Pembroke Access Initiatives Take Off for 2015-16

Our access and outreach work for 2015-16 kicked off this week with re-launch events for two of our Subject Centre programmes. Based in schools or sixth form colleges outside Oxford, our Subject Centres provide academic activities including seminars, lectures and summer schools as well as supporting the work of teachers, with the aim of benefitting a broader range of students across the UK.

The Launch of this year’s programme for The London Centre for Languages and Cultures (LCLC) on Monday 12th October at Westminster Academy included a keynote lecture by Dr Elisabeth Kendall, Senior Research Fellow in Arabic at Pembroke, and was preceded by language sessions for Sixth Form pupils.

The LCLC was launched in partnership with The Open University and William Morris Sixth Form as a means of improving the subject knowledge of secondary school teachers in a wide range of modern foreign languages.

Peter Claus, Access Fellow at Pembroke, explains: “We work with teachers from as many schools in the area as possible to foster partnerships that assist them in their teaching strategies and which also encourage young people to consider modern European and Oriental languages at degree level.”

On Tuesday 13th October, the launch of the The North West Science Network (NWSN) was held at Xavarian College in Manchester and involved a lecture by Cambridge University Director of Research and physicist Professor Sir Colin Humphreys, followed by a STEM fair.

The NWSN, founded by Pembroke in conjunction with Corpus Christi College Oxford and South Cheshire College, aims to introduce Year 12 students across South Cheshire and Greater Manchester to new topics across a range of scientific disciplines, through academic lectures, visits to laboratories and the chance to take part in summer schools.

Pembroke is excited to be at the forefront of outreach initiatives that place their emphasis on academic content, providing the opportunity for participants to push their learning to the next level and to help them to make the best University choices.

Images by Fiona Burgess