SOMERVILLE ACCESS REPORT
FEB 2023 // PREPARED BY HANNAH PACK
AND OUTREACH OFFICER
ACCESS
Outreach at Somerville
Much has changed in our Access work since things opened up after the pandemic. Some events have been transformed into virtual offerings, with others reverting to being in person. New staff have also joined our team, including a new Inreach Support Officer and former student Orla Lavery, whose role involves working closely with current students from disadvantaged backgrounds to ensure they are supported throughout their studies here at Somerville.
We had a busy year in terms of events, with last year seeing us hosting 32 school visits to Somerville, plus several more visits out to schools and numerous virtual offerings. Retaining the virtual element we developed during the pandemic, including a significant bank of video resources, has enabled us to extend our outreach offering and be more flexible for schools who are further away or unable to arrange cover teaching for a visit out.
In Hilary term, we ran our second series of Virtual Study Days for Year 12 students wanting to find out more about university level study and explore their subject options. We also held our first in person Offer Holders' Open Day since 2020, intended to reassure students about life at Somerville and inspire them to meet their offers. This was attended by 92 of our UK offer holders.
In April we ran our first two day Higher Horizons Residential for 46 high achieving Year 10 students from state schools in Stoke-on-Trent, designed to introduce students to university and encourage them to consider Oxford. This included a range of academic taster sessions and workshops to improve students' study skills and critical thinking abilities. Feedback was extremely positive, with one student saying they'd now realised that studying at Oxford "is an option for anyone who wants to get in, not just the 'elite'".
"Oxford is an option for anyone who wants to get in, not just the 'elite'"
We also conducted our first in person Roadshows to 5 of our new link schools in the Forest of Dean last March. We were then joined by a student ambassador who lived locally when visiting 10 of our new Portsmouth and Isle of Wight link schools over 3 days in September. These were both exciting opportunities to engage with students in regions with low progression rates to HE about the benefits of university and the unique features of studying at Oxford. Feedback was again very positive with teachers and students appreciating having a local student as a role model for what they could achieve. We're hoping to visit both regions again this coming year.
Finally, we have joined Oxford Hub's Primary Schools Twinning Programme, a charitable initiative pairing us with a local primary school with a high percentage of disadvantaged pupils from diverse backgrounds. As well as providing student volunteers to go into the school to offer one to one tutoring support to help raise attainment, we organise a series of enrichment activities for the school throughout the year. This has so far included hosting visits to Somerville as well as some of our students visiting the school to deliver science workshops on building DNA from sweets and setting up a biodiversity garden in the school grounds.
To date this year, we have hosted 15 school visits in College, 7 visits out to schools, 1 Roadshow to Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight, and 4 Virtual Study Days. We're looking forward to the Offer Holders' Open Day on 25th February, our second Higher Horizons Residential and Forest of Dean Roadshow in March, and welcoming a large group of BAME Year 12 students to college for the day in April, as part of Target Oxbridge's Easter Residential.
Feedback from an Offer Holders' Open Day
“I have felt that I would fit in at Somerville if I get in. In general, meeting people has made me realise the stereotypes associated with Oxford are not true.”
OutreachinNumbers
54 outreach events last year with 32 school visits. Engaged with 773 students in the 21-22 year.
193 hours spent delivering outreach events.
56 Somerville student ambassadors engaging with outreach events this academic year.
48% of the students we've interacted with this year have 1 or more marker of disadvantage*
3726 visitors to Somerville over the June and September open days.
482 applications to Oxford in 2021 from students from our link regions and 474 applications in 2022. 89 of Oxford offer holders came from our link regions in 2021 and 85 in 2022.
29% of our 2021 study day attendees who applied to Oxford received offers. This is higher than the average success rate of 16.6%.
71% of students who've engaged with our outreach events went onto study at a Russell Group university in 2020-2021, compared to just 26% of UK school students nationally.
None of this would be possible without the generous support we receive, not only from academics and student ambassadors volunteering their time to participate in events, but also from many Somerville alumni and friends. We are hugely grateful.
Feedback from our recent Virtual Year 12 Study Days
*POLAR 1 or 2 home postcodes, IMD, EST or IDACIall indicators of socioeconomic disadvantage or low regional progression to higher education.
“It was very informative about all aspects of the admissions process and has definitely put me more at ease knowing to a greater extent what to expect and how to prepare.”
