The Brilliant Club  are delighted to have entered a five-year partnership with the Sir Simon Milton Foundation, to support students from Westminster to successfully transition into their time at university.

The funding from the Foundation will enable 50 students from Westminster to participate in our ‘Join the Dots’ programme  each year. Join the Dots is our student success programme, which through 1-1 and group coaching from PhD researchers, helps students develop key university study strategies, academic self-efficacy and sense of belonging at university.

Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to drop out of their undergraduate course in the first year and 20% more likely to miss out on a 1st or 2:1 grade at the end of their degree than their more advantaged peers.

Running since 2021, evaluation of Join the Dots has shown the programme has a positive impact on  those participating.

One student on the Join the Dots programme recently told us it had been: “an absolutely amazing programme that provided the best support and tailored advice for all my concerns,.”

To deliver the support from the Sir Simon Milton Foundation, we will work with University College London  and the University of Westminster as our new Join the Dots partners.

Alongside the places on Join the Dots, the partnership will establish the Sir Simon Milton Bursary, providing a £1,000 bursary to 50 students. This bursary will be particularly impactful for students attending university in Westminster, who face the additional financial pressure of living and studying in one of the most expensive areas of the country. Less advantaged students are increasingly working alongside their studies to make ends meet. To put the support into context, a bursary of £1,000 could save an 18-year old student 116 hours of work on minimum wage.

The Foundation was named in memory of Sir Simon Milton, the longest-serving leader of Westminster City Council, with the principal aim of continuing to deliver Simon’s vision of a caring city that offers opportunity for all. The two key strands of their work are supporting disadvantaged younger people, particularly through training and education, and supporting older people in need, especially those who are lonely and socially isolated.

On the announcement of the partnership, Interim CEO of The Brilliant Club, Susie Whigham, said:

“It is a real pleasure to be working alongside the Sir Simon Milton Foundation to deliver real change for students at university in Westminster. The combination of the Join the Dots programme and the bursary will support strong transitions to undergraduate life, both academically and pastorally. We look forward to following the students’ journeys over the next five years.”

David Shaw, Chairman of the Sir Simon Milton Foundation said:

The Sir Simon Milton Foundation is delighted to partner The Brilliant Club in,  this  initiative, providing funding of £4000,000 over a five year period.  . We are committed to the support that the partnership will provide through both the Join the Dots and the Sir Simon Milton Bursaries.