Cambridge Residential 2011

 

29^th and 30^th March 2011

Trinity Hall March 2011 Students from Broadoak, Wyvern, Worle, Weston College, Clevedon, Gordano and Churchill schools plus Trinity Hall staff and students.

‘It has helped me to understand university life more clearly and has made me determined to achieve the high grades needed for Cambridge University.’

Year 11 student talking about how the residential has increased her aspirations

Over forty students from Churchill, Broadoak, Wyvern, Worle, Clevedon, Gordano, plus Weston College took the journey from North Somerset to Cambridge to learn about life at Oxbridge and how the application process works.

The first day was an opportunity to explore the college and the surrounding town, as well as meet and get to know the other students on the visit. Students took part in a guided tour of the town and colleges learning about the rich history of the university. Highlights included the bar where Crick and Watson had a celebratory drink after figuring out the structure of DNA and Trinity Colleges statue of Henry the VIII which has had the sceptre replaced with a chair leg!

On the Tuesday afternoon Dr Andrew Murray delivered a lecture about the physiological effects of climbing Mount Everest. As well as being entertaining and informative, the lecture provided students with a first hand experience of learning Cambridge style. Anyone who came with ideas about university lecturers being old, boring and preferring dusty library books to a bit of adventure had their misconceptions well and truly blown out of the water! The lecture over ran by a good forty minutes, not because of poor time keeping on the part of Andrew, but purely down to the amount of questions the students had!

On the Wednesday students attended talks organised by Trinity Hall’s admissions staff. The talks covered a wide range of important topics for those considering Oxbridge. The most important message was that Oxbridge is for anyone with the academic potential to succeed there; it does not make selections based on background or social class.

As in previous years feedback from students and teachers was extremely positive, with everyone finding out information relevant to future decisions. One student explained: ‘It has made me understand I may have a chance at Cambridge!’