2022 Spring Term Card Out Now

Our 2022 Spring Term Card term card sets out all of the exciting outreach events, opportunities and resources on offer from St John’s, as well as across the University of Oxford. The information is particularly relevant to teachers and pupils in our link regions of Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, Southampton, West Sussex, and the…

Inspire Programme for Year 12 & 13 – Applications Now Open!

The St John’s Inspire Programme for Years 12 & 13 (Inspire 12 & 13) primarily consists of a series of online Twilight Sessions throughout the year. Sessions include a combination of in-depth academic taster talks by scholars from Oxford or other leading universities, and expert guidance on skills development and how to make an effective…

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 AH6: winning entries

Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition AH6, based on Stephan Nitu’s lecture on ‘Athenian Democracy: Modes of Thinking About Different Worlds’. Below you can read the winning entry, as selected by our team of markers. The challenge: Building on the ideas covered in the taster lecture, think about how society is…

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…

Competition AH5: winning entries

Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition AH5, based on Dr George Potts’ lecture on ‘Tradition and Innovation in Modern Poetry’. Below you can read the winning entries, as selected by our team of markers. The challenge: Building on the ideas covered in the taster lecture, write a short response (no more than…

Competition S4: winning entries

Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to our two S4 competitions. Competition S4A was based on Professor Gillian Rose’s lecture, ‘How is Digital Data Transforming How Cities Work?’ Competition S4B was based on Professor Katherine Blundell’s lecture on ‘The Universe Beyond The Visible’. For competition S4A, read Ebrahim’s winning entry on…

Competition AH4: winning entries

Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition AH4, based on Professor Gillian Rose’s lecture, ‘How is Digital Data Transforming How Cities Work?’. Below you can read the winning entry, as selected by our team of markers. The challenge: Think about the neighbourhood where you live. Identify a problem that you would like…

Competition AH3: winning entries

Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition AH3, based on Professor Nicholas Jones’s lecture ‘How Do People Persist Through Time?’. Below you can read some of the winning entries, as selected by our team of markers. The challenge: Imagine that scientists have created a “Teletransporter” machine. It works by scanning your body,…

Competition S3: winning entries

Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition S3, based on Professor Charles Newton’s Going Further challenge on the topic ‘Meandering Through Medicine’. Below you can read the winning entry, selected by our team of markers. Kuba’s winning entry Why autism may have increased in the past few decades Autism doesn’t…

Competition S2: winning entries

Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition S2, based on Professor Alan Grafen’s article on The Mathematics of Natural Selection. Given the nature of maths, it’s easy to make a minor mistake and miss out on a perfect answer; each submission was given our full consideration, and evaluated based on the overall quality of the…

Competition AH2: winning entries

Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition AH2, based on Dr Samuel Derbyshire’s article on Documenting Endangered Knowledge. Below you can read some of the winning entries, as selected by our team of markers. Lauren’s winning entry Sukkot or ‘the feast of tabernacles’ was my favourite festival when I was growing up….

Competition AH1: winning entries

Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition AH1, based on Professor Hannah Skoda’s lecture on Medieval Crime and Punishment. Below you can read some of the winning entries, as selected by our team of markers. Lily’s winning entry Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages What was the purpose of punishment? The purpose of…

Competition S1: winning entries

Thank you very much to everyone who submitted an entry to Competition S1, based on Dr Keno Juchems’ lecture on Artificial Intelligence. Below you can read some of the winning entries, as selected by our team of markers. Kuba’s winning entry Should a multi-national company use AI in their factories? I think the company would need to consider ethical,…

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…

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!

Post-GCSE Study Skills

Welcome to the St John’s Post-GCSE Study Skills Session. In this session you will learn to develop your skills and study with maximum effectiveness.

Pitt Rivers Museum

Welcome to the Pitt Rivers Museum! Take a virtual tour of the museum and practice your observation skills with the Museum’s collection of masks.

Medieval journeys

What drove people in Medieval times to journey from their homes? During this lecture you will see examples of the travel people undertook for a variety of reasons.

Museum of Natural History

Welcome to the Museum of Natural History! Take a virtual tour and explore the museum’s highlights here.

History of Science Museum

Welcome to the History of Science Museum in Oxford! Explore the museum virtually and learn about the fascinating instruments in its collection here.

Academic Poster Project

During the course of this week, you will create an academic poster on the topic of fake news. Click here to get started!

Disease modelling

During this lecture, you will see how two different areas of maths can be used to model the spread of diseases through a population.