharing their stories and the support they received from sharing their circumstances with the university or college - and the impact this had. Overall, we want to raise the aspirations of care experienced people to show that anything and everything is possible.

Why raise awareness?
The Fostering Network believes...