Support for care leavers

Information for teachers. If you're a care leaver or care experienced student please see our Support for care leavers and care experienced students page.

What do ‘care leaver’ and ‘care experienced’ mean?

• A care leaver is someone under 25 who spent at least 13 weeks in local authority care around their 16th birthday, as defined by the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000.
• A qualifying care leaver is a young person who was looked after at age 16 but does not meet the full care leaver criteria, often due to shorter time in care or being under a special guardianship order.
• Care experienced is a broader term describing anyone who has been in care at any point in their life, regardless of duration or setting. This includes people in foster, kinship, residential, or supervised home care, adopted individuals who were previously in care, and care leavers over age 25.

How to work with us

Care Leaver & Experienced Community Listening Project: The Bigger Picture

Our Care Leaver Outreach Officer offers bespoke listening sessions for care leaver and care-experienced students, followed by tailored support based on the insights gathered. These sessions can include interactive workshops on topics such as student finance, student life, and career pathways.

If you would like to arrange a session, please email [email protected] with your school details, the number of care leavers, and the relevant year group(s).

Level 3 learner day

We invite Care Leaver and Care Experienced level 3 learners onto our inclusive and supportive campus in October. This event aims to provide students with a calm and friendly environment to learn about the university application process and student life, along with the support available at ARU.

What to expect:

• Why go to University? workshop
• Student finance workshop
• A Personal Statement workshop
• Campus tour, delivered by our Student Ambassadors
• Lunch provided by ARU
• Student life Q&A

To attend this event, students should:

• Be currently studying a level 3 course (e.g. A levels, T-levels, level 3 apprenticeship)
• Currently live in care or have previously lived in care (e.g. foster care, residential care, kinship care)

Register your interest to bring your students to our Level 3 learner day in October 2026.

Bespoke campus visits

If you're interested in a bespoke campus visit please email [email protected] with your school, number of CLs and year group(s), preferred dates if known and areas of interest.