University Life with Hannah Wilbourne - Access and Outreach Officer, Christ Church

I was very glad to be proved wrong this week: 30 teenagers got up painfully early to spend four hours on a bus getting to Oxford, and I’ll admit I was anticipating a tough crowd.

But as they arrived on a rather drizzly morning in Christ Church, every single one of them was excited, listening carefully, and full of questions.

Why? Because they were all determined to apply to the university.

So many news articles I’ve read recently would suggest that these students don’t have a chance at getting into Oxford, but it’s my job to help these students prove them wrong.

I’m the access and outreach officer at Christ Church, which means I work to ensure young people have the guidance, support and encouragement they need in applying to university, particularly those from schools that have little history of successful applicants to the University of Oxford.

Like all colleges, Christ Church is linked to a group of local authorities where we focus our outreach work, in our case Norfolk, Suffolk and Barnet.

We run events throughout the year for young people to learn about university, from primary age to sixth formers.

We’re very lucky to have the support of our wonderful undergraduate volunteers, who give our visitors a real insight into student life.

There’s also a new and exciting part of my job working with schools closer to home, through the charity IntoUniversity.

They provide local learning centres, designed to tackle educational disadvantage, and inspire young people to achieve.

Their work has had an undeniable impact: 77.1 per cent of their students progressed to university in 2012, compared with the national average of 34 per cent for state schools, and 18 per cent for students on free school meals.

When Christ Church received a donation to put towards helping young people it was a fantastic opportunity to open an IntoUniversity centre in Blackbird Leys, with further support from the central university’s admissions and outreach team and the Queen’s Trust.

This is one of the most deprived areas in England, with 36 per cent of children living in households below the poverty line.

Thirty-six per cent of its residents have no qualifications, compared to 14 per cent in Oxford, and a lower proportion of children have 5 A*-C grades at GCSE.

Both Christ Church through its home learning scheme, and the university through its widening participation programmes, work with children in this part of the city, and thanks to IntoUniversity we will be able to offer long-term support that will have a decisive impact on their futures.

The effect of IntoUniversity’s work on local children’s aspirations and attitude to learning shines through when classes come to visit Christ Church for the day, in their confidence in talking to our students and tutors, their enthusiasm, and their excitement about the future.

We love hearing about what they have learnt with IntoUniversity, my personal favourite being a rap about David Dimbleby as part of their graduation from a journalism-themed week.

When volunteering at the centre alongside our undergraduates, I’m always impressed by the enthusiasm and determination of the children in everything we do, from making sushi, to reading, to learning maths through the medium of Usain Bolt.

IntoUniversity Oxford South East has been up and running since October and had its official launch earlier this month. We look forward to helping the centre flourish in years to come.

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