Somerville College Trip

In May, Mr Taylor and Mrs Sadd took a group of 20 English A-level students to visit Somerville College, Oxford. The students were greeted by Eren from the excellent schools’ link team and spent the day becoming familiar with the university structure and touring the college.

On arrival, Eren greeted everyone before spending the morning with us in one of the College’s seminar rooms where a welcome talk was delivered that introduced the students to the workings of Oxbridge and Russell group universities. The students were invited to ask questions throughout and were challenged to consider their reasons for attending a top university.

After the welcome talk, there was a workshop about how to write a personal statement: our students were able to hear expert advice and real-life examples of excellent personal statements. They gained an insight into what the top universities are looking for and the importance of seeking out ‘super-curricular’ activities that can help them gain insight into their chosen subject and make them stand out as potential undergraduate students.

Lunch was in the beautiful 19th Century dining hall at Somerville. Afterwards, there was a tour of the college led by a first-year student. Somerville began as a women’s only college in 1878 and our students were able to get a behind-the-scenes look at where some of the most successful women in history have studied, including Margaret Thatcher and Dorothy Hodgkin, (the third woman in history to receive the Nobel prize for chemistry). Our day ended with a fascinating tour around the Ashmolean Museum by a second-year history student.

Three Year 12 students have written reports to reflect on their experience.

Lauren Hudson

Oxford University Tour

The school trip was an amazing and memorable trip that will influence my future. I appreciated being introduced to the college by a student in his first year, meaning he was in our position not long ago. The college was incredible to look around and features like the library were very special. Visiting has made me more excited about going to university; also my understanding of how a campus university works has improved, especially all the societies that are offered, even if I don’t go to Oxford, this has made me intrigued to look around other universities. Another bonus was the food: it excited me even more!

Personal Statement Talk

One key thing that I appreciated was how, although we were at a college of Oxford University, this workshop gave advice for all personal statements for university applications. We learnt that the key element, to making a personal statement stand out, is referencing ‘super curriculum’ activities, for example, relevant books or volunteering within the sector you want to make part of your future. These can be used as stepping stones to make progress and give a discussion point to the subject you are interested in studying. Thinking analytically from multiple points of view makes an individual stand out from other students; learning and questioning give rise to curiosity. All universities look for someone making connections between the subjects they choose for A-levels.  The presentation helped me understand how to write a personal statement, by providing a starting point and knowing the important things to include in the small amount of space allocated.

Ashmolean Museum

This was a special way to finish the day by looking around a museum that students studying degrees like Ancient History use for additional research as well as lectures. With a student as a tour guide, it was interesting to see history from her point of view, noticing which aspects of the museum she valued for her interests and her course focus. The key concept was how to create questions about the artefacts in the museum. For example, questions about whether the sculptures were originally in colour,  and if so what the shades of colour were. There was a copy of a sculpture with a copy presented next to it in bright colours, and although the colours did offer more detail, it also questions how much it changes an onlooker’s view of the history: how realistic it seems. Another example was the display of musical instruments. Should musical instruments be appreciated as something to play, or held captive just as an artefact? Art can be used to bring the instrument to life.  A further example was a statue, seen at ground level the face seemed quite scary and made us feel uncomfortable as students. However, this was originally on the top of a building where the face looked happy. The question posed is, should this statute be in a museum if it creates rather a negative assumption like this? Or should it be located where it was originally stationed? (Some might say that was where it belonged.) Questions like this made the trip to the university stand out.

Max Arnold

On Tuesday the 16th of May, 20 of Great Marlow’s finest English students went on a visit to Summerville College – one of 44 colleges that make up Oxford University. The trip began with a coach ride to Oxford, where we were met by Eren, a member of Somerville’s access and outreach support team. After a brief tour, we listened to a presentation about the workings of the British university system, and specifics of the Oxford and Cambridge collegiate system. Afterwards, we had a workshop about personal statements, an important part of the application to university.

After the workshop, lunch was eaten in the Somerville cafeteria, followed by a tour by one of the students of Somerville, including to the large library, living spaces and courtyard. Finally, we were given a tour of The Ashmolean Museum, a museum dedicated to art and archaeology. We focused our attention on many Greek busts and sculptures, and pieces of art, before a trip to the gift shop, and finally a coach ride home.

Overall, I found the trip very enjoyable, the staff and students of Somerville and the museum were wonderful, and the grounds and facilities of Somerville were excellent. I felt inspired to begin researching and preparing for my own post-16 education!

Joe Legerton

I was shocked when I was told I was invited to Somerville College as I had never entered an Oxbridge college before. The day started with going into one of the college’s various classrooms where we were given a workshop on writing personal statements, not just specifically for Oxford but for all universities. The focus of this workshop was explaining the advantages of including super-curricular feats into your personal statement instead of extracurricular ones. The idea behind this is to link what activities you’ve done outside school to your course and why the skills it has given you are beneficial to your course. I found this incredibly useful as I was previously unaware of this, and it helped me to see examples of successful applicants. After this, we were given lunch in one of the halls at the college where I chose to have the meatballs provided. Next, we were given a tour of the college and it was fascinating to be able to see the inside of areas such as the libraries and learn the history of the buildings. It also helped give an insight into what attending Oxford would be like. Throughout, we were encouraged to ask questions to the student who gave us the tour, which gave us a realistic depiction of Oxford.

The trip group was also taken to the Ashmolean Museum, which I had previously never been to. As an avid museum fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this part of the trip. Whilst we were taken around by the second-year history student, we discussed topics such as the display and preservation of artefacts at the museum, which were of particular interest to me. I discovered that some lectures for history students were hosted in the museum. I am very grateful to all those who helped organise this trip and the staff and students who helped cater for us as this trip has really caused me to think about my future.