Oxbridge

With 11 Oxbridge offers, our rigorous preparation programmes rank among the most successful in the UK. Our specialist team will support you throughout the application process and prepare you for admissions tests and interviews. Our Oxbridge preparation is an ongoing process that begins in the classroom of every student and is woven into the ethos of our supercurricular opportunities, scholarships, Helena Academic Programme, Tea and Talks, academic lectures, academic clubs and societies, OX14 Oxbridge Club and every academic enrichment opportunity we provide.  

For Sixth Form, the Oxbridge Programme really begins in earnest.

All Lower Sixth are expected to attend at least one academic club or society a week. In these weekly societies, students will discuss a range of supercurricular topics, and subject specialists will ensure that students are engaging and critiquing ideas and not just passively listening. In these sessions, we will begin to model what students should be doing independently by the summer and encourage students to bring their own ideas and topics to the group for discussion. We will also model more robust responses to students to ensure they are not put off by brusque interviewers or being told they’re wrong or to think again or, perhaps, that they aren’t wrong, but the interviewer isn’t convinced by their argument yet. We’re aiming for students to feel challenged and to get used to justifying their ideas, thinking out loud and thinking flexibly, assimilating new information and using this to prompt them to reconsider, continue with their thinking or change direction. 

Subject specialists will prepare students for admissions tests, if that is relevant, and students will sit a formal mock admissions test in September. Admissions tests are a really important part of the admissions process and should receive as much, if not more, attention than a student’s personal statement. 

Students will be encouraged to learn from their counterparts in the year above who have also applied to Oxbridge, and subject specialists will share supercurricular opportunities such as essay competitions, lectures and taster days.  

Before the summer holidays, subject specialists will ensure students have a plan for their Oxbridge preparation over the summer. 

These weekly meetings are all practising the specific skills required for an Oxbridge interview, which is very different from a job interview. To prepare them for the interview, all Oxbridge applicants will have three formal mock interviews in September, October and November of Upper Sixth. The first one is with their subject specialist, the second is with an unknown specialist (often a teacher from another school), and the third mock interview is with a graduate who has graduated not only from the same course but also from the same university. Students get detailed feedback for each of these mocks and are given a feedback booklet to keep track of what they need to work on.  

It is important to note that being successful with an Oxbridge application requires a real commitment to the course. Oxbridge admissions tutors are solely focused on academics. For this reason, students may need to be ruthless in preparation for an application, prioritising academic opportunities above all else and becoming a specialist in two or three key topics in their subject. 

Find out more about our higher education and careers programmes at St Helen’s, as well as studying medicine.

Higher education and careers

Medicine