Most Able News

Over the last term a number of Year 8 and 9 students have participated in The Brilliant Club’s Spring Term Scholars Programme. The course, delivered by Miss Beardmore-Herd, a PhD student from Oxford University, explored the secret to living a long and happy life and culminated in the creation of a fictional ‘UN Report’ on life expectancy and wellbeing. For the final assignment students had to compile two ‘country profiles’ using population data and make two or three recommendations to improve the life expectancy and wellbeing of people living in one of their chosen countries.  

Students were really engaged in the programme and made insightful comments using the data provided by the UN on life expectancy around the world.  

We are delighted with the students’ final grades, which are as follows: 

• Prayaan 1st 
• Charlotte 1st
•  Josh 1st 
• Issy 1st 
• Lauren 1st 
• Ruan 1st 
• Zoep 2:1 
• Mausam  2:1
  
• Arnau 2:1 
• Abigail 2:2
• Lola 2:2

Nathan in Year 12  is on a two-year mentoring programme/placement at law firm Slaughter & May:

“On the 24 February, I was privileged to have attended Slaughter & May’s Lead into Law launch event. This was the start of a two-year programme with the firm, in conjunction with Rare Recruitment.

The programme itself is a development programme for students who find themselves interested in a career in law. Slaughter & May is a ‘magic circle’ law firm, considered to be highly prestigious, and they work with Rare Recruitment (diversity specialists) to use Lead Into Law as a way to increase access to law careers and boost social mobility opportunities. Their practices include mergers and acquisitions (M&A), competition, real estate, financing, and tax (my personal favourite).

The programme (for my cohort) includes:

•  Developmental sessions with Rare, regarding professionalism and goal-setting
•  University application aid, in the form of personal statement support and revision sessions towards the end of Year 13
•  A launch event, which outlines the program and starts to introduce the cohort to the world of law
•  Five days of in-person work insight at their City of London office
• One-on-one meetings with Rare to discuss progress and development
•  The opportunity to have a mentor to support the transition from Year 13 to university

My favourite part of the launch event was learning about business services – the non-solicitor side of the firm, although meeting the lawyers from different sectors was also superb. Business development is one part of business services that entails finding clients that need legal work done. I had not considered looking into this aspect of law firms previously, as it was not something I had thought about, but it could certainly be an area that I may want to go into in the future. Remember, business services are just as important as the solicitors.

The programme is a fantastic opportunity for anyone interested in law, especially as legal work experience/insight can be hard to come by. Even if you want to look into the barrister side of law, rather than the solicitor side, or if you’re not fully sure what path you might want to take in the future, it is definitely something worth applying for, and I would recommend having a look at their website page for the programme (linked below).”

Slaughter and May | Lead in to Law main page

Slaughter and May LinkedIn post – Lead Into Law

Nathan in Year 12  gives his experience of the Open Day at the University of Oxford’s Law Faculty, which has made him more determined than ever to apply there!

“On the 13th of March 2023, I was luckily able to attend the University of Oxford’s Law Faculty open day, which was sponsored by Clifford Chance.

The day entailed:

•  A full-group lecture on IP (intellectual property).
•  A seminar on different topics by law academics from Oxford. This was done in smaller groups and on different topics. Mine was on examining Dicey’s Rule of Law.
•  Lunch at a college and then a tour (with your seminar group) – I went to Magdalen.
•  Another full-group seminar on children’s rights.
•  Information on and advice for the LNAT.
•  A panel of current Oxford students who had acquired training contracts at Clifford Chance.

The thing that I learnt the most about was Dicey’s interpretation of the Rule of Law, and why it is likely incompatible with modern-day society. Albert Venn Dicey was a Vinerian law professor at Oxford, and came up with his idea of what the Rule of Law should be, with its main aspects including:

•  The law always has supremacy
•  Everyone, without exemption, is subject to the law

However, this has issues in modern day society. For example, Dicey assumes that the people making these laws, the majority in government, will always have good intentions, but this has been disproven multiple times, such as with the Jim Crow Laws in the South of the US which existed from the Reconstruction Era until 1965, and enforced de jure segregation (amongst other infringements on the rights of African Americans). Additionally, if a law says ‘you cannot bear arms in a public place’, should everyone be forced to follow it, or are there some, such as armed police, who should have exemptions? While Dicey’s Rule of Law provides an interesting concept, in reality it is most likely a 19th century idea that is unfit for the complex society of the 21st century.

While the whole day was fantastic, the part that I enjoyed the most was the IP lecture by Professor Dev Gangjee. In this, he went over the four main forms of IP: copyright, trademark, design, and patent, before taking a deep-dive into copyright and why the law has exemptions. For example, sometimes we want to be able to show snippets of films for reviews and criticism, which is permitted under copyright. However, copyright can often be a dark art. For example, AI bots learn by collecting data from hundreds of thousands of sources, all of which have their own copyright, but who owns the output? Does anyone own the output? Should the source creators that the bot used to learn off of have the copyright? Does the person who inputted the prompt into the AI get the copyright of the output? The problems that arise with IP, and the fact that it is still evolving as an area of law, made it my favourite part of the day.

All in all, I heavily enjoyed the day out, and will certainly be applying to do law at Oxford as a result.”

Year 7 Most Able group completed their ‘Aspiring to University’ programme today with presentations on where they would like to study. The choices were those for studying Maths, Sports Sciences and Veterinary Science. Congratulations to Isla, Yasemine, Oliver, Milly, Megan, George, Daisy, Tyler and Amelia.

Year 8 Most Able students have ten challenges to complete across the academic year which stretches and challenges them beyond the classroom, and ranges from science to history to extra-curricular activities. Below is Issy’s write-up of her visit to the theatre, which fulfilled her ‘attend an inspiring event and write a report’ category.

On Wednesday May 25 , I went to the theatre to see a play called ‘Fantastically Great Women who changed the World!’

The first thing I noticed, before the play had even started, was that all the people in the production team, not just the actresses, were all female! It was brilliant, and really symbolized the message they were trying to put across, about the power and passion women have, without having to chain themselves to Buckingham Palace gates or throw themselves in the way of a racehorse and die. Women can be powerful and change the world, even just a little, with art or sport. Determination or kindness.

A little later in the play, Frida Kahlo was on stage. She said, “Some things in your life have to fall apart to make way for something better.” She goes on to say about how she wanted to be a doctor. She had a plan, she had her life set out for her, but then she had an accident. She got hit by a car, which meant she could never finish medical school. Her plan, her path, her entire life had fallen apart. So, while she was recovering, she picked up a paintbrush and started painting. I thought this was extremely inspiring because in life, we as humans tend to find comfort in plans or paths set out for us. We like knowing what is coming next. But sometimes that is just not what happens. Things change. That is life.

Another scene in the play was Emmeline Pankhurst (Suffragette) talking about first, how women had to really fight for the right to vote and second, just how long it actually took for women’s voting to fully come into play. It took over ten years for all women to be allowed to vote. At first, if as a woman, you were rich, white and owned your own property, you could vote. But if you were not one of those things, you were out of luck. It made me think about how we often must struggle and strive if we want something big to change.

During a scene with Amelia Earhart, Sacagawea and Gertrude Ederle, Amelia Earhart said this: “Well behaved women rarely make History!” This made me think about how women and girls are often told to be ‘mature’ and ‘quiet’ and in a sense ‘seen, not heard’, which is exactly what happens to the play’s main character, Jade. She spends so much time trying to be well-behaved, quiet, mature, helpful and other such things, that she is repeatedly forgotten and over-looked by everyone.

We are meant to make noise, protest, speak up if something is unfair or unjust. Being well behaved and quiet will not change the world.

Are you interested in history beyond the classroom?  Would you like to explore different topics? Then History Answers could be the website for you! With topics covering ancient civilisations, inventions and industry, people and politics, wars and royalty, there’s something for everyone.

Presented in a clear and simple way, History Answers is a great way to extend your history knowledge.

https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/

Written by Sofia Antunes Trabuco, Year 13

This summer, I had the privilege of attending the Lancaster Virtual Summer School for Physics and the Virtual Physics Work Experience held by the White Rose Consortium (a partnership with the University of York, Leeds and Sheffield).

The summer school was held for a week and involved attending a lecture on the universe and an overview of its make-up, as well as doing a university-style taster assignment on solar eclipses.

I really enjoyed the summer school as taking part helped consolidate the fact that I do enjoy studying the astronomy side of physics, with its links to cosmology (the study of stars) and how everything is related. I was also able to have my many questions on university-life answered and get a flavour of what I could be learning in a year and a bit’s time.

The work experience was another really exciting thing I did this summer. And this time, my field was in medical physics – cancer research specifically. Coming from a physical science background, I’ve not done or learnt any biology-related topic for a year previously. I knew I was interested and open to learning about medical physics so I did sign up to this specific research project, and yes, I did struggle for the first few days of the week, re-learning bits of the GCSE Biology I had forgotten about. But, it was actually a really interesting project, and I was able to read and study research papers, as well as doing my own research, then forming a scientific poster on Auger Electron Therapy, an up-and-coming and promising cancer treatment. That week was a very exciting week for me; I loved learning about the treatments and how the process of those treatments took place, and it definitely confirmed to me that a future in medical physics and/or as a scientific researcher interested me (a notion I previously was uncertain about).

Being able to learn from current researchers in this field and take part in lectures were the definite highlights of my two experiences. Something I learned was that I love learning – I really enjoyed the process of doing so, especially when I could connect the dots between the various fields with what I learn currently at A level, and even with my old GCSE knowledge. I would highly recommend for anyone who has the opportunity to apply for these experiences to do so as they really do help with working on those transferable skills and will allow you to learn about what you enjoy, and possibly also learn about what you didn’t know you would enjoy.

Thank you to both institutions again for the opportunity and good luck to any future applicants.

This is the first time we have put applications in for OxLat – the GCSE Latin course run by Oxford University – and we are delighted that five students will be participating in the course starting in September 2021, with preparatory work, and the course starting in September 2022. Our congratulations got to Grace, Holly, Eleanor, Emanuella and Emily in Year 9. This is a great achievement as there were only thirty places originally available and over 150 Oxfordshire secondary school students applied so the number of places was increased to 44.

The OxLat Scheme is for enthusiastic and committed students in Years 9 who are interested in studying for a GCSE in Latin.

The Scheme offers eligible students free tuition in Latin language and literature through to GCSE examination with weekly two-hour lessons take place every Saturday morning during school term-time at the University Faculty and teaching is by two professional Latin instructors from the Classics faculty.

The academic programme of the scheme replicates the teaching students would experience where they taking the subject as a GCSE option at school (albeit in a reduced timetable and with greater focus on independent learning)

The Faculty of Classics said: ‘We received an unprecedented number of applications and were thoroughly impressed by the exceptionally high level of enthusiasm and ability from all applicants and competition was very, very strong.

We want to emphasise the excellent ability and impressive enthusiasm demonstrated by all applicants and reinforce that it was incredibly, incredibly difficult to make our decisions’

We are delighted with our student’s success so far and wish them every success as they embark on their studies.

Students were given the opportunity this summer to enter the ‘Into the Green’ poetry competition with Oxford University’s Bodleian Library and the Botanical Gardens. The competition asked students in years 7-11 to submit a poem in celebration of plants, gardens and green spaces, in celebration of 400 years of plant science in Oxford.

Poems will be read by award-winning Oxford Professor of Poetry Alice Oswald and a selection will be collected in an anthology.

The deadline for entries is July 23 and poems can be emailed to education@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

A number of students have already entered and we have reproduced Ruby’s excellent and profound poem here:

Written by Selina Trabuco, November 2020

Earlier this year, a few Year 11 students, including myself, took the opportunity to take part in the online program which consisted of three, in-depth, knowledge-filled components from the start of January to the end of March. The course was free, open to all students in Year 11, and presented the opportunity to join their summer school as well. For each component there were a range of subject-specific articles, quizzes and competitions to join, allowing students to delve into different subjects to consider what they would enjoy learning for their A-Levels, all the while covering the overall question of “What is the power of a volcano?”.

The first component titled “Handling Volcanic Objects” covered the subjects: archaeology, classics, history, and geography. This not only allowed me to engage with primary sources and historical materials in order to ask interesting questions that will benefit to make sense of the past, but I also learned how to date historic volcanic eruptions using a variety of methods. One of the most famous volcanic eruptions of all time, Pompeii, was used widely as a case study in this component to present the customs, cultures and challenges of the people in Pompeii. This was exquisitely interesting, as it allowed a broader insight into the world of Pompeii.

The second component was my personal favourite, titled “Volcanoes in the Sciences”, covering the subjects: biology, economics, geography, history, and maths. Diving into the geographical records that volcanic eruptions leave, as well as how to calculate the size of a volcanic eruption based on just three variables. The third component titled “Explosive Creativity” is quite self-explanatory, covering the subjects: french, history, history of art, linguistics, modern languages, music, and visual arts. It was a manner of visualising volcanic eruptions that I had never considered before – an artwork from nature.

Eventually, the summer school became a virtual summer school, and students got to join two days filled with various taster sessions of subjects ranging from STEM to humanities, multiple virtual tours of the museums in Oxford, and a virtual tour of St. John’s College itself. It was really exciting to expand my knowledge across the spectrum of courses during the program, and I’m very excited to continue taking part in more outreach opportunities with the University of Oxford.

Written by student, Brooke Wilson, October 2020

At the beginning of the year, I applied for two competitive university summer school programmes hosted by the University of Oxford and Durham. These outreach programmes give students from underprivileged backgrounds the opportunity to have a taste of what it would be like to study their subjects at a higher level, as well as providing support and guidance throughout their later application process. At no expense to students, the summer schools usually take place residentially, allowing students to explore the location of different universities and the facilities that they can provide. Although that wasn’t possible this year, both programmes took place virtually through Zoom and Microsoft Teams, and made excellent efforts despite the circumstances to illustrate university life.

I participated in University of Oxford’s UNIQ programme ‘At Home in History: Global and Local Stories’ in July. The programme consisted of a number of lectures, seminars and academic sessions to discuss the history of home in the context of communities, cities and nations. This allowed us to investigate a particularly relevant theme in relation to a range of historical periods, including the Tudors, Victorians and the Civil Rights Movement. There were several opportunities to discuss our own interpretations with lecturers and scholars, as well as undergraduates of the University of Oxford. We also had the privilege to be able to participate in a tutorial session with lecturers and receive useful feedback on a piece of written work produced during the week. There were daily sessions on each stages of the Oxford admissions process, including guidance on personal statements, aptitude tests, submission of written work and interviews. We were encouraged to ask our academic mentors (Oxford graduates) about their experiences of applying to Oxford. Perhaps one of my favourite aspects of the programme was the ability to meet a number of like-minded students with a shared passion for history, many of whom I remain in contact with now. While UNIQ may have been a different experience to what I had expected, I would absolutely recommend any students considering studying at Oxford who are eligible to apply to the scheme to make use of the fantastic opportunity and continued support that it provides in the application process.

I also took part in Durham University’s outreach programme with the Sutton Trust for Primary Education. The scheme focused on giving us an experience of a series of activities that would prepare us to apply to Durham and practice the skills that would be used in a Primary Education degree. This consisted of a range of academic discussions with Durham’s lecturers and graduates, producing academic posters and presentations and completing a mock-interview. This outreach scheme offers its participants a guaranteed conditional offer at the university, so it is an invaluable opportunity for students. The Sutton Trust’s programmes operate across a number of the UK’s most prestigious universities and offer a wide range of subjects for students to explore.

Both programmes have provided continued support throughout the application process, hosting a series of exclusive webinars and forums. I would urge any year 12 students that are eligible to apply for these programmes to make use of such a worthwhile opportunity.

Our congratulations go to Abby, a Year 11 student at The Bicester School, who has written one of the winning entries for the Young Writers Competition 2020. Abby’s winning short story, written during lockdown, will be published in an anthology featuring the work of young writers from all over the UK after entering this national competition. Abby’s 100-word story was selected from over 6,000 entries and will be published in the book, ’SOS Sagas-Missing- Tales from the UK’.

The Young Writers Competition is open to students aged 11-18 and students were encouraged to submit short stories full of tension and suspense for this particular challenge. The competition has been running since 1991 and selects ‘work based on perception, imagination, expression, creativity and use of language’.

Abby said: I entered the Young Writers competition during lockdown, I used the story prompts to come up with the inspiration for my story “Save Me”.

I have written my story out below and I hope you enjoy it!

Missing, presumed dead. It was over. They weren’t coming. Even in my dreams I couldn’t escape. Their footsteps echoed endlessly through my mind. I wished this would end; I wished they would find me. I needed them. I heard him. He was coming. Run. I heard his voice, his footsteps, his breath. My mind spun with endless questions, with endless answers. The footsteps got louder and louder. I couldn’t run for much longer. My lungs screaming for air. How much longer? When would they find me? When could I go home? Missing, presumed dead. Trapped. Alone.

Written by Sofia Trabuco, February 2020

During the half-term break, I had the privilege of attending a taster day for the Materials Science course at University of Oxford’s, Department of Materials.

I signed up for this event with an open mind; not really knowing what the course was about and really only knowing that it was linked with chemistry and physics, which are both subjects I am potentially interested in pursuing.

With Year 12 students being the majority there and myself, being a Year 11, I felt quite nervous, but I was immediately welcomed into the group and felt comfortable with my fellow students.

The day started with taster workshops, giving us a feel for the kind of practical sessions that students have there. Along with students from other schools, including those all the way from Cardiff and even one from Jersey, we worked together to solve scientific problems. We deciphered the metal we were given with the light microscope and its description, created a battery out of aluminum foil, sodium hydroxide and charcoal, and tested the tensile strength of an alloy against a pure metal. These were all supervised by Materials Science students who were able to give us advise and encouragement along the way.

We continued the day with a visit to the atom probe (where we also found out that the only atom probes in the country were in University of Oxford’s Department of Materials) where a researcher spoke to us on how the probe worked and how it helped them in their research. This followed with a trip to see one of their electron microscopes. We were told how it worked and we were even given a chance to see the researchers in action, working on their specified research using the electron microscope. What surprised me the most during the entire tour of the facilities and seeing the researchers in action, was how much their research linked to the topics I was learning in my own science classes. I was able to understand and follow along with everything they said about how the microscopes and atom probe worked.

Following this, we had a short walk to St Anne’s College where we were given a complimentary lunch in the dining hall and were able to sit and talk with undergraduates, where they could answer and explain any of our questions about the course and the university.

After, we were given a tour of the college itself, including their new and old libraries, the college dormitories and their college common room. This was all very informative as we were able to see how college life really was, which I found to be much more relaxed than most people would presume University of Oxford to be like. The undergraduates who showed us around were much more relatable and easier to talk to than I had thought previously.

We finished off the day with a lecture by a researcher on the importance of materials science in solar panels, followed by an overview by the organiser of the event on doing Materials Science in Oxford, as well as a word from a couple of fourth year undergraduates on their experience of the course and their future plans.

The day was a really enjoyable experience; I learned about materials science, I made new friends, I was able to see how the life of an undergraduate was and the possibilities that the Materials Science course could open to me.

The day has now made me consider this course even more than before. I was fascinated throughout the entirety of the taster day. I plan to go to further open days to explore the many courses that the university offers. I am really very grateful to the school for helping me get into the event (especially as I applied a day later than the deadline). This has been a really enjoyable experience that I would highly recommend to other students.