‘Hardest time of the year’: the students who will spend Christmas alone

When university halls empty as students flock to their families, care leavers face a different festive seasonLuke Collinson, a 19-year-old care leaver, knows he has defied all the odds by enrolling at Manchester University this year. So when his fellow students disappear this weekend to celebrate Christmas with their families, leaving him in a silent hall of residence, he insists he won’t be feeling sorry for himself.At 15, after being unable to go to school for years because of family pro