Sixth Form students given a taste of University life

Monday, 23 July 2012

sixth form students discovering the secrets of DNA

The Student Recruitment and Outreach Office welcomed over 75 students to their annual two-day Summer School.

Pupils came from across the South East and South West. This year saw the introduction of a Languages event as well as the regular, ever-popular Science ‘DNA Whodunnit?' school, which this year had a record number of applications (over 70 for the 45 places).

Students attending the Science Summer School spent the first day getting to grips with Biological laboratory techniques and extracting their own DNA. The second day involved them applying the techniques and knowledge to solve a ‘murder mystery'.

The sessions were supplied by Dr John Schollar of the National Centre for Biotechnology Education, and students also benefited from a tour of the University's Microscopy facilities at CfAM and sessions illustrating future study in Chemistry and Biology from Dr Elizabeth Page and Dr Phil Dash.

Colleagues from Modern Foreign Languages and the Institution Wide Language Programme (IWLP) provided the programme for the Languages Summer School. Students were able to undertake sessions in European Culture and Language including tasters of French, German and Italian study, and even experienced French and German breakfasts at the start of each day!

Carey Singleton, Director of Student Recruitment and Outreach said: "We are delighted at the success and in particular the numbers attending these events this year. It was a pleasure to welcome these high-achieving, focused and committed young people to our campus, and we hope to expand the summer provision to other subject areas in future years.

"We hope that in the coming months  students will remember their time at Reading fondly, past experience has shown that this can have a real impact when they apply to University in the autumn."

Both events were attended by sixth formers currently undertaking study in relevant areas and the enthusiasm and passion for the subjects were clear to see. The vast majority had no background of higher education in their family, and so the Summer Schools are pivotal in providing these students with information about University and the courses and possible careers open to them in these fields.