Information for parents

Nothing, our application form is designed for students to fill out. If your child’s application is successful, you will be sent consent forms to fill in, and may have to provide information on your child’s medical history. Please do keep an eye on your inbox.

All of our programmes are free of charge. This includes travel, accommodation and food. In some cases, you may be asked to pay some travel costs upfront, but these will always be reiumbursed. If paying upfront costs is a concern, please contact your child’s university.

In most cases, our programmes are targeted at students in Year 12 in England and Wales, S5 in Scotland, and Year 13 in Northern Ireland. There are exceptions, so please do check the individual programme page that your child is interested in.

All of our programmes are very popular, and unfortunately we get many more applications than we have places. For example, there can be up to seven applications for each place on our Summer Schools. This means that we often have to turn away many very good applications.

When they apply, students can list any requirements that we will need to take into account (e.g. medical, religious, or dietary requirements etc.). We will do all that we can to ensure that any and all necessary adjustments are made so that your child is supported across their time on the programme.

On all of our residentials, students will stay at university Halls of Residence. All programmes are well-staffed, including staff on call throughout the night, and all staff are DBS/PVG checked.

The Sutton Trust is committed to providing an environment on our programmes which is welcoming and safe, and enables young people to speak up in confidence knowing that their worries, fears or concerns will be heard and acted upon. We work with our partner universities to take all reasonable measures to ensure that the risk of harm to a young person’s welfare is minimized. All staff who work on our programmes are DBS/PVG checked. Please click here for our full safeguarding policy and procedure.

All of our programmes are different! Full details of what each one contains are listed on the individual page for that programme.

Engage with your child as early as possible about their post-18 steps. Take time out to talk to your child about their plans. The more they are able to articulate their ideas to you, the easier it will be for them to put them down on a UCAS statement! Encourage your child to read around the areas that they are interested in. We recommend looking at the UCAS website for a full listing of other access opportunities.