Reflecting the University’scommitment to social justice and student form-ation, Newman’s newly created Foundation Year in Social Sciences adopted a particular approachto programme delivery through committingto the principles of critical pedagogy.It was an intentional programme design to support transition into and across programmes. Howeverunlike many traditional approaches to ‘study skills’ withdeficit models of student development, it seeksto foster in students an awareness of the subtle injustices legitimised by the current education system: what Paulo Freirecalls ‘conscientização’ or conscientization.Embedded within the curriculum of thisnew Foundation Year isan unequivocal invitation to students to chal-lenge the structural inequalities that had previously operated to constrain their educational choices. This article is an exploration of the extent to which the first cohorts of studentsand staff have experienced thisand reflects on the development of our programme. This contributes to the discussion of the approaches required in Foundation Year provision to create truly trans-formativestudent experiences.Taking a Friereanapproach also entailed being committed to promoting democratic engagement, meaningful dia-logue and co-operative working. Students are actively involved inthe evalu-ation of the programme throughout, and through participatory workshops at the end of the programme.The learning weshare herefrom working with our students includesvignettes from two 2017/18 Foundation Year students,Phoebe and Kaece,who offertheir experiencesof navigating University study via the Foundation Year.