At the beginning of the month, we organised a trip to Merton College at Oxford University with a selection of GCSE (B) pupils to find out more about applying to Oxbridge, an opportunity they may like to consider in the future.
Head of Key Stage 4 Cat Perkins, commented: “It was a fantastic day, and we hope it left the pupils on the trip feeling confident to chase their academic dreams!”
Year 11 (B) pupil Alex A has written an account of the day…
We had a walk through Oxford, past the Radcliffe Camera, the Bodleian the Sheldonian Theatre and Divinity Hall and went to the Pitt Rivers Museum which is part of the Oxford Natural History Museum. Despite the windy and rainy weather, we still had an eye-opening experience, giving us an impression of what is it like to study there and live in such a historic city.
I believe one of the highlights was meeting two OBs, Misha Tunstall Behrens and Lily Richards. Misha is now in his second year, studying engineering at St Edmund’s Hall. He explained to us that inevitably there is a lot of hard work involved in studying at Oxford, perhaps especially if you are pursuing STEM subjects. He advised us that it mainly depends on you to absorb and process the knowledge that professors have taught during lectures. I found the conversation with him particularly inspirational, as I discovered that he was in the same house as me at Bryanston. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before he had to dash back to the laboratories, and I only wished we had longer to hear his opinions on university life. Nevertheless, his advice encouraged me to study at an equally exceptional institute in the future and the experience was exhilarating for me as my GCSE exams are approaching and this has certainly given me hope.
We also met Lily in the famous Blackwells bookshop. She had come straight from her Law tutorial, for which she had been preparing late into the previous evening. Lily was in Harthan and talked to us about how the teaching and lectures are organised, and painted a picture of the workload. She also explained the way Oxford has short terms but long holidays (which you should spend doing reading for your course).
During our visit to Merton College, we were presented a tour by Jenny, a friendly member of the College Outreach team, who graduated from Merton College two years ago, having read History. She gave us some captivating historical facts and told us about Merton’s traditions. I found the fact that Merton has the world’s oldest library fascinating, but sadly we weren’t able to go in as it was preserved. The Mob Quad was special, as it is the oldest quadrangle of any Oxford or Cambridge College and had a profound impact for the future architecture of Oxford Colleges. We also saw Tolkien’s table in the Merton gardens, where, famously, he used to give his tutorials. Jenny gave us a talk about applying to Oxford; the super-curricular activities that we need to be doing right now in preparation for future, and how to go about choosing the right college.
The Pitt Rivers Museum was on four floors and filled with incredible exhibits, including musical instruments and fossils – but what interested me most was the weapon display.
Our trip concluded with an Oxford city walk, where we passed by some other eminent colleges: Hertford and Brasenose College. I could feel nothing but a strong academic atmosphere and that makes Oxford unique from other institutions of higher education.
Overall, I just would like to appreciate Mrs Perkins, Mr Davies and Ms Minter who organised this trip and accompanied us. I felt that the trip had a profound impact on my future choices of university, and this Oxford visit demonstrated to me what a marvellous university looks and feels like.
