A record number of top university offers in 2022 for students at The Cotswold School

A record number of top university
                 offers in 2022 for students at The
                          Cotswold School

Six of the students who applied to,    “Our Aspire programme helps               “Our alumni, many of whom have
and undertook rigorous                 students, who have an aptitude and        studied at Oxford or Cambridge,
interviews with, the UK’s top          desire to study at greater depth and      provide brilliant higher education
universities were rewarded with        pursue extra challenges, to develop       surgeries, including one-to-one
offers to study their chosen           their vision for study at top             interview preparation. Their insights
subjects.                              universities, if that is what they hope   and encouragement – as well as the
                                       to achieve. At times, pupils work with    dedication and experience of our
Mr White, Head of Sixth Form and       peer mentors further up the school,       staff here at The Cotswold School –
Deputy Head at The Cotswold            who bring their perspective to            can help all our students understand
School, said across the school,        inspire younger learners.”                the expectations they must meet in
preparation of candidates for                                                    their applications.
interview and support for all          Mr White thanked the former
applications is thorough and           students who are also giving back to      The six who received offers from
challenging. Furthermore, the          their school by supporting sixth          Oxford and Cambridge are eager to
encouragement of high ambition is      formers’ applications:                    embark on degrees in subjects
established way back in Key Stage 3.                                             including Geography, Asian Studies
                                                                                 and History.

Sam has chosen to read Asian and          Lucy received an offer to study           Cathryn is holding an offer to
Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) at          Geography at Mansfield College,           study History at Christ’s College,
Churchill College, Cambridge              Oxford                                    Cambridge

"I applied for this course, focusing on “I love the global nature of the            “I applied for History because I have
Chinese, thanks to my personal            discipline, which allows for so many      always found the human aspect of it
interest in this region. The China trip   areas of study to be explored all         interesting and would really like to
I went on in Year 10 inspired my          under one subject. The college is         explore this further. My school
interest in the area. Studying French     really friendly and has a large           helped by setting up lots of mock
with Mme Moss and Mrs Newby also          percentage of state school students,      interviews which were extremely
gave me the confidence to choose a        which is partly why I chose it, on top    useful and helped me to practise
degree that involves a foreign            of it being beautiful! My Geography       talking about my subject in depth. I
language, while Mrs Wahlen from           teachers were super-supportive,           was quite surprised when I received
History inspired me to apply for          especially Mrs Johnstone; and I had       my offer but obviously very pleased!”
Cambridge. AMES is useful for             a mock interview with a former
various careers, including in the         student, which gave me an idea of
Foreign Office or working for NGOs        what an interview would be like. The
and other international                   discussion-based teaching style and
organisations. Although the               structure of the degree are among
interview was undoubtedly a bit           the reasons why I was drawn to
stressful it was also stimulating and     Oxford. Receiving my offer was so
enjoyable. I was very surprised to        surreal and I can’t wait to start there
receive the offer and still can't quite   in October (grades depending!).”
believe it actually happened!”

Callum is a step closer to his           Kate is looking forward to                Ed took a year out and this year
ambition of a career in Law              studying Geography at Fitzwilliam         applied for a place at Clare
                                         College, Cambridge                        College, Cambridge to study
“I have been offered a place to read                                               History and Politics
Law at Downing College, Cambridge,       “I was very excited when I received
which is a great opportunity that I      the offer! Cambridge University’s         “After working in the village pub, I
hope will lead to a career as a lawyer   course really attracted me. I am          have been volunteering in a foster
in a top global firm. Law fascinates     particularly interested in the            home in Germany and completed a
me, as I love to debate; endlessly       geographies of food and power;            political internship. The main reason
exploring and analysing perspectives     sustainable development; and the          I chose this degree was the great
through rigorous argument. It is an      geopolitics sectors that we will cover.   interest I take in reading around the
incredible opportunity to develop        To prepare for interview I practised      subjects, so I know I will enjoy it; and
this interest in an academic             with Sophie Taylor, a former student      because it integrates the subjects
environment through a Law degree.”       from The Cotswold School, who             into one degree, making it genuinely
                                         studied Geography at Worcester            interdisciplinary. I am incredibly
                                         College, Oxford, as well as with my       grateful for the way my school
                                         teachers."                                supported my application. Even
                                                                                   though I was applying having left, I
                                                                                   was given four invaluable mock
                                                                                   interviews, and my personal
                                                                                   statement was the result of a great
                                                                                   deal of consultation.”

As well as the six Oxbridge offers,       Meg has an offer to read Medicine at   According to the Sunday Times
two-thirds of Year 13 students            Plymouth University and Gus has        Parent Power survey, 2021, it is the
have received offers to study at          offers from Nottingham University      second-highest ranked non-selective
Russell Group universities and are        and Harper & Keele Veterinary          secondary school in the South West;
on track to achieve the                   School to study Veterinary Medicine.   and in the top 35 non-selective co-
requirements for their first-choice                                              educational secondary schools in the
courses.                                  The Cotswold School is an Ofsted       UK, based on attainment 2017-19.
                                          ‘outstanding’ comprehensive school,
Among many notable offers so far,         consistently supporting students to    The vast majority of children who
we have our first ever place at Bristol   make academic progress and attain      join us in Year 7 pursue their studies
Old Vic Theatre School –                  results significantly above the        with us right through to Sixth Form.
congratulations to Frankie, who has       national average.
a place to study Theatre Production
there.