Pembroke outreach to include London teachers: enabled by grant from the London Schools Excellence Fund

Pembroke College Oxford, in partnership with the Department of Languages at The Open University, has been awarded £179,000 by the London Schools Excellence Fund to establish the London Centre for Languages and Cultures (LCLC), based at William Morris Sixth Form School (WMSF) in Hammersmith and Fulham.

LCLC, in line with other Pembroke initiatives, is intended to encourage and promote the study of subjects which are traditionally less popular choices for university applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds.  The languages included in the programme for the new centre are Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Persian, Portuguese and Spanish, as well as a focus on applied linguistics.

LCLC is being set up to enhance the subject knowledge of language teachers in West London, and more than 100 are expected to benefit from the programme, which will serve some 27 state schools across three West London Boroughs.  The Centre’s activities will include the provision of a network of subject resources, language study days, twilight seminars and a residential course held at Pembroke College Oxford.  Cultural events and supporting lectures will promote languages and more generally intercultural awareness.

Dr Peter Claus, Pembroke’s Access Fellow who will lead the formation of LCLC commented: “The funding award from the London Schools Excellence Fund is critical to enabling the launch of this new subject centre.  Pembroke is delighted to be leading another innovative academic project which we hope will not only nurture enthusiasm for the study of languages and cultures in schools and colleges in West London, but will also result in teachers encouraging more of their students to aspire to pursue further study at university level, whether at Oxford, The Open University or elsewhere.”

Pembroke has been a founding partner in four other subject centres around the country already, as part of its outreach and access work: The East End Classics Centre was established last year in conjunction with Wadham College Oxford.  Pembroke has also partnered with Corpus Christi College Oxford to establish the North West Science Centre at South Cheshire College, and the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies will be launched at Ashton Sixth Form College in Ashton-under-Lyne later this month.  LCLC will be launched on 20th November at William Morris Sixth Form School.

The College is committed to widening participation programmes which are academically intensive and subject-led, believing that sustained intervention over months and years provides the best means of encouraging talented students from all backgrounds to make a competitive application to Oxford or another highly rated university.  Work with teachers is a critical part of reaching out to larger groups of students and their wider communities.