Access to Sheffield Summer School Application Guidance for Schools and Colleges 2025
This information will help you to understand the process for applications to Access to Sheffield Summer School. If anything is still unclear or you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at
summerschool.accesstosheffield@sheffield.ac.uk.
Application process
| Step 1 - Identification |
You'll need to identify students who would be suitable applicants for the summer school. Students will need to meet academic and access criteria to be eligible to apply. Please see below to view the criteria. |
| Step 2 - Student application |
Once eligible students have been identified you can then pass on the link to our online application system. As part of the application process, students will nominate a teacher contact at school who they would like to support their application. Where we do not currently have an existing ‘teacher contact’ on our system, students can nominate one and provide their email address. The student will then need to complete and submit an application before the deadline of Thursday 6 March. |
| Step 3 - School supporting statement |
The teacher contact identified by the student will receive an email from us to either create an account and set a password, if they do not already have one, or log on to their account. Teacher contact accounts can be accessed from accesstosheffield.shef.ac.uk. The teacher contact will need to confirm the students date of birth to enable them to access the school supporting statement, one part of a student application. The teacher contact will then review the application, confirm the details are correct and provide a school supporting statement. These must be completed by the deadline of Thursday 14 March. Teacher contacts will have three attempts to correctly confirm the students date of birth or be locked out of the student's application. Should this happen please contact summerschool.accesstosheffield@sheffield.ac.uk. |
| Step 4 - Application processing |
Access Service staff will then review the applications and contact students directly to inform them of the outcome of their application. All applicants and schools/colleges will be informed of the application outcomes before the end of April. |
Eligibility criteria
It is important for us to demonstrate that we are supporting young people who will benefit most from our activities. This is one of the conditions of the programme funding, under the University’s Access and Participation Plan. Therefore please ensure that each applicant meets both the academic AND access eligibility criteria for the Access to Sheffield Summer School before allowing them to submit an application.
Students can apply if they are studying in Year 12 in England or Wales, Year 13 in Northern Ireland, or S5 in Scotland (or equivalent).
Academic criteria
| GCSE requirements | Achieved a minimum of five GCSEs at grade 9-6, plus a minimum of grade 4 in English and Maths (if not already included). |
| A Level requirements | Students need to be studying at least 3 A Level or equivalent qualifications. At least two should be on the University's acceptable subject list. |
If other qualifications are being studied, refer to the programme contact to discuss. Please note that the requirements are for entry to the Access to Sheffield Summer School, not to degree programmes at the University.
Access criteria
| Priority will be given to students who are: | Consideration will also be given to students who: |
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Each application will be considered on a case-by-case basis. As this is a programme for under 18's we can only accept students in Y12, who are no older than 17 years old as of 1 September in this application cycle.
Please note that meeting some, or all, of these criteria will not guarantee applicants a place on the Summer School.
Successful completion of the Summer School will not in itself guarantee a place to study at the University of Sheffield.
The University may make an offer to candidates who have fully and successfully completed the Access to Sheffield Summer School programme but gaining a place to study at the University will ultimately be subject to candidates satisfactorily meeting all offer conditions.
In common with other UK universities, the University of Sheffield charges different tuition fees for undergraduate programmes depending on whether students are classed as ‘Home’ (UK/EU) or ‘Overseas’ for fee purposes. Our Access to Sheffield Summer School is designed for Home students, but we are able to accept overseas students who meet our access criteria, such as forced migrants. If these applicants do not meet the criteria for Home fee status this would result in them being classed as an overseas student and being charged the overseas fee. Participation in our Summer School will not influence a future fee status assessment.
Completing the school supporting statement
There are a few things to note when completing the School Supporting Statement:
- Please check the details provided by the applicant, ensure that they are correct, and use the free text boxes to provide the additional information required.
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Please ensure the applicant's home postcode has been completed correctly as the University will use postcode information to check their eligibility against the criteria e.g. using area based measures of young participation in HE from state schools.
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Please confirm the following (if you are unsure about any of the answers to these questions, please check their student record or check with the student):
- whether the student’s parents/carers/guardians went to university?
- if the student qualifies as a home fee paying student?
- if the student has been eligible for Free School Meals at any time since Year 7?
- if the student is considered to have a disability or learning difficulty?
- if the student is care experienced or a care leaver?
- if the student is a Young Adult Carer (regularly taking on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult)?
- if the student is estranged from their family (that is, no longer in contact with people in their immediate family)?
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If there are other circumstances that warrant consideration, please record these in the supporting statement. We ask you to provide information that may help us to understand more about the young person’s background and why they would particularly benefit from participating in our Access to Sheffield Summer School. This may be, for example, that the applicant has had family upheaval, or that the applicant has had illness which has affected their studies. We appreciate that this information may be sensitive but all such information will remain confidential.
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Please check the applicant’s qualifications, make any amendments and confirm that the applicant meets the academic criteria for the programme which they have applied for. This will ensure the students we accept on the programme have the academic potential to succeed in higher education and at the University of Sheffield.
What next?
Teacher Portal
As a Teacher Contact, you will be able to see which students have successfully gained a place on the Summer School by logging into your account on the online system, Access to Sheffield Online. If you are registered as an Application AND Events Contact or an Events Contact, you will also be able to see which students from your school attended the Summer School.
Marketing permissions tab
This tab includes information on how we will use, store and manage data you share with us. Please ensure you read and tick that you understand this information and agree with these terms and conditions.
It also includes a marketing permissions question that you can update at any time. You will always receive information relevant to the Summer School, and your students taking part, but we ask this additional question to find out whether you would be happy to receive other information (e.g. open days, faculty outreach events etc).
Useful links and information
Data protection
The data collected in both the School Supporting Statement and the Student’s Application Form will be processed by the University of Sheffield in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018, as well as all legislation enacted in the UK in respect of the protection of personal data ("Data Protection Legislation"), and held for as long as we need this information.
For research, monitoring and evaluation purposes only, your data may also be shared with appropriate third party organisations such as the Office for Students, Higher Education Statistics Agency and our partners including Higher Education Access Tracker Service subscribers. We will not release data to anyone who is unauthorised. Under the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018 individuals have the right to a copy of the data held about them by us.
If they/you would like a copy of the data they/you have supplied to us, they/you would need to contact accesstosheffield@sheffield.ac.uk. By submitting the application, they/you are consenting to the use of personal data as outlined above. Individuals can find out more about why we collect personal data on our website.
Further information
If you require any clarification on whether an individual student meets the selection criteria or if you would like us to supply publications in an alternative format then please get in touch with the Access Service at summerschool.accesstosheffield@sheffield.ac.uk.
If you have any issues logging into or using the online application system, please contact accesstosheffield@sheffield.ac.uk.
Useful links
| Link | For |
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| More general information on opportunities for students and teachers can be found by visiting the University of Sheffield’s webpages for schools and colleges. | |
| More information about the Access to Sheffield Summer School including the programme of activity, what’s included and key dates. | |
| Online prospectus of University of Sheffield undergraduate courses. | |
| Summer school posters |
Posters for schools and colleges to print or digitally display throughout the application period |