St John's works with Somerville, St Hilda's and St Hugh's to provide opportunities to pupils, teachers, schools and families in the South East.

Where does the OXSE consortium cover?

Local Authorities in this region extend from those clustered around the South Coast - Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent, Medway, Portsmouth, Isle of Wight, Southampton, Surrey, Hampshire - to those around the Thames Valley - Bracknell Forest, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham.

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St John's link regions are East Sussex, West Sussex, Brighton and Hove, Southampton, Ealing and Harrow. St Hugh's are linked with Kent, whilst St Hilda's are linked with Surrey and Hampshire. Somerville work with the isle of Wight, Portsmouth, Hounslow and Kingston upon Thames.

Trinity, University and Brasenose Colleges support state schools across the Thames Valley as well as working to tackle under-representation in other parts of England. Find out about this support here.

Events for pupils and teachers

The University of Oxford has an online diary of Outreach Events for pupils and teachers here. It includes events in Oxford, around the UK and in other parts of the world. You may like to bookmark this page and check it regularly for events of interest.

Open Days

St John's participates in all three of the University's main open days, in June and September. This is a great time to visit Oxford as all the colleges are open and the vast majority of the departments also welcome visitors. You will have the chance to ask in-depth questions of the academics who design and deliver the courses, as well as being able to meet current students. St John's is able to offer overnight accommodation to individuals and school groups travelling more than 70 miles for the Open Days and lunch for pre-booked visitors.

For more information see our Open Days page and the Oxford University Open Days pages.

UNIQ Summer School

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St John's College hosts and supports the UNIQ Summer School. UNIQ is a programme of free summer schools at Oxford University for Year 12 pupils based at UK state schools/colleges. UNIQ is the University of Oxford's only official summer school programme for pupils studying in their first year of further education.

To find out more about UNIQ please visit their website.

Oxplore

Oxford Pathways

Oxplore is an innovative digital outreach portal from the University of Oxford. As the ‘Home of Big Questions’ it aims to engage those from 11 to 18 years with debates and ideas that go beyond what is covered in the school classroom. Big questions tackle complex ideas across a wide range of subjects and draw on the latest research undertaken at Oxford. Oxplore aims to raise aspirations, promote broad thinking and stimulate intellectual curiosity.

Target Oxbridge

Target Oxbridge is a free programme that aims to help Black African and Caribbean students and students of mixed race with Black African and Caribbean heritage increase their chances of getting into the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge. Since launching in 2012, Target Oxbridge has helped over 350 students to secure Oxbridge offers.

St John's is committed to increasing the proportion of Black British students both at the College and at Oxford University. Each year we support the programme with a grant of £5000 and free visit days to the College. Find out more about the recent 2022 Summer Visit, in which 50 students were welcomed to the College.

The programme aims to develop intellectual, cultural and social development irrespective of personal or economic barriers. These strands include:

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  • Regular one-on-one contact with a Black or minority ethnic Oxbridge graduate to pinpoint your strengths, discuss your aspirations and identify areas for development.
  • Personalised advice on making the right degree subject, university and college selection.
  • Residential visits and day visits to both universities.
  • Academic sessions, admissions assessment workshops and interview workshops run by Oxford and Cambridge tutors and admissions staff.
  • Personalised advice on your personal statement, UCAS form, SAQ statement and other submitted materials including essays and portfolios.

St John's offers a number of initiatives that are available nationally.

Study Days

Inspire Study Days at St John's offer high-achieving Year 12 students at non-selective state schools an opportunity to experience higher level study in their chosen subject, and available to non-selective state-school pupils from all regions of the UK. In addition to our Study Days, we also offer Subject Exploration Days in certain subjects, which are open to applications from both state and independent schools.

Inspire Critical Thinking

Inspire Critical Thinking is a free, online course run in collaboration with Oxford for South East, and open to all pupils at non-selective UK state schools. The course focuses on a central theme which is approached from a variety of subject viewpoints, and each virtual class includes articles, interviews, recorded lectures, and challenges developed by University of Oxford academics and students! The theme for Inspire Critical Thinking 2022/23 is ‘Is Sport Ever Fair?’ By taking part in the programme, pupils will have the opportunity to explore their interests in depth, discover new and exciting topics which they might not have studied before, and develop confidence in their ability. Pupils will also have the chance to submit responses to each class’s challenges, to be in with a chance of winning prizes.

Link colleges

To ensure it is as easy as possible for schools and colleges to engage with the University, each Oxford college is now linked with a number of local authorities across the UK. For more information about link colleges please click here.