From prison visits to a Law degree: Ellie-Jo Taylor's inspiring journey

A young woman from Derry, Ellie-Jo Taylor, 21, is celebrating her graduation with a degree in Law from Queen’s University Belfast, having overcome early challenges that once made university feel out of reach. 

Growing up visiting her father in prison and attending a school where most pupils received free school meals, university wasn’t on her radar until she discovered Queen’s Pathway Opportunity Programme. Designed to support high-achieving students who are less likely to access higher education, the programme set Ellie-Jo on her path to Law, and this week, she graduated with a 2:1 in Law with Politics.

Ellie-Jo says: “Growing up, I had a parent in prison for six years of my childhood. My first experience of law and justice was stress, confusion and frustration. I was too young to understand the processes going on around me, but perfectly placed to feel them so directly. For me, going into law was about a lot more than breaking the cycle of poverty. It was about relating to people on a one-on-one basis and embracing dignity in practice. 

“As the child of a prisoner, you feel you lose the right to have a voice on the things you experience, from 4am house raids to constant stops and searches. I wish I had have had someone to express that, so I decided to become that for the children after me.”

The Pathway Opportunity Programme works with schools across Northern Ireland, supporting talented young people to overcome additional barriers in accessing a university education. It also offers tailored support, grade reductions based on performance and an introduction to university life.

Ellie-Jo reflects: “I joined Pathways at 16 while doing my GCSEs - and what an incredible story it has become for me since then.

“My grade boundary reduction based on my performance in Pathway secured my place at Queen’s, and now I have graduated, alongside all of my peers, with a 2:1 degree in Law with Politics. For me, Pathway highlights the exact inequality of opportunity that exists. For the first time, I had the same opportunities as my peers and I proved I could perform equally as well.”

At Queen’s, Ellie-Jo received financial support from the Pathway Bursary Fund which took the pressure off financially so that she could focus on her studies.

As she explains: “Not only did I receive a £1,000 Pathway Bursary each year, I was also awarded the £15,000 Jubilee Scholarship in recognition of my community work, representing 42,000 young people across Northern Ireland as a student officer and achieving £2m  in funding for schools after Covid. Without the financial support I received, I doubt I would have achieved what I have.”

This funding meant that Ellie-Jo could afford to take on an unpaid internship in an MLA’s office, experience that would otherwise not have been possible. She also spent the summer interning in the US Congress with Congressman Richard E. Neal.

Currently working as a Parliamentary Assistant to a Member of Parliament in Belfast, Ellie-Jo hope to qualify as a lawyer, specialising in criminal law or judicial review.

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She says: “I see my background as an empowering tool, that helps me connect with clients, communicate accessibly with them and make the justice system a more human interaction for everyone involved. 

“It isn’t typical or statistically likely, for someone from my background to graduate from a top Russell Group university. It is not typical for someone who grew up visiting prisons to go on to work in the US Congress. But today, it’s more of a possibility for the next person. So, I feel extremely emotional and privileged to be graduating.”