A visit is worth a thousand lessons

Around 1,000 state school pupils will be attending residential summer schools and overnight taster visits in Cambridge in July and August.

Run by Cambridge Admissions Office (CAO) and a number of the Colleges, the aim of the summer schools is to raise pupils' aspirations, give them a taste of student life at Cambridge and encourage them to consider making an application.

All the pupils taking part (aged 15 to 17) have been identified as being academically-able by their schools – and have shown an interest in progressing to higher education. Many are likely to be the first in their immediate families to go to university.

Dedicated CAO summer schools are run for students at further education colleges, those from state schools with little history of sending pupils to leading universities, and for pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Subject-based summer schools, taking place in the second and fourth week of July, are supported by the Sutton Trust. They focus on modern and medieval languages, English, history, theology and religious studies, music, geography, engineering and physics.

A number of the Colleges organise regular summer schools for pupils living in their “link areas” as part of an established outreach programme: each College works with state schools in designated areas of the UK.

Nick Gray, sociology and theology teacher at King Edward VII in Sheffield, was among the teachers accompanying pupils from eight schools in and around the city on a summer school organised by Emmanuel College, Fitzwilliam College and New Hall.

“A teaching colleague of mine used to say that a visit is worth a thousand lessons, and he was absolutely right. The summer school we've been on has been incredibly well-organised and has given pupils a taste of first year undergraduate teaching,” he said.

“Our pupils have been treated to talks by people passionate about their subjects, whether it's cosmology, philosophy or the Black Death. Being here has helped to remind us why we are teachers.”

Fun is not forgotten. All the summer school programmes mix subject lectures, information sessions and tours of the university with social and cultural activities such as punting on the Cam, quizzes and Shakespeare in the college gardens.

Pupils from East Anglia on a four-day science summer school last week run by St Catharine's and Pembroke were undaunted by a downpour on the Backs. Pictured above sheltering from the rain are Ryan Pond, 17, from Northgate High School in Ipswich and James Keir, 17, from Stanground Community College in Peterborough.