Support for care leavers and care experienced students

Students sitting at a table

If you're a care leaver or care experienced, we're committed to supporting you.

Before you join ARU

If you're just starting to think about higher education, or you're applying to university, our Outreach Team is here to help you.

When you study here

When you join ARU as a student, our Student Experience Team becomes your main point of contact and support.



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

The term 'care leaver' comes from The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000. It refers to someone who has been in the care of the local authority for a period of 13 weeks or more spanning their 16th birthday and is aged under 25. At ARU, we also include students who are aged 16-25 who have been referred to and living in a Foyer/supported accommodation by their local authority before starting a course, and students who were supported by their local authorities as 'qualifying care leavers'. 'Qualifying care leaver' refers to anyone aged 16-25 (21 if not in education), and who was looked after at age 16 but is not an eligible child or relevant child. This is because they were not looked after for a total of 13 weeks or more, OR were under a special guardianship order that was in place when they turned 18, and had been looked after immediately before the special guardianship order was made.

'Care experienced' refers to anyone who has been or is currently in care or from a looked after background at any stage of their life, no matter how short, including adopted children who were previously looked after. Care may have been provided in a number of ways or settings such as foster care, kinship care, residential care or through being looked after at home with a supervision requirement. Care experienced can also include care leavers who are now aged 25 and over.

See also:

Care Leaver Covenant

Care Leaver Covenant logo

ARU has signed up to the Care Leaver Covenant to provide additional support for those leaving care. Drawing on the resourcefulness and imagination of our staff and their working environment, we're utilising our potential to offer new perspectives and professional expertise.

Our membership of the Covenant indicates that we have outlined a tailored support package for care leavers that specifies the help and support they can expect throughout their time at ARU.