Pupils from schools in a 30-mile radius of Cambridge spent the day at the University last week learning about studying foreign languages.

The students, all in year 11, were encouraged in particular to look at the opportunities for learning a new language from scratch at university.

The day included sessions in the University Language Centre and at the Department of Italian in the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, lunch with current undergraduates at St Catharine's College, and a tour of some of the Colleges and the city centre.

It was organised by Dr Abigail Brundin, a Fellow in Italian at St Catharine's College, and Hanna Weibye, School Liaison and Higher Education Access Officer for Pembroke and St Catharine's Colleges, who graduated from Cambridge (Jesus College) with a degree in languages (French & German) in 2007.

Given the changes to the school curriculum, whereby pupils at state schools can drop foreign languages in year 10, Hanna is keen to promote the advantages of learning a language to degree level, a route that opens up an exciting range of career options.

Four current undergraduates assisted with the programme. They included Phil Wright (pictured centre with visiting pupils), who joined them to talk informally about studying languages at Cambridge. Brought up in Stockton on Tees, Phil is the first person in his family to go to university and has contributed to access initiatives at St Catharine's, where he is in the second year, since starting at Cambridge.

Phil says he is “incredibly grateful” to the teachers at Grangefield School and Stockton Sixth Form College, both in Stockton on Tees, who spotted his talent for languages, encouraged him to believe in himself, and suggested that he thought about applying to Cambridge.

He is one of dozens of students at Pembroke and St Catharine's who regularly help with school visits to the University, contributing to activities that dispel the myths about Cambridge and showing groups of pupils round the town and Colleges.

“It's important that pupils from state schools realise that Cambridge students come from all kinds of backgrounds and that you don't have to be rich to study here,” he said.

Pembroke and St Catharine's work with state schools in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Suffolk and the London Borough of Southwark.

The two Colleges each year host visits from around 1,500 pupils as well as running master classes for a variety of subjects and a shadowing scheme for year-12 pupils from schools in Northern Ireland.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence. If you use this content on your site please link back to this page.