Diary of an outreach roadshow

St Catharine’s is proud to support a varied programme of outreach activities that enable us to attract the most talented students, regardless of background. Under the University of Cambridge’s Area Link Scheme, the College’s outreach team has particular responsibility for engaging schools in North Yorkshire, Suffolk and Rutland, plus two schools in the Cambridge area. This has enabled us to get to know these areas, build relationships with teachers and tailor activities to the needs of each location.

Since the start of the pandemic, the College largely delivered support for link areas online. Once it was safe to do so, we were able to reintroduce face-to-face activities like visits to St Catharine’s that enable school groups to meet Student Ambassadors and get a flavour of College life. Travelling to St Catharine’s is more of a challenge for schools in North Yorkshire than other link areas, so we organised an ‘outreach roadshow’ in March 2022 to take a taste of Cambridge to them.

Liza Zhabina, our Schools Liaison & Outreach Officer, and two Student Ambassadors visited fourteen schools across North Yorkshire – plus a final pit stop in West Yorkshire. The five-day trip was organised in partnership with Brasenose College, which is also linked with North Yorkshire as part of the University of Oxford’s equivalent scheme. Our two Colleges have collaborated for some time to enhance the support that we are able to provide schools in the area.

Monday (Jen Cartwright, second-year English undergraduate & Catz Student Ambassador)

“We had breakfast at Hazlewood Castle before setting off to our first destination: Tadcaster Grammar School. Here, we split off into two groups and did small Q&A sessions about life at university and applying to Oxbridge. After a photo outside we moved onto Easingwold for another Q&A with Year 10/11 and Year 12 at the Outwood Academy.

“The final destination of the day was Harrogate, which is actually my hometown. We returned to my old sixth form for a ‘Harrogate Frenzy’ where students from different schools in the area came to hear a talk about student life at Oxford and Cambridge. It felt weird returning to my old sixth form as it seemed both nothing had changed and everything had changed. 

“After finishing for the day, we checked into our hotel for the night. After eating some really delicious food, we spent the evening playing card games. Back in my room. I drank some hot chocolate, called a friend from home and then slept really well.”

Tuesday (Tharshan Sriskantha, third-year History undergraduate & Catz Student Ambassador)

“We set off early and headed over to South Craven School, where we split up: one group stayed to address the school, while I was in a second group that headed over to Skipton Girls’ High School, which had invited the boys over from Emysted’s Grammar School. We were joined by a few extra helpers from Oxford, and started off with a great Q&A session. Afterwards, we split the year 12s into smaller groups according to their subject interests and had a conversation about applying for specific degrees.

“We looped back around to South Craven to pick up everyone and then drove to Settle College. As the group of year 12s at Settle College was pretty small, we were able to offer a tailored talk and even one-on-one sessions. We also had a talk with some year 11 students to encourage them to think ahead and consider applying to Oxbridge.

“After lunch, we travelled over to Richmond, managing to see a lot of sheep and lambs on our way across a pretty scenic route. At Richmond School & Sixth Form College, we met a much larger group and we split up the Year 12s into groups according to subject. I had a great discussion with three girls interested in studying History, or possibly History and Politics. It was fantastic to meet promising students across the day who showed real interest and passion for learning.”

Wednesday (Jen)

“We began our talks in Northallerton, splitting off into two groups to talk to Year 10/11 and Year 12 respectively. We found that the students were really engaged and brimming with questions to ask. 

“After a short drive, we provided an introduction to university at Bedale School for Year 10 and 11 students, where we found that they had lots of unique questions that we could help answer about accommodation, societies, subjects and more. 

“The third destination of the day was Ripon Grammar School, which again feels very close to home for me as I feel as though I’ve passed Ripon on the 36 Bus a million times. We did an interview workshop for Year 12, which aimed at making Oxbridge interviews less intimidating. With Years 10 and 11, we talked about post-16 options, including why people sometimes choose to go to university.

“We then set off to pretty Malton. With signs saying Malton is Yorkshire’s Food Capital, we found it fitting to go out to eat. We went to an Indian restaurant which had the most amazing tasting curry ever. Filled up on food, we went back to the hotel and played games like Bananagrams – as Oxbridge students it quickly became competitive!”

Thursday (Tharshan)

“The glorious spring weather made our early start a little easier. Norton College was our first stop of the day. The teacher, Mr Findlater, was very nice and told us that the students hadn’t experienced anyone coming and talking to them directly for quite a while, and I think they enjoyed the talk.

“Next, we headed over to Scarborough, and split up into two groups to get to Scarborough Sixth Form and Scarborough University Technical College. My group went over to the Sixth Form and we were met by all the Year 10, 11 and 12 students in one room. Although there were a lot of people, they seemed very interested and asked a lot of great questions. I wish we could’ve had more time, as the group was so inquisitive.

 “We picked up the group from UTC and headed north to Whitby, where I helped run a session on interviews for the Year 12s that I have to admit gave me a flashback to my own admissions interview. Afterwards, we had a bit of free time so we grabbed some fish and chips and took the chance to explore Whitby.”

Friday (Liza)

“We finished off the roadshow by visiting my old Sixth Form in Huddersfield. We fielded questions from over 100 Year 12 students, sharing insights on student and how to prepare for admissions tests, and confirming if a gap year will disadvantage a student applying to Oxbridge (it won’t!). We then split into subject groups to answer more specific questions about the different courses on offer. I spoke to a range of students interested in studying STEM subjects about the different resources and exercises they could be looking at to prepare for applying to competitive universities in the autumn.

“With that, our trip to Yorkshire came to an end. It was a brilliant experience to visit so many schools and speak to inquisitive pupils face-to-face after being online for so long. I am very grateful to all the Student Ambassadors who joined us on the trip to give prospective students an insight into their lives: our very own Tharshan and Jen, plus Gus Smith, Maya Sankaran and Tom Mewes from Brasenose. Massive thanks also to Joe Organ from Brasenose College for all his work organising the trip.”

Catz Student Ambassadors are available online to answer any questions from prospective students. Chat now.