Are you in UK local authority care, or do you have experience of being in UK care in the past? This could be with foster carers, in a residential home, via formal kinship care or being looked after at home under a supervision order. In all cases we need to know. We call it being care-experienced.
This page is part of the Christ's College current applicants section, Stage 3.
We need two things if you've got UK care experience:
First of all, we need you to let us know that you have UK Care Experience via the UCAS application (ideally) or alternatively, if you missed it off your application, you can email Christ's Admissions Office by 4 November following the instructions below.
Secondly, we will need you to upload an evidence document by 4 November (23:59 UK time). Again, there are details and instructions for this below. Note that we do not receive any documents you have uploaded via the UCAS application - we can only accept documents that are uploaded via our own upload tool.
Please now read the information in the drop-down headings below and send us an email at admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions.
If you have lived in public care or as a looked-after child in the UK, this could include:
> living with foster carers under local authority care
> living in a residential children's home
> being 'looked after at home' under a supervision order
> formal kinship care under a special guardianship order
If you have been in care, please tick the box on your UCAS application. There is more information about this on the UCAS page for care-leavers.
Please email admissions@christs.cam.ac.uk as soon as possible, and by 4 November at the latest, if you have been in UK authority care and did not tick the box in your UCAS application. Please remember to start your email with the details that we need: your name, subject and UCAS number. Many thanks!
If you are care-experienced please upload a document confirming this. To demonstrate care experience we would need at least one of the following:
> Letter from Local Authority that mentions care arrangement
> Letter from other body or professional responsible for care (e.g. children’s home, social worker/personal advisor) that mentions care arrangement
> Letter from school/college that mentions awareness of care arrangement
> Current or historic legal documentation relating to care such as a Care Order
Note that we do not receive documents that are uploaded via UCAS.
We are aware that depending on your circumstances you may or may not have access to the necessary paperwork. It may take a little time to get hold of the relevant document so we recommend that you start working on this as soon as possible rather than just before the deadline.
Please save your document as a pdf file following the format of this example.
For the fictional Matthew Bryly applying for Natural Sciences (Biological) with UCAS Personal ID 2566276477, the file name would be
4-NaturalSciences(Biological)-BRYLYMatthew-CareExperience-2566276477
Please make sure
> There are NO SPACES
> You use hypens
> There is the number 4 at the beginning.
> If you are applying for Natural Sciences, please write NaturalSciences(Physical) or NaturalSciences(Biological) in all cases.
Please use the Care experience upload tool to upload your pdf. Once you press submit form at the end, make sure that you see the screen confirming that the form has been received safely. Thank you for your help in sending your document following our instructions - it helps us to process everything as efficiently and accurately as possible.
| Date | Time | What |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Oct | 18:00 UK time | Deadline for UCAS application (please tick the box to say you've been in care and your UCAS referee should also mention this in the extenuating circumstances section of the reference) |
| 4 Nov | 23:59 UK time | Please upload a document confirming that you have spent time in public care or as a looked-after child |