A year of lockdowns and disruption has not stopped the St John’s Access and Admissions Office: we have been hard at work engaging with the hundreds of young people enrolled on our programmes from across the UK. In fact, with over 1,500 pupils participating in the various strands of our Inspire Programme, 2020-21 was our…
Category: News
Access events and opportunities: Autumn 2021
Our Access & Outreach termcard collates events and opportunities for school pupils from across the University of Oxford. Read and download it below to see what’s coming up this term! We have recently released new video resources covering an introduction to the University of Oxford, how to apply, and admissions tests. Explore these resources here.
Competition S6: winning entries
Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition S6, based on Dr Elizabeth Wonnacott’s lecture on ‘How do children learn language?’ Below you can read the winning entry, as selected by our team of markers. The challenge: Click here to read an article from Scientific American, on “How Linguists Would Talk to Extraterrestrials”. The…
Competition S5: winning entries
Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition S5, based on Dr Ken Amor’s lecture on ‘Energy Transition to a Post Carbon World’. Below you can read the winning entry, as selected by our team of markers. The challenge: One proposal to reduce the variable electricity demand on the national grid is to make…
Mathematical Modelling in Sport: Competition Results
Following the pair of Pre-GCSE Inspire talks delivered by Dr Tom Crawford on Mathematical Modelling in Sport – ‘How to take the perfect penalty’ and ‘Maths and the Marathon’ – we’re delighted to announce the winners of the two competitions following these classes! Both competitions were about how we can use Maths to help make…
Class 4 Competition Results 2021
Well done to everyone who submitted an entry to Class 4 of the Inspire Programme for Years 10 & 11 – the final class of this year’s programme. We received some excellent entries, and selecting winners proved tricky as always! You can click on the links below to read some of the fantastic prize-winning entries for…
St John’s Access & Admissions: Spring Update
Even though schools were closed for much of last term, the work of the St John’ Access & Admissions team continued throughout, with a wide range of virtual activities for pupils from Years 10 to 12, including the launch of a number of new programmes and initiatives, allowing hundreds of pupils to benefit from our…
Classics and Ancient History Essay Competition 2020/21: Winners Announced
Congratulations to this year’s winners! This year we are delighted to have run the St John’s Classics and Ancient History Essay competition for its 11th year! This year, we had 203 entries from all over the UK, a record number! The competition is open to all UK students currently studying in Year 12 or equivalent,…
‘The Magic Number’: Competition results
Following the Pre-GCSE Inspire talk delivered by Sammy Wright on ‘Why poems are like spells’, we’re delighted to announce the winners of the ‘Magic Number’ competition! This challenge was all about numbers in literature. If you look closely, there are certain numbers – such as two, three, seven, nine – which you will find recurring…
Class 3 Competition Results 2021
Well done to everyone who submitted an entry to Class 3 of the Inspire Programme for Years 10 & 11! We’ve been hard at work reading through all of the fantastic entries we’ve received, and are delighted to announce this month’s winners, runners-up and finalists. You can click on the links below to read some of…
Maths Study Day
On Monday the 22nd of March, Professor Stuart White (Tutorial Fellow in Mathematics), along with the Access team, hosted a virtual Maths Study Day for high-achieving Year 12 students from non-selective state schools across the UK. 39 students logged on to hear our Access Officer Dr Maryanne Saunders present a talk on life at Oxford…
St John’s Inspire Programme for Years 10 & 11: Class 4
It’s now time for Class 4, the final class of our Inspire Programme for Years 10 & 11: you’ll find the new class at the Year 11 webpage. For this final class of the year, we examine culture and history through the lens of evolution. We will begin by looking at how theories of evolution…
Year 12 Inspire Programme Update
We are pleased to announce that the Year 12 Inspire programme had almost 100 applications this year! We will be letting applicants know very soon. Join the ongoing programme! Places are still available to join our ongoing programme. If you are interested in applying or finding out more, click here to view the Year 12…
Class 2 Competition Results 2021
Well done to everyone who submitted an entry to Class 2 of the Inspire Programme for Years 10 & 11! Once again, we received lots of very high-quality entries, and our markers had a tough time choosing the winners, runners up, and finalists – so congratulations to everybody who has won a prize! You can click…
Year 10 Class 7: Competition results
We’re delighted to announce the winners of the latest set of Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions for the term! In Class 7, Adaptation and the Human Mind, we returned to evolution in science, looking again at some of the themes we first explored earlier in the course. We discussed what is meant by terms such as ‘genetics’,…
Class 1 Competition Results 2021
Well done to everyone who submitted an entry to Class 1 of the Inspire Programme for Years 10 & 11! The quality of entries we received was extremely high – so high in fact that we ended up awarding even more prizes than we had planned! You can click on the links below to read some…
Year 10 Class 6: Competition results
We’re delighted to announce the winners of the latest set of Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions for 2021! In Class 6, Books, Literature & Leisure, we looked again at evolution through a cultural lens, exploring how books and novels have evolved through different formats, styles and practices that reflect the societies producing them. We then turned to…
St John’s Inspire Programme for Years 10 & 11: Class 2
It’s now time to move on to Class 2 of our Inspire Programme for Years 10 & 11: you’ll find the new class at the Year 11 webpage. In the previous class, we learned about evolution as a driver of biological change. But other kinds of change function in quite similar ways, and today we…
Year 10 Class 5: Competition results
We’re delighted to announce the winners of the first set of Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions for 2021! Class 5, Evolution and Volcanoes in review, was a little different from previous classes: we looked back at some of the topics we’ve covered over our last two themes stretching back to the summer school – ‘What is the…
St John’s Inspire Programme for Years 10 & 11: Class 1
Dear Year 10 and 11 pupils, We hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday season and New Year’s! We’re excited to welcome you back to the Year 10 and 11 Inspire Programme with the first class materials. Today we are excited to release the first class materials for our Year 10 and 11 Inspire Programme. This…
Year 10 Class 4: Competition results
We’re delighted to announce the winners of 2020’s final set of Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions! Click here to see the winning entries.
St John’s welcomes 997 pupils to the Inspire Programme for Years 10 and 11
We are very excited to welcome a total of 997 pupils from 141 non-selective state schools onto the Inspire Programme for Years 10 and 11 this year! Click here to find out more about this year’s course.
Classics and Ancient History Essay Competition, 2020-21
The St. John’s College Classics and Ancient History Essay Competition will be running for the eleventh time during the academic year 2020-21 – find out more here!
Year 10 Class 3: Competition results
Congratulations to the winners of this term’s third set of Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions! Read their work here.
Year 10 Class 2: Competition results
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s second set of Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions! Click here to see the winning entries.
Inspire Year 10 and 11 Launch
St John’s College, as part of Oxford for South East, is excited to announce the Year 10 and 11 Inspire Programme for 2020-21!
Year 10 Class 1: Competition results
We’re delighted to announce the winners of this year’s first Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions! Click here to explore the fantastic entries we received…
Access and Admissions – summer update
Despite the suspension of all face-to-face access and admissions activity at St John’s in March 2020, the Access and Admissions team has continued to work hard throughout the lockdown, providing information, advice and dedicated digital resources to students and teachers across the UK.
Year 9 Virtual Summer School competition winners
Congratulations to Year 9 competition winners!
Year 12 Virtual Summer School competition winners
Congratulations to all Year 12 competition winners!
Inspire Virtual Summer Schools in review
Following last week’s Virtual Summer Schools on the Inspire Programme, we are excited to announce the winners of last week’s Year 9 and Year 12 competitions!
Year 9 Virtual Summer School: Timetable
Welcome to the Pre-GCSE Inspire Programme’s Virtual Summer School! Click here to see the timetable for the week.
Year 11 Virtual Summer School: Timetable
Welcome to the Year 11 Inspire Programme’s Virtual Summer School! Click here to get started.
Year 12 Virtual Summer School: Timetable (STEM)
Welcome to the Year 12 Inspire Programme’s Virtual Summer School for STEM! Click here to get started.
Year 12 Virtual Summer School: Timetable (Humanities)
Welcome to the Year 12 Inspire Programme’s Virtual Summer School for Humanities! Click here to get started.
Inspire Virtual Summer Schools
One of the highlights of our year at St John’s College is our Inspire Programme summer schools – and this year they are happening virtually! Click here to learn more.
Year 9 Class 6: Competition results
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s final set of Pre-GCSE competitions! Click here to see the winning entries.
Year 9 Class 5: Competition results
We’re delighted to announce the winners of our fifth set of Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions! Click here to find out more.
Year 9 Class 4: Competition results
We’re delighted to announce the winners of our fourth set of Pre-GCSE Inspire competitions! Click here to find out more.
Mentoring for Offer Holders
We’re pleased to announce the launch of a new mentoring scheme for our offer holders! Click here to find out more.
Virtual Open Days
We were delighted to host our first ever Virtual Open Days on 1-2 July 2020. Find out how you can still access the Virtual Open Day here!
St John’s to participate in Virtual Open Days
Together with the rest of the University, we will be hosting Virtual Open Days on 1 and 2 July, as well as 18 September. Click here to find out more!
Support for offer holders now online
Our tutors have put together some voluntary reading and other work so that offer holders have a chance to get a flavour of their subject before beginning their course.
Year 9 Class 3: Competition results
Congratulations to the winners of our third set of competitions on the Pre-GCSE Inspire Programme! Take a look at the winning entries here…
Year 9 Class 2: Competition results
Congratulations to the winners of our second set of competitions in the Pre-GCSE Inspire Programme! Click here to see their fantastic work.
Inspire Year 11: Virtual Summer School and more!
We are excited to announce a virtual Summer School to take place this year for our Year 11 Inspire Programme! Click here to read more about this and the final competition.
Year 9 Class 1: Competition results
Here you can see the prize-winning competition entries for the first class of our online Pre-GCSE Inspire Programme.
St John’s Library opens virtually
The St John’s College Library team have put together a series of activities that allow you to engage with the St John’s collections in new and exciting ways…
Getting creative with online access and outreach during Hilary 2020
Review the progress of our programmes and events during the first half of term, and find out how we are rising to the challenge of providing excellent digital access and outreach provision during the ongoing lockdown.
Classics and Ancient History Essay Competition winners announced
Congratulations to this year’s winners of the St John’s Classics and Ancient History Essay Competition, which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2020!