How this student is hoping to inspire other care-experienced students through teaching

Published on 17, November, 2025

A care-experienced student has shared how the support she received at the University of Sunderland has inspired her to help young people from similar backgrounds.

November marks National Care Leavers’ Month, which celebrates the experiences, resilience and achievements of people who are care-experienced. This year’s theme is ‘Rising as Me: Overcoming challenges, transforming, and finding your identity’.

The University of Sunderland uses the broader definition of ‘care-experienced,’ as this term is inclusive of the range of care settings someone may have experienced. When someone is care-experienced, they are someone who, at any stage of their life, and for any length of time, has been in care in the UK.

Marking the month, Katrina Davies, who studies PGCE Further Education and Skills (FES) at the University, has shared how her journey at Sunderland has encouraged her to specialise in SEND teaching to help others.

For care-experienced students, their time at university may have certain barriers that other students may not face.

Katrina said: “There aren’t many people who understand what it was like being care-experienced or growing up in foster care. I've always felt like I've had to kind of hide who I am because people won't understand it.

“But going to the catch-up nights or the fun bowling evenings and other things that the We Care Team organise has helped me get to a point where I felt I could be myself.”

The University’s We Care Team offers care-experienced students a range of personalised support to help them through their entire journey – from the initial enquiry right through to graduation and beyond.

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The University’s We Care Student Survey 2025, showed that 97% of students who accessed the We Care Team’s services rated the support they received as good or very good.

95% of students who accessed the service also said that the support they received helped them to achieve their academic potential, with 93% also indicating that the We Care Bursary helped prevent them from withdrawing from university or taking a leave of absence.

Katrina said: “The support you get is not just financial; you also get to go to social events and have check-ins that I thought were incredible because then you can be around people who kind of understand the same things you've gone through.

“It gives you a connection to others who understand what you’ve gone through. Talking through your experiences with someone else who has also gone through something similar can help you in some ways and help you get some closure.

“The staff at the University do really understand what the different students’ needs are and they are so supportive towards everything that might happen.”

Because of the work of the We Care Team, the University of Sunderland has received a renewed National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL) Quality Mark. This award recognises higher and further education institutions achieving the best outcomes for their care-experienced and estranged students – ensuring best practice is embedded in a student’s entire journey at the University.

The University has also collaborated with all other north-east universities through the North East Raising Aspiration Partnership to sign the Care Leaver Covenant.

Wendy Price OBE, Head of Widening Access and Participation at the University, said: “We know that care-experienced students have the talent and ability to progress to higher education, but unfortunately, they don’t always have the opportunity. This is something we are committed to changing.

“National Care Leavers’ Month provides an important opportunity to amplify the voices of our care-experienced students, raise awareness of the challenges they may encounter, and celebrate their achievements.”

After studying Screen Performance, Katrina is now completing a PGCE FES, hoping to use her experiences to help students like her.

Katrina said: “I feel like I've got a chance to be able to help people who have been in somewhat similar situations, so I'm going down the SEND pathway.

“I've started my placement where there are students who are in foster care and have specific learning needs, and it's nice to be able to be a role model to them. That even though you're in foster care, you can still do what you want to do.

“I'm on my second university degree and then also hoping to potentially do a master's next year. It's being able to prove not only to people who tell you that you can't do it, but also proving to yourself that you can do it. I think that's what's really pushed me to continue my education further.”

Find out more about how the University of Sunderland helps support care-experienced and estranged students through their entire journey with us here.