Identifying the Aimhigher Cohorts: Guidance and Principles
There are two cohorts within Aimhigher:
- Widening Participation cohort
- Post-16 Gifted and Talented cohort
Each of these cohorts needs careful selection using a range of criteria to identify those students who meet the criteria and will benefit from the programme.
Widening Participation
All schools will need to identify approximately 10-15% of their pupils from year 9 to 13 (or 11 where there is no post-16 provision) as the widening participation cohort. Each school has participation targets for the target year groups and cohorts. Guidance from Department for Children, Schools and Families (
DCSF) suggests that these students would typically fall into one or more of the following groups:
- No direct family history of Higher Education (HE) (parental)
- Lower socio-economic grouping
- L2 capable but underachieving - C/D borderline at GCSE
- Under represented groups
- Black and Minority Ethnic(BME)
- Disabled
- Asylum seekers/refugees
- Non-stereotypical gender e.g. girls in Construction
- Post 16 - L3 capable but underachieving
- Post 16 - undecided about progression to Higher Education (HE)
- Facing financial barriers to progression e.g. Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) recipients
Aimhigher also includes the post 16 Gifted and Talented cohort, for which there is no clear national guidance. The following criteria are generally accepted as indicators:
Estimated A*-A/Distinction at level 3
Stated intention to progress to level 4 and beyond in HE
Possessing an exceptional talent in sport, music or the arts
