Welcoming School Visits to Wadham

We welcomed 20 Year 12 students, many of whom were visiting our College and Oxford for the first time, on 27 February. Nine of their parents and carers were among the group, as part of a pilot project to involve them in such visits. We were also joined by careers advisor, Mary Mullarkoi; teacher, Khalid Choudhury; careers and employment support officer, Freya Eldrid; and Usha Kong, career and social mobility manager from Tower Hamlets Borough Council.

Wadham’s Access and Outreach team lead an inclusive programme to help young people make informed choices about their futures as part of our Access to Excellence programme. Hosting visits from schools in our link regions, including Tower Hamlets, is an essential part of this work. We have a high number of current students who are from Newham and Tower Hamlets, some of whom took part in the day as student ambassadors. Feedback from the visiting Year 12 pupils was that going on tours of the College led by undergraduates from their own area and having the chance to talk with them and ask questions were among the highlights of their day at Wadham.

Ms Mullarkoi told us how important it is for the students to visit different universities. This helps them to raise their aspirations and opens up the possibility of leaving their local area when going on to higher education. Asking questions about Wadham and seeing the undergraduates’ accommodation and social and study spaces helps pupils to relate to life as an Oxford University student and to see it as a real possibility for them. Mary (Maz) Mullarkoi feels that the experience, including the academic taster sessions that they attend, give the pupils great cultural capital and provides valuable content for their personal statements. She told us that the benefits of the visit are amazing. It makes studying at Oxford a real possibility not just an idea – and the pupils need to see it to believe it.

Mr Choudhury spoke about how University visits such as these motivate the school students. Although many of them have the ability to go to top universities, seeing Wadham for themselves will increase their motivation and give them an extra push to fulfil their potential. Visiting Wadham and seeing Oxford will show them that there are more options to consider beyond London universities, and that applying to Oxford might be for them.

Ms Kong’s role at Tower Hamlets Borough Council involves working with young people from primary age through to 25-years-old. Feedback from the schools that she worked with was that students who apply to university were not looking outside their local area. To try to address this and help them to consider other options, she decided to bring parents along on the journey of discovery with their children. When parents see other universities and colleges for themselves and are empowered with knowledge about them, they are more likely to support their child’s aspirations. There is a lot of anxiety around Oxford, which is an unknown quantity for many people. Exposure to Oxford as a real place can dispel this and give both parents and their children more confidence. As well as the visit to Wadham, the journey itself has benefits as the parents talk to each other and can be reassured by finding others in the same situation. Usha hopes that this pilot will lead to future trips and that the next groups of parents will be able to talk to someone who has already experienced it.

The sessions that Wadham runs also help to address concerns. Attending the presentation and Q&A from Oxford University’s Islamic Society showed our visitors some of the resources that are available to Oxford students and that they will not have to lose their culture. Meeting our current students helps parents to see that applying here could be the right choice for their child. Osha had already received feedback from the parents about how much they had learned during the visit and that they were very glad to have come.

The school pupils were able to choose between attending an academic taster session on Earth Sciences led by the Outreach and Communications Manager at Oxford University’s Earth Sciences Department, Charlie Rex, or taking part in a session on Portrayal of Women in Third Reich Cinema by Wadham’s Access and Outreach Officer, Madeleine Williamson-Sarll. While their children attended these sessions, the parents and carers went to one that was specifically for them, ‘Oxbridge Explained and Supporting Your Child’.

After enjoying Wadham’s excellent food in our Refectory everyone joined the student-led tour of College. The student ambassador guides are themselves from the Tower Hamlets area of London. They shared their experience of living and learning here while showing the pupils and their parents around our student accommodation, extensive gardens, the library, which is open 24/7, the 17th-century quadrangle and the modern, state-of-the art Undergraduate Centre, where our students study and socialise.

A final session before our guests left provided them with useful information on getting University ready and on their next steps when preparing to apply. We hope that everyone enjoyed the day and to see some of them here again soon.