Year 10 taster day at Oxford University

An insight into student life.

On Thursday 28th February 2013, ten Year 10 students ventured to one, if not the, most famous and historical institution of higher education in the U.K. – The University of Oxford!

At 7.30am we congregated in the school car park and headed for the university in a school minibus.  We arrived in good time and had time for a quick tea/coffee/ hot chocolate before walking for 15 minutes to Corpus Christi College.

We had an introductory talk about the university itself and graduate life in general.  Following the talk two friendly graduates took us on a tour of the city;  they showed us various colleges and we had the chance to speak to them individually about how they got to where they are now, what they are studying, how their life-style is affected, what they plan to do in the future and if they had any advice for us.

Before we knew, it was time to re-fuel and we did so by a man-sized portion of spaghetti bolognaise with vegetables, salad as a side, yoghurt or mousse for dessert and a drink - I’m sure no-one managed to finish it all! One of our leader graduates had to leave us for a lecture, and the other somehow seemed to disappear too.  We later realised that he had gone to tidy his room so that we could have a look in later!

After lunch we toured one of the college’s libraries, Chapel and accommodation to get a feel of the surroundings and living-space for people who live there for up to 7 years!  Afterwards we had a question and answer session with our leader to get their response to any queries hat we had on GCSE grades, A-level choices and priorities for our future.  We discovered that it’s best to decide what course you are doing before you set your mind on what university you want to go to, and also that you need to be really interested and focused on the subject that you are planning on studying - it is going to take up your life for the next 3 – 7 years.

We finished up with a trip to the ‘Pitt Rivers’ museum which focuses on anthropology and archaeology.  This really gave us a feel of the graduate’s independent learning, how you are responsible for your own work and studies and that the amount of research you put into a subject affects the output and the qualification you leave with years later.

We finished the trip with a final debrief and a questionnaire summarising our day.  We returned to the minibus and drove back to Highcliffe at 5:30pm on the dot.

Through this wonderful experience, I have learnt so much about my education and approach towards my GCSEs.  I have learnt 2 main points from this trip:
1. Your GCSEs have a massive impact:  primarily on your A-levels, but also on applications for jobs and University too;   it’s vital to put the work in at this stage to get onto the courses you want which will lead to your chosen career path.
2. You have to take more responsibility for your own learning.  Now returning back to normal secondary school life, I feel that I have always taken it for granted and rely on what teachers do in preparation for lessons compared to what we are asked to contribute.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff involved who contributed to making the day such a success and giving the other nine students and I the brilliant opportunity that we were given!

Hannah, Year 10

---

Owned by: | Last Published: 08/03/2013 12:08:36 | Next Update: N/A