A grand day out
Tom Grand (2012, History) brought a group of students from the Discovery Academy in Stoke-on-Trent to College earlier this year for a school trip with a serious message.
鈥淎ll their phones came out as soon as they arrived,鈥� explains Tom Grand, a maths teacher at the Academy. 鈥淭hey were really excited to see students in gowns on the way here… and all the bikes! They鈥檝e taken so many photos.鈥�
Tom had been planning the visit to Univ since he started teaching in Stoke last year, and was relieved that neither the two and a half hour bus drive, nor the dreary April weather had dampened the students鈥� enthusiasm.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really important to me that young people have a chance to come here,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚 want them to stop seeing it as a mythical place; to realise that there are people here聽just like them.聽I want them to know that if they鈥檙e ambitious and they work hard enough, they can study here, just like I did.
鈥淚 remember being one of six who went on a school trip to Oxford [as a student of Carisbroke College],鈥� he explains. 鈥淥nly three out of the six applied to Oxbridge: all three of us had parents with professional backgrounds.
鈥淭he other three, whose parents didn鈥檛 have that background, were put off. They said they didn鈥檛 feel they were clever enough. In the end, they did better than me in their exams, but by then they鈥檇 left things too late. That鈥檚 why I think it鈥檚 so important to remove the stereotypes and preconceptions of Oxford early on.
鈥淚 want them to talk to the students, to normalise the experience. I want them to see them eating in the Hall, to see them sitting around in normal clothes, to make it seem normal.
鈥淓ven in the short time they鈥檝e been at College, I鈥檝e seen their confidence grow; they鈥檝e really enjoyed talking to the students. My hope is that when they鈥檙e choosing a university in the future they鈥檒l remember today and think: 鈥業 visited Univ and I would fit in there.鈥欌��
Maybe our visitors from Stoke will bring their students to College, and share the story of the first time they came to Univ and how it opened up a new world of opportunity. With advocates like Tom, alongside new initiatives like Univ鈥檚 , we can make that more likely.
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Published: 12 December 2017
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