Avolve

As a student led referral and networking project founded within the confines of the University of Exeter, it is a shared belief that to build a movement for change, a united network between all institutions of the care system and beyond must be established. Avolve wishes to epitomize and facilitate this, to provide a more direct advisory and supportive community for former and current looked after

children and professionals alike, and to appraise and raise awareness of the work that is involved when working with such a vulnerable yet deserving demographic of children. Tailored to each child, our team has created a mentoring programme that provides independent and individual mentors to meet with child in care within the school environment to develop and achieve a number of targets such as the raising of aspirations and the increasing of the child's educational attainment rate. We week to do this by acting as a medium that interconnects opportunities outside of education, such as work experience, tuition support and even recreational activities and expose them to the child themselves. Avolve student capacity ensures that there is a renewed sense of enjoyment when working with such a difficult area of work. By providing an alternative style, both visually and practically, to supporting looked after children, Avolve seeks to redefine the way in which people look and work with looked after children. Avolve is a student organisation founded at the University of Exeter. We at Avolve support local children in care in order to ensure that they achieve their potential academically, and that they look positively towards their future. We aim to provide them with the best possible exposure to and inspiration for life beyond the care system. Avolve envisions the day when every former and current looked after child is able to voice their ambitions and opinions, with both the aptitude and means to fulfil them. Our mission is to empower former and current children in care, so that they may take control of their own future. We also seek to influence practice in order to improve the care system, creating a more supportive and tailored network for looked after children. We ENCOURAGE children in care to actively pursue new opportunities by ENGAGING them to learn and achieve both inside and outside of their academic environment; through EXPOSING them to new experiences thereby broadening and EXPANDING their horizons; and to secure their employability prospects through placements and business networks. We aim to IMPPROVE and develop the communication between the organisations that have significant influence over children in care; and hope to INFLUENCE national legislation and local policy in order to positively change the perceived status quo; we help to AMPLIFY the voice of looked after children, so that they may have a tangible impact in their own future. And finally in order to do all the above, we undertake significant RESEARCH into childhood trauma, the education of and identities of looked after children.