What a tremendous trip to Oxford we had this week where one of the highlights was our tour of the Balliol campus with the legendary Frank.  In his third year, Frank is currently living off-site, studying for his final exams on his Economics and Philosophy Degree course.  He had gained entry to Oxford from an academy in Lewisham and he broke down many of the myths that our students had about what ‘type’ of student gets to go to an Oxbridge university.  Quite simply, anyone who works hard enough and has the will to gain a place WILL in fact have a great chance to succeed.Frank explained that it’s not about what you know, it’s about HOW you can discuss getting to the right answer.  This is the emphasis at the interview stage with students often being given questions that they are not expected to know the answer to.  The interviewer will look at how the student uses cross-curricular and general knowledge to offer possible solutions or outcomes.  It is evident that wider reading is of paramount importance when discussing any given topic.  Their interest lies in what information from another source can support or rebuff a given hypothesis for example.  Frank also gave informative tips about living and studying in Oxford.  Accommodation is only paid for during term time; making it quite an affordable option compared to many other universities.  Bursaries are also plentiful to enable as many young people to access the education of their choice.After lunch at the top table, we walked to the Maths Institute where we were treated to a lively and enthusiastic maths lesson from James (who was as passionate about maths as I am about food)!  This guy made us all LOVE maths.  He was engaging, interesting and fun.  The student’s learned so much and came almost skipping out of the session with a new spring in their step.

A truly delicious day!  Enjoy the photos of us all having the best experience at Balliol college.  Thank you to the wonderful Pravahi for hosting our stay again this year.  We will be back with bells on with next year’s Time to Sh9ne group.