The approach

To provide support to such a diverse student body, the college has adopted a philosophy of flexibility and willingness to try anything that might help students engage and feel understood. This plays out across a series of practical communication initiatives that span the full arc of the student journey, from summer, through induction, and into ongoing support throughout the year.

Contact begins early: every student with an additional support need is contacted at least three times over the summer. Recognising that not all students regularly check their email, every accepted student also receives a physical postcard with key information about funding, learning support, and how to get help.

In the week before term, the support team phones care-experienced students to check in and offer support. These calls often surface practical issues that might otherwise have stopped a student from attending, such as access to transport. The college has established a direct link with the local authority, allowing staff to send a student's photo through and have a bus pass sent directly to them, removing what might otherwise be an administrative barrier. Over time, the team have modified their approach to be more accessible; for example, calls in the afternoon are far more likely to be answered than those at nine in the morning. Where students don't pick up, a follow-up text message communicates the essential information, allowing students to respond with a simple emoji thumbs-up.

At the start of term, the student support team visits classes across the college to deliver induction talks. The counselling team, whose caseload is typically quieter at this point in the year, uses the opportunity to run workshops on confidence-building and resilience, while also making students aware of the services available to them. These talks and workshops ensure that every student in college has met the team and heard about the support on offer.

Ongoing support throughout the year includes access to crisis funding, available on the same day it is needed, covering immediate essentials such as electricity costs or bus fare home, up to a value of £150. Students sometimes seek this support themselves; other times it is a lecturer who notices that something seems wrong. These moments of crisis can become the starting point for the development of a longer-term support plan, helping students navigate more complex challenges such as homelessness or relationship breakdown.

Perhaps the most distinctive initiative is the college's daily free breakfast, which runs every morning, offering toast, cereal, and fruit. Alongside free lunches and a Student Larder, the breakfasts are funded by the College Foundation and organised in collaboration with the Students' Association, with around 20-30 students attending breakfast each morning. Staff from the student support team drop in regularly, as do class representatives and sometimes counsellors, making it a natural, informal space for conversation— a way of keeping a finger on the pulse of how students are actually finding things, without the formality that might otherwise discourage students from opening up.