The UK Social Mobility Awards recognise and celebrate UK organisations that are making strides and creating initiatives to advance social mobility within their own workforce or beyond it.

Organised by societal change charity, Making The Leap, the SOMOs were the first national awards dedicated to social mobility, which aims to raise awareness of social mobility by sharing the innovative work of forward-thinking organisations working to improve it.

Damon Lewis, Director of Sixth Form at Queen Katharine Academy, said: “This is a phenomenal achievement for everyone at QKA, but particularly the sixth form team. At QKA Sixth Form, we have always had a strong focus on creating a culture of high aspirations and achievement, helping to ensure that all our students can reach their full potential. In just a few weeks, we will be celebrating our 1000th student becoming the first in their family to be offered a place at university which shows the breadth of the impact our colleagues are having.

“We are proud to be supported by a significant number of external agencies who help us on this journey, such as the Brilliant Club and the Sutton Trust, and we also offer a very bespoke careers service for Sixth Form including a host of trips, taster days, universities and summer schools. We provide a wide range of different pathways which allow all students to be able to access our support and take their next steps. It’s why we’ve had well over 500 applications to join us this year alone!”

This year’s shortlist for the UK Social Mobility Awards comprises organisations and individuals from various industries who have demonstrated their commitment to advancing social mobility and the efficacy of the initiatives they have created.

The winners of this year’s event will be determined by an independent judging panel, made up of leading figures from business, charity, and the public sector. The judging panel is chaired by the HM Lord Lieutenant of London, Sir Kenneth Olisa OBE. Winners will be announced at an in-person awards gala at on Thursday 12 October 2023. 

This latest nomination follows five award wins already so far this year for the Peterborough school, who recently achieved accolades in the Pearson Teaching Awards and TES awards. 

Tunde Banjoko OBE, the Chief Executive of Making The Leap, said: “I am so pleased with the response to the 2023 UK Social Mobility Awards.  Social mobility is an increasingly important issue in our society, and the SOMOs were established to encourage those UK organisations, for whom social mobility is not their core business, to play their part in addressing it. The breadth and quality of entries we have received this year is an indication that UK business is up for the challenge.”

 Amazon is the Gold Partners of the UK Social Mobility Awards 2023.