On Thursday, 11th October the whole of Year 12and
a selection of girls from Year 11 spent the day amongst the 'dreaming spires' of Oxford University, visiting
Worcester College in the morning and the Ashmolean museum in the afternoon.
Worcester College, an amalgamation of pretty 15th
century cottages and imposing 18th and 21st century
architecture, is set in 26 acres of stunning gardens and grounds and yet is
only a 5 minute walk from the city centre.
On arrival we assembled in the very grand Hall for
refreshments before listening to a talk from the college’s admissions tutor on
the admissions process and the benefits of studying in a collegiate university, centred around the tutorial system.
There then followed tours of the college buildings: the JCR,
the grounds, libraries and chapel, by current under-graduates. This afforded
our girls the valuable opportunity to hear first-hand about life in an Oxford
college, the admissions process and so on, from those very close in age and
experience.
After a sumptuous lunch in Hall, we strolled up to the
Ashmolean for a whistle stop tour of this bright, airy and diverse museum. The
energetic lady who showed us around, spent no longer than 10 minutes in each
gallery, engaging the girls in a wide variety of exercises, to make the
experience a very memorable one. At one
point she got us all to sketch an artefact blindfold with our ‘wrong’
hand…surprisingly some of the sketches were very impressive!
Before catching the coach back to Twickenham, the students
had an hour or so to explore Oxford and many had a race to see how many other
colleges they could gain entry to. I think the winner saw 6!
All the students were very enthused by the day. Here are
some quotes from them:
‘Oxford University
really gave us a goal to reach for. The town and university were amazing and it
was really worth the trip’ (Amrita and Roisin- Year 11)
‘(The) Oxford (trip)
was a really interesting and informative experience. It really opened our eyes
to the wide range of university choices we have, with Oxford being a possible
option. Being able to see and explore the college was very valuable and we had
the chance to feel the atmosphere there. This will be useful when we come to
comparing other universities later.’ (Aneet, Heetashi, D’Nelle and Anisha- Year
12)
‘It was fantastic to
explore an Oxford college and get an insight into collegiate universities. I
found the day helpful and inspiring’. (Serena- Year 11)